“It is a delightfully quiet and secluded place. You are in the city, and yet might fancy yourself in a desert.”
“Forests and cliffs are not the only resorts of the solitary. The unfortunate are alone everywhere.”
“What succession of events brought you to this retreat? Are you a native of this country?”
“I was born on the sea-coast in the principality of Oneglia, and have only lived here fifteen years. As to my history, it is only one long succession of calamities.”
“Have you always lived alone?”
“I lost my parents in my infancy, and do not remember them. I had one sister who died two years ago. I never had a friend.”
“Poor man!”
“It was the will of God.”
“What is your name, pray?”
“Ah! my name is a terrible one! I call myself The Leper! No one in the wide world knows the name I derived from my family, or that which I received on the day of my baptism. I am The Leper, and this is the only title I have to human kindness. May it remain for ever unknown who I am!”