who had dared to show his
passion openly was Bastiano, the most devoted and dearest friend of
Gabriel; but Bastiano did not please her. So, trusting in her beauty,
upheld by the mysterious hope that never deserts youth, she had resigned
herself to wait, like some princess who knows that her betrothed will
come from a far country.

On the day of the Assumption she had left her island for the first time
in her life, chance having chosen her among the maidens of the kingdom
vowed by their mothers to the special protection of the Virgin. But,
overwhelmed by the weight of a position so new to her, blushing and
confused under the eyes of an immense crowd, she had scarcely dared to
raise her wondering looks, and the splendours of the town had passed
before her like a dream, leaving but a vague remembrance.

When she perceived the presence of this handsome young man, so slenderly
and elegantly built, whose noble and calm demeanour contrasted with
the timidity and awkwardness of her other admirers, she felt herself
inwardly disturbed, and no doubt she would have believed that her prince
had come, if she had been unpleasantly struck by the poverty of his
dress. She had, nevertheless, allowed herself to listen to him longer
than she ought to have done, and she drew back with her bosom heavy,
her cheek on fire, and her heart rent by an ache that was both dull and
sharp.

"If my father does not wish me to marry him," she said to herself,
tormented by the first remorseful feeling of her life. "I shall have
done wrong to speak to him. And yet he is so handsome!"

Then she knelt before the Virgin, who was her only confidante, the poor
child having never known her mother, and tried to tell her the torments
of her soul; but she could not achieve her prayer. The thoughts became
entangled within her brain, and she surprised herself uttering strange
words. But, assuredly, the Holy Virgin must have taken pity upon her
lovely devotee, for she rose with the impression of a consoling thought,
resolved to confide everything to her father.

"I cannot have a moment's doubt," she said to herself, as she unlaced
her bodice, "of my father's affection. Well, then, if he forbids me to
speak to him, it will be for my good. And indeed, I have seen him but
this once," she added, as she threw herself upon the bed, "and now
I think of it, I consider him very bold to dare to speak to me. I am
almost inclined to laugh at him. How confidently he brought o