Well pleased was Hippolyta to see what the arts of the Jewess had done in endangering the life of Auristella, for in a week she had become so entirely changed from what she was, as to be only recognizable by the sound of her voice,--a thing which surprised her physicians, and defied their skill. It was the wonder of all who saw her. The French ladies assisted in nursing her with as much care as if she had been their sister, especially Felicia Flora, who loved her with the warmest affection. At length the illness of Auristella instead of being confined to herself alone, began to affect those who attended her, and as none were so constantly with her as Periander, he was the first who suffered, not because the poisons and witcheries of the wicked Jewess worked directly upon him, but because the grief and sorrow he felt to see her condition, reduced him nearly to a similar state, and thus he fell away so much, that those who were about him began to fear for his life as well as hers. Hippolyta seeing this, and seeing that her vile practices were turning against herself, guessed at once from whence the sickness of Periander had arisen, and tried to find a remedy by giving one to Auristella, who, reduced to a shadow, livid and ghastly, seemed hovering on the very verge of death, and every moment expecting that its gates would open to receive her, desired to prepare the way for her soul's departure by receiving the sacrament as she had been instructed in the Catholic faith, and therefore taking the proper steps with the utmost devotion in her power, she gave tokens of her good and virtuous way of thinking, and proved the purity of her manners and heart. She showed that she had learned thoroughly the lessons she had been taught since she came to Rome, and resigning herself to God's will, she felt calm and composed in spirit, and forgot kingdoms, thrones, and grandeurs. Hippolyta then, having as I before said, seen, that if Auristella died, Periander would die too, hastened to the Jewess to desire that she would moderate the spell which was consuming Auristella's life, or cease the charm altogether, for she did not wish to be the cause of destroying three lives with one blow, since Auristella dying, Periander would die, and Periander dying, she also would lose her life. The Jewess obeyed, as if the health or sickness of others was in her power, as if all the evils we meet with as chastisement, did not depend on God's will; but God, as a punishment for our own sins, permits the agency of what is called witchcraft, in destroying health, by the use of poisons and mixtures, which in process of time take away life from those they wish to kill, without any remedy to escape the danger, because the cause remains unknown, and no one can guess the reason of such mortal sickness, and so for the cure of such great evils, God's mercy is the only medicine.