In the course of two or three days he began to feel ill and to droop. He then took to his bed, and declined so rapidly, that the physicians said he would certainly die, and that they could not discover the cause of his illness. His mother, Ricla, wept; his father was full of grief. Auristella and Maurice sorrowed much; Ladislaus and Transila were equally afflicted. Seeing this, Polycarp sent for his adviser and confidante, Zenotia, and desired that she would try and find some remedy for Antonio's malady, since it seemed beyond the physician's skill. She gave him good hopes, assuring him that it would not be mortal, but that the cure would be a slow one. Polycarp believed her like an oracle. Now all these events disturbed Sinforosa very little, seeing that they were a means of detaining Periander; his presence alone was a relief to her full heart; for, although she wished him to go, because unless he went he could not return to her, yet so great was the delight she took in looking upon him, that she could not bear to think of his departure. It so happened that an opportunity offered itself, when Polycarp and his two daughters, Arnoldo, Periander and Auristella, and all their company, including Rutilio (who, ever since he wrote the letter to Polycarpa, although he had destroyed it, yet continued melancholy and thoughtful as much as if all who were around him had known of his folly). This company, I say, met in the sick room of young Antonio, having come to visit him by Auristella's desire, for she loved and esteemed him and his parents, and was grateful for the aid the young barbarian had given when he saved them from the fire, and took them to his father's dwelling; for in misfortune and danger friendships are more firmly knit, than in common every day life; and a very warm one had sprung up between her and Ricla, in whose company she had been so long, and also for Constance and the two Antonios. Being then assembled, as I have already said, Sinforosa coaxingly asked Periander if he would relate some of the passages of his life to them; most especially she longed to know from whence he came the first time that he visited their island, when he carried off all the prizes, at all the games that were played and the feats that were performed, at the festival which commemorated the anniversary of the election of her royal father. To this Periander answered, that he would do as she desired, if he might be permitted to begin his history where he pleased, and not from the beginning; for this he could reveal to no one, until he should be with his sister Auristella safe at Rome. They all said that he might do according to his own pleasure; they should hear gladly anything he had to tell them; and the best pleased of all was Prince Arnoldo, thinking that he might possibly now discover who he was, from what Periander would relate. These preliminaries settled, Periander spoke in the following manner. [Illustration]