The captain replied, that Sinforosa had no opportunity to bestow more favours (since that was the word for the civilities of ladies) on Periander, but that in spite of the excellence of Sinforosa, he thought that she kept him much in her imagination; for after he was gone, when any one spoke of his graces and charms, she praised them up to the skies; and she had persuaded her father to send out a vessel in search of him, and make him return to his court, which more confirmed his suspicions. "What! is it possible," said Auristella, "that high-born maidens, daughters of kings, whom fortune has set in high places, should humble themselves so much as to suffer their secret thoughts to be discovered by their subjects? And seeing that it is a truth, that greatness and majesty do not agree well with love, it follows of course that Sinforosa, a princess, beautiful and free, ought not to have been captivated at first sight, by an unknown boy, whose rank could not be very exalted, when he came, the steersman of a boat, with twelve half-naked companions, as all rowers are." "Auristella, my daughter," said Maurice, "be silent, there are more miracles displayed by love than by any other human passion; so many and so wonderful are they, that they pass in silence unnoticed, however remarkable they may be. Love joins the sceptre with the shepherd's crook; greatness with low estate. It makes possible the impossible, renders different ranks equal, and is powerful as death. You, lady, well know, and so do I also, the fine qualities and rare beauty of your brother Periander; and it is the privilege of beauty to attract and subdue all hearts. Such characters as his, the more they are known, the more are they loved and esteemed; so it would be no miracle if Sinforosa, all princess though she is, should love your brother; because it is not as the simple Periander alone, that she loves, but as one in whom beauty, valour, dexterity, activity, in short every merit and accomplishment is centred." "What, then," cried the captain, "Periander is this lady's brother?" "Yes!" answered Transila, "for whose sake she lives in perpetual sadness, and all of us, her friends who love her and wish her well, and who know him also, in grief and bitterness." Then they related to him the whole story of the wreck and loss of Arnoldo's ship; the separation of the barge and skiff, with all else that was necessary to make him understand what had happened up to the present moment. And at this part of their history the author of the first volume leaves them and passes to the second, wherein things will be related which although they do not surpass truth, yet go beyond what one could conceive, since they could scarcely enter into the most lively and expansive imagination. [Illustration] BOOK II. [Illustration] [Illustration] CHAPTER I.