have moved me?
An angel once companion'd me,
An angel in pity lov'd me]

he sang.

"Hideous, an outcast, penniless, she blessed my lonely years. Ah! I
lost her, I lost her. Death wafted her soul to heaven!--But thou art
left me," he said tenderly, beginning to weep.

"There, father, say no more. My questions have made thee sad. I shall
always be with thee to make thee happy. But, father, I do not know
that you are what you tell me. What is your real name? Is it
Rigoletto?"

"No matter, child, do not question. I am feared and hated by my
enemies. Let that suffice."

"But ever since we came to this place three months ago, you have
forbidden me to go abroad. Let me go into the city, father, and see
the sights."

"Never! You must not ask it." He was frightened at the very thought.
If men like the Duke, his master, should see such a beautiful girl as
Gilda, they would surely rob him of her. At that moment the nurse,
Giovanna, came from the house and Rigoletto asked her if the garden
gate was ever left open while he was away. The woman told him falsely
that the gate was always closed.

"Ah, Giovanna, I pray you watch over my daughter when I am away," he
cried, and turned suddenly toward the gate upon hearing a noise. "Some
one is without there, now!" he cried, running in the direction of the
sound. He threw the gate wide, but saw no one, because the Duke--who
it was--had stepped aside into the shadow, and then, while Rigoletto
was without, looking up the road, he slipped within and hid behind a
tree, throwing a purse to Giovanna to bribe her to silence. Giovanna
snatched it and hid it in the folds of her gown, showing plainly that
she was not to be trusted, as Rigoletto trusted her, with his precious
daughter. There was the man whom Rigoletto had most cause to fear, who
ran off with every pretty girl he saw, and he had now found the
prettiest of them all in the dwarf's daughter.

"Have you noticed any one following Gilda?" the dwarf asked, returning
to the garden and fastening the gate behind him. "If harm should come
to my daughter it would surely kill me," he sobbed, taking Gilda in
his arms. At that the Duke, listening behind the tree, was amazed. So!
Gilda was no sweetheart of his jester; but was his daughter instead!

"Now," said Rigoletto, "I must be off, but I caution you once more;
let no one in."

"What, not even the great Duke if he should come to inquire for you?"

"The Duke least of all,"