"Can you, sirs, conceive a more terrible situation than I was in this night--my intended husband expecting me in the parlour below, whilst his rival was waiting in the garden to speak with me, ignorant of the strait I was in, and of the arrival of Louis Antonio;--I, nearly senseless at the unexpected event; my maid greatly troubled with the infant in her arms; my father and brothers sending word to me to make haste, and come to these unhappy nuptials. "It was enough to upset stronger minds than mine: I know not that I can tell you more than, that whilst I lay almost senseless, I heard my father say, as he entered my room, 'Come girl, finish your adornments, or come as you are, and your beauty shall supply the place of rich attire.' At this instant, I imagine, the cry of the child reached his ears, which my maiden had contrived to conceal, or was giving it to Rosanio, the name of him whom I had chosen for my husband. My father was disturbed, and, with a candle in his hand, came to look at my countenance, and perceived my state of dismay and confusion; the sound of the infant's cry seemed again to strike his ears, and drawing his sword, he hastened to the quarter whence the voice had proceeded. The sight of the naked weapon, and the terror that filled my soul, made me, with the natural instinct that prompts one to save one's life, endeavour to find a means of doing so; and, hardly had my father turned his back, when, just as I was, I hastened down a winding staircase to the lower apartments of the house, thence with ease I gained the street, and from the street, the fields, and then by roads, I know not where, I ran, impelled by fear, as if I had wings to my feet, faster than you could suppose my feeble strength would have allowed. A thousand times I felt a wish to throw myself into some river or pond, and end my life; and sometimes I felt as if I could lie down on the earth, and let any one find me who chose; but at last seeing the light from your huts, I tried to reach them, in hopes of finding some help and shelter for my misery, and so it happened as you saw, and so it is that I am now alive, thanks to your kindness and charity." Thus the unhappy Feliciana ended her relation, which filled her hearers with surprise and pity. Periander then described the finding of the baby, the gift of the chain, and all that had happened with the gentleman on horseback, who gave them. "Alas!" said Feliciana, "if this precious gift should indeed be mine, and if it should be Rosanio who brought it! perhaps, if I could see it, if not by its features, which I never looked upon, still, by the clothes in which it is wrapped, I might recognize it, for my maid could only have taken things that were in my room to wrap it in, which I should know again, and even if I should not, perhaps the force of nature would do its work, and a secret feeling speak to me, if it is mine."