By the time they reached the shore, the prisoner and his keeper had landed. Periander looked at them to ascertain whether by chance he knew the unfortunate creature, whose hard fate had placed him in the very situation he himself had so lately been in: but he was not able to catch a full view of the face because he kept it hung down, and seemed to wish it should remain concealed; but the woman he knew full well, the woman whom they called the guardian of the prison. He felt as if his senses failed him when he looked at her, for clearly and without any doubt he knew that she was Clelia, the nurse of his beloved Auristella. Fain would he have spoken but he durst not, for he knew not what to conjecture about her; and so restrained his feelings and his tongue, and waited to see what would happen. The governor, impatient to hasten the trial which was to give a happy and fitting mate to Periander, gave orders immediately to sacrifice the boy, (for he seemed no more,) that his heart might furnish powder for the absurd and lying experiment which the sorcerer had ordained. He was instantly seized by several of the barbarians, and without any further ceremony than that of tying a piece of linen over his eyes, they made him kneel down to have his hands tied behind him, which he submitted to at once without uttering a word, like a tame lamb expecting the stroke that was to deprive him of life. But old Clelia, at the sight, upraised her voice and cried out with more vigour than might have been expected at her years--"Hold! O great and powerful governor, and know what you are about to do; for this youth, whom you are going to slay, can in no way be of any use for the purpose you require, seeing that he is the most beautiful woman imaginable, and no man. Speak, most lovely Auristella, and do not allow yourself to be deprived of life, overwhelmed as you are by the torrent of your misfortunes, but put your trust in that providence of Heaven, which has even now the power to save and preserve you, and enable you to enjoy it once more."