Struggling, stumbling, and rising again, he at last reached the spot where Isabella stood, caught her hand in his, and said, “Do you know me, Isabella?  I am Richard, your betrothed.”  “Well do I know you,” said Isabella, “if indeed you are not a phantom come to trouble my repose.”  Her parents also examined his features attentively, and saw that this captive was indeed Richard.  As for him, weeping at Isabella’s feet, he implored her not to let the strange garb he wore prevent her recognising him, nor his low fortune impede the fulfilment of the pledges exchanged between them.  In spite of the impression which the letter from Richard’s mother had made on her memory, Isabella chose rather to believe the living evidence before her eyes; and embracing the captive, she said, “Without doubt, my lord and master, you are he who alone could hinder the fulfilment of my Christian determination; you are without doubt the half of my soul; my own betrothed! your image is stamped upon my memory, and treasured in my heart.  The news of your death, sent me by your lady mother, not having killed me on the spot, I resolved to dedicate myself to religion, and I was just about to enter this convent for the rest of my days; but since God has shown us by so just an impediment that he wills otherwise, it is not for me to refuse obedience.  Come, senor, to the house of my parents, which is yours, and there I will give myself to you in the way which our holy catholic faith prescribes.”

This dialogue, overheard by the spectators, struck them all with amazement.  The chief justice and the vicar-general immediately demanded what was all this ado, who was this stranger, and what marriage was this they talked about.  Isabella’s father replied, that what they had seen was the sequel of a story which required a different place for the telling of it; therefore, he begged that all who desired to hear it should turn back to his house, which was close by, and there he would fully satisfy their curiosity, and fill them with wonder at the strange things he should relate.

Just then one of the crowd cried out, “Senors, this young man is the great English corsair.  It is not much more than two years since he took from the Algerine corsairs the great Portuguese galleon from the Indies.  There is not the least doubt that he is the very man; I know him, because he set me at liberty, and gave me money to carry me to Spain, and not me only, but three hundred other captives likewise.”  These words increased the general excitement and the desire to see all these intricate matters cleared up.  Finally, the principal persons of the city, with the chief justice and the vicar-general, went back with Isabella to her father’s house, leaving the nuns sorely discomfited, and crying with vexation at the loss they had sustained in not having the beautiful Isabella to grace their nunnery.  The company being arrived at the house of Isabella’s father, she made them be seated in a long hall, and though Richard would willingly have taken it upon himself to tell his story, yet he thought it better to trust it to Isabella’s tongue than to his own, which was not very expert in speaking Spanish.  Accordingly she began her narration in the midst of profound silence and attention.