“It is indeed a long weary time, and it has changed you much, Antonio.”
“In all things else, perhaps, but not in my devotion to you. But you are paler, Zara, than when we parted, and your voice is more low and melancholy than I have ever heard it. I fear you have not lived happily as you were wont. A soldier’s mistress should never repine at his absence.”
“I could not be gay, while Greek swords were striking for liberty, and while you, Antonio, were hazarding your life; but now that you are here, and I listen to you and see you.”——
——“And feel this warm kiss upon your cheek.”——
“I am happy indeed.”
“You have lived too much in your own sad fancies, and while I remain I must contrive some diversion for you. Suppose we excite a conspiracy in Scio, by way of amusement.”
“Oh delightful!”
“Yes, and so romantic. You shall assume the manly toga; the costume of an Albanian chief will become that dark beauty of yours right well; and with your eloquence of words and looks we shall soon get up an insurrection. To tell the truth, Zara,” he continued more seriously, “it was not love alone that brought me here; our cause is going forward nobly, and the Sciots must give to it all their strength and influence. These degenerate countrymen of ours must be awakened from their lethargy, and I have come to rouse them.” And thus, from trifling to serious, from serious to trifling, he wandered on, and Zara was sad no longer.
Time passed, and Antonio had not appealed to his countrymen in vain. The Sciots responded to his call, and were only waiting a favorable opportunity to evince their patriotism. At this juncture, history informs us that two adventurers, with troops from Samos, landed on the island. The Sciots rose. A considerable force sent out against them was repulsed, and the whole body of the Turks were finally driven into the citadel and there besieged. The Greeks, however, had no means of securing their advantage from want of cannon to batter down the walls, and they were forced to wait in anxious suspense, till artillery might be sent them from abroad. Their hopes were frustrated, and all their plans destroyed by the arrival of a Turkish fleet of fifty sail, which anchored in the bay, and immediately began to bombard the town. Their faithless allies, the Samians, at the first appearance of the enemy, had deserted them, and sought safety in flight. Under the guns of the castle thousands of Turkish troops were disembarked. Some resistance was attempted, but all resistance was in vain. Hordes of barbarians rolled on and thronged the coast, fit instruments for the horrible tragedy which had been planned in the divan of the sultan, and was now soon to be enacted.
That day had worn wearily with Zara. Hour after hour she had heard the firing of cannon from the fleet; she knew that the Turks were landing; she had seen at a distance, troops passing and re-passing across the country, and her lover came not. A thousand doubts, a thousand misgivings, harassed her mind. The sun had set, and yet she had received no tidings from Antonio. The booming of the cannon broke incessantly on her ear, and sounded like a knell to all her hopes. Her anxiety was now increased to agony. Her heart beat with joy as she heard a quick step along the corridor. It approached the apartment. Was that her lover’s step? The door opened, and a stranger stood before her.