'Unspeakably!' murmured Aliande, hiding her blushing cheek in the bosom of her faithful foster-mother.
'Does your heart suggest no wish yet ungratified?'
'Only one!' timidly answered the lovely bride.
'Yet one?' rejoined the astonished Hiorba. 'Thus it is with poor mortals. Upon the highest pinnacle of earthly happiness they are still tormented by insatiable aspirations. Confide your secret wish to me, my daughter.'
'During the bridal supper, as my husband was giving a rapid sketch of his knightly adventures, and painting the charms of the various damsels he had saved, in glowing colors, I began to fear that I--perhaps soon--might be no longer the only object of his love.'
'Already jealous, Aliande, on this your bridal night!....'
'Death, rather than a rival!'
'What is your wish of me?' asked Hiorba.
'To relieve me from the torture of uncertainty, I desire a faithful monitor which shall inform me when Ryno kneels before strange altars, that I may win back the idol of my heart with redoubled love, or,--learn to despise and scorn the inconstant.'
'An unfriendly star rules over both you and me,' said Hiorba in a desponding tone. 'I am convinced that the fulfilment of this wish will make you most miserable, and yet I am constrained by a power greater than my own to grant it.'