ida is to-day. She could not cease from admiring her; she blamed the
blindness of fate which had buried this lovely jewel in the bosom of
an obscure island; she showered praises, caresses, and gifts upon my
mother, and after many indirect speeches, finally asked her parents
for her, that she might make her her lady-in-waiting. The poor people,
foreseeing in the protection of so great a lady a brilliant future for
their daughter, were weak enough to yield. That lady was your mother;
and do you know why she came thus to seek that poor innocent maiden?
Because your mother had a lover, and because she wished to make sure, in
this infamous manner, of the prince's indulgence."

"Silence, wretch!"

"Oh, your excellency will hear me out. At the beginning, my poor mother
found herself surrounded by the tenderest care: the princess could not
be parted from her for a moment; the most flattering words, the finest
clothes, the richest ornaments were hers; the servants paid her as much
respect as though she were a daughter of the house. When her parents
went to see her and to inquire whether she did not at all regret having
left them, they found her so lovely and so happy, that they blessed the
princess as a good angel sent them from God. Then the prince conceived a
remarkable affection for my mother; little by little his manners became
more familiar and affectionate. At last the princess went away for a few
days, regretting that she could not take with her her dear child, as she
called her. Then the prince's brutality knew no further barriers; he no
longer concealed his shameful plans of seduction; he spread before the
poor girl's eyes pearl necklaces and caskets of diamonds; he passed from
the most glowing passion to the blackest fury, from the humblest prayers
to the most horrible threats. The poor child was shut up in a cellar
where there was hardly a gleam of daylight, and every morning a
frightful gaoler came and threw her a bit of black bread, repeating with
oaths that it only depended upon herself to alter all this by becoming
the prince's mistress. This cruelty continued for two years. The
princess had gone on a long journey, and my mother's poor parents
believed that their daughter was still happy with her protectress.
On her return, having; no doubt fresh sins for which she needed
forgiveness, she took my mother from her dungeon, assumed the liveliest
indignation at this horrible treatment, about which she appeared to
hav