s bosom; and
as he bent down, his lips sought the rosy mouth: a long and burning
kiss,--danger, life, the world was forgotten! Suddenly Zanoni tore
himself from her.

"Hearest thou the wind that sighs, and dies away? As that wind, my power
to preserve thee, to guard thee, to foresee the storm in thy skies, is
gone. No matter. Haste, haste; and may love supply the loss of all that
it has dared to sacrifice! Come."

Viola hesitated no more. She threw her mantle over her shoulders, and
gathered up her dishevelled hair; a moment, and she was prepared, when a
sudden crash was heard below.

"Too late!--fool that I was, too late!" cried Zanoni, in a sharp tone of
agony, as he hurried to the door. He opened it, only to be borne back by
the press of armed men. The room literally swarmed with the followers of
the ravisher, masked, and armed to the teeth.

Viola was already in the grasp of two of the myrmidons. Her shriek smote
the ear of Zanoni. He sprang forward; and Viola heard his wild cry in
a foreign tongue. She saw the blades of the ruffians pointed at his
breast! She lost her senses; and when she recovered, she found herself
gagged, and in a carriage that was driven rapidly, by the side of a
masked and motionless figure. The carriage stopped at the portals of a
gloomy mansion. The gates opened noiselessly; a broad flight of steps,
brilliantly illumined, was before her. She was in the palace of the
Prince di --.

CHAPTER 3.XIV.

Ma lasciamo, per Dio, Signore, ormai
Di parlar d' ira, e di cantar di morte.
"Orlando Furioso," Canto xvii. xvii.

(But leave me, I solemnly conjure thee, signor, to speak of
wrath, and to sing of death.)

The young actress was led to, and left alone in a chamber adorned with
all the luxurious and half-Eastern taste that at one time characterised
the palaces of the great seigneurs of Italy. Her first thought was for
Zanoni. Was he yet living? Had he escaped unscathed the blades of the
foe,--her new treasure, the new light of her life, her lord, at last her
lover?

She had short time for reflection. She heard steps approaching the
chamber; she drew back, but trembled not. A courage not of herself,
never known before, sparkled in her eyes, and dilated her stature.
Living or dead, she would be faithful still to Zanoni! There was a new
motive to the preservation of honour. The door opened, and the prince
entered in the gorgeous and gaudy custume still worn at th