But that night and the ensuing morn were destined to wring the heart-cords of the unhappy Fernand: for the influence of the demon, though unknown and unrecognized, was dominant with Nisida. CHAPTER LVI. It was night--and Fernand was pacing the sand with even greater agitation than he had manifested during the cruel scene of the evening. He was alone on the seashore; and Nisida slept in the hut. Terrible thoughts warred in the breast of Wagner. Nisida's language had astonished and alarmed him: he was convinced that Satan himself had inspired her with those ideas, the utterance of which had nearly goaded him to madness. She had insisted on the belief that he was acquainted with the means of enabling her to return to Italy; and yet Nisida was not a mere girl--a silly, whimsical being, who would assert the wildest physical impossibilities just as caprice might prompt her. No--she really entertained that belief--but without having any ostensible grounds to establish it. "Such an impression could only have been made upon her mind by the fiend who seeks to entangle me in his meshes!" murmured Wagner to himself, as he paced the strand. "The demon has failed to tempt me as yet--thrice has he failed;--and now he musters all his force to assail me,--to assail me, too, in the most vulnerable points! But, O Heaven, give me strength to resist the dread influence thus brought to bear upon me! What course can I adopt? what plan pursue? If to-morrow must witness a renewal of that scene which occurred this evening, I shall succumb--I shall yield; in a moment of despair I shall exclaim, 'Yes, Nisida--I will sacrifice everything to acquire the power to transport thee back to Italy;'--and I shall hurry to yon mountains, and seeking their wildest defile, shall evoke the enemy of mankind, and say, 'Come, Satan, I give thee my soul in exchange for the illimitable power thou offerest.' And thus will be the terrible result--the fearful catastrophe."