"Alas!" she said, "my protector, what avails it that fortune has raised me if misfortune is to destroy me. Return to me, O my brother! if you wish that I should return to my senses; or, if not, ye pitying heavens, let our eyes be closed in death together, and one grave receive our bodies, for the good fortune I met with so unexpectedly can bring no better boon than a speedy end." So saying, she fell fainting on the ground; and Auristella was no better off, so that they seemed more dead than the wounded ones. The lady who fell from the tower, the chief cause of Periander's fall, ordered her servants, several of whom had come out of the house, to carry him to the bed of Count Domicio, her lord and husband; she likewise commanded them to take his body up that it might receive burial; Bartholomew took the young Antonio in his arms; the ladies had charge of Auristella and Constance, and, in mournful procession and with slow steps, they moved along to the almost regal looking mansion. [Illustration] CHAPTER XV. The sage advice that the three French ladies gave to the two mourners, Constance and Auristella, was of small avail, for in a recent grief there is no room for consolation. In the agony of a sudden disaster we cannot accept at once of any comfort, however wisely it may be administered; a fresh wound is painful till it is closed, and it takes time to heal before it is again opened; therefore, whilst one weeps, whilst one groans, whilst one is under the influence of the grief that causes one's lamentations and sighs, it is not discreet at all to offer remedies. Let us then leave Auristella still to weep, and Constance to lament, and both to shut their ears to all consolation, whilst the fair Clarice relates the cause of her husband's madness.