s still poor and wretched, and threw myself down
at night on my hard couch, weary and worn out by the hard heavy labour
of the day, a dream used to come to me, and, fanning my hot brow with
balmy rustling breezes, shed about my heart all the inexpressible bliss
of some single happy moment, in which the Eternal Power had been
pleased to grant me in thought a glimpse of the delights of heaven, and
the memory of which was treasured up in the recesses of my soul I now
rest on soft cushions, and no labour consumes my strength: but if I
awaken out of a dream, or if in my waking hours the recollection of
that great moment returns to my mind, I feel that the lonely wretched
existence I lead is just as much an oppressive burden now as it was
then, and that it is vain for me to try and shake it off. All my
thinking and all my inquiries are fruitless; I cannot fathom what this
glorious thing is which formerly happened in my life. Its mysterious
and alas! to me, unintelligible echo, as it were, fills me with such
great happiness; but will not this happiness pass over into the most
agonising pain, and torture me to death, when I am obliged to
acknowledge that all my hope of ever finding that unknown Eden again,
nay, that even the courage to search for it, is lost? Can there indeed
remain traces of that which has vanished without leaving any sign
behind it?" Antonio ceased speaking, and a deep and painful sigh
escaped his breast.

During his narrative the old crone had behaved like one who sympathised
fully with his trouble, and felt all that he felt, and like a mirror
reflected every movement and gesture which the pain wrung from him.
"Tonino," she now began in a tearful voice, "my dear Tonino, do you
mean to tell me that you let your courage sink because the remembrance
of some glorious moment in your life has perished out of your mind? You
foolish child! You foolish child! Listen to--hi! hi! hi!" The old woman
began to chuckle and laugh in her usual disagreeable way, and to hop
about on the marble floor. Some people came; she cowered down in her
accustomed posture; they threw her alms. "Antonio--lead me away,
Antonio--away to the sea," she croaked Almost involuntarily--he could
not explain how it came about--he took her by the arm and led her
slowly across St. Mark's Square. On the way the old woman muttered
softly and solemnly, "Antonio, do you see these dark stains of blood
here on the ground? Yes, blood--much blood--much blood