Her presence caused Fernand to forget his sorrow--to forget that he was in a dungeon--to forget, also, the tremendous charge that hung over his head. For never had his Nisida appeared to him so marvelously beautiful as he now beheld her, disguised in the graceful garb of a cavalier of that age. Though tall, majestic, and of rich proportions for a woman, yet in the attire of the opposite sex she seemed slight, short, and eminently graceful. The velvet cloak sat so jauntily on her sloping shoulder;--the doublet became her symmetry so well;--and the rich lace collar was so arranged as to disguise the prominence of the chest--that voluptuous fullness which could not be compressed. At length a sudden thought struck Fernand, and he inquired, in the usual manner, how Nisida had gained access to him? "A faithful friend contrived the interview for me," she replied, with her wonted rapidity of play upon the fingers. "He led the jailer to believe that I was a German, and totally unacquainted with the Italian tongue. Thus not a word was addressed to me; and gold has opened the door which separated me from you. The same means shall secure your escape." "Dearest Nisida," signaled Wagner, "I would not escape were the door of my dungeon left open and the sentinels removed. I am innocent--and that innocence must be proved!" The lady exhibited extraordinary impatience at this reply. "You do not believe me guilty?" asked Wagner. She shook her head in a determined manner, to show how profound was her conviction of his innocence. "Then do not urge me, beloved one, to escape and be dishonored forever," was the urgent prayer he conveyed to her. "The evidence against you will be overwhelming," she gave him to understand: then with an air of the most heart appealing supplication, she added, "Escape, dearest Fernand, for my sake!" "But I should be compelled to fly from Florence--and wouldst thou accompany me?" She shook her head mournfully. "Then I will remain here--in this dungeon! If my innocence be proved, I may yet hope to call the sister of the Count of Riverola my wife: if I be condemned----" He paused:--for he knew that, even if he were sentenced to death, he could not die,--that some power, of which, however, he had only a vague notion, would rescue him,--that the compact, which gave him renewed youth and a long life on the fatal condition of his periodical transformation into a horrid monster, must be fulfilled; and, though he saw not--understood not how all this was to be, still he knew that it _would_ happen if he should really be condemned! Nisida was not aware of the motive which had checked her lover as he was conveying to her his sense of the dread alternatives before him; and she hastened to intimate to him the following thought:-- "You would say that if you be condemned, you will know how to meet death as becomes a brave man. But think of _me_--of Nisida, who loves you!" "Would you continue to love a man branded as a murderer?"