"Jane, I have come to take you with me."
"No!—oh, no! I am accursed! I must not accompany you!" sobbed the young girl.
"What nonsense, child. You have been abducted from my house and brought here against your will. Come with me; I will bring you away, or else die with you!"
"Not for any price," groaned Jane. "Go—leave this place, and let me die! I cannot live any longer—the shame kills me."
"Jane, do not speak so. Jane, my Jane, do you really refuse to accompany me?"
"God forgive me if I do wrong; I cannot leave you," she murmured, as she threw herself into the young man's arms.
But at this moment the coarse songs sounded again, and a man entered the hall. It was Benedetto!