The fisherman wiped away a burning tear.  “One day, before we were born, a fine lady, richly dressed, landed in our island from a splendid boat; she asked to see my mother, who was as young and beautiful as my Nisida is to-day.  She could not cease from admiring her; she blamed the blindness of fate which had buried this lovely jewel in the bosom of an obscure island; she showered praises, caresses, and gifts upon my mother, and after many indirect speeches, finally asked her parents for her, that she might make her her lady-in-waiting.  The poor people, foreseeing in the protection of so great a lady a brilliant future for their daughter, were weak enough to yield.  That lady was your mother; and do you know why she came thus to seek that poor innocent maiden?  Because your mother had a lover, and because she wished to make sure, in this infamous manner, of the prince’s indulgence.”

“Silence, wretch!”

“Oh, your excellency will hear me out.  At the beginning, my poor mother found herself surrounded by the tenderest care:  the princess could not be parted from her for a moment; the most flattering words, the finest clothes, the richest ornaments were hers; the servants paid her as much respect as though she were a daughter of the house.  When her parents went to see her and to inquire whether she did not at all regret having left them, they found her so lovely and so happy, that they blessed the princess as a good angel sent them from God.  Then the prince conceived a remarkable affection for my mother; little by little his manners became more familiar and affectionate.  At last the princess went away for a few days, regretting that she could not take with her her dear child, as she called her.  Then the prince’s brutality knew no further barriers; he no longer concealed his shameful plans of seduction; he spread before the poor girl’s eyes pearl necklaces and caskets of diamonds; he passed from the most glowing passion to the blackest fury, from the humblest prayers to the most horrible threats.  The poor child was shut up in a cellar where there was hardly a gleam of daylight, and every morning a frightful gaoler came and threw her a bit of black bread, repeating with oaths that it only depended upon herself to alter all this by becoming the prince’s mistress.  This cruelty continued for two years.  The princess had gone on a long journey, and my mother’s poor parents believed that their daughter was still happy with her protectress.  On her return, having; no doubt fresh sins for which she needed forgiveness, she took my mother from her dungeon, assumed the liveliest indignation at this horrible treatment, about which she appeared to have known nothing, wiped her tears, and by an abominable refinement of perfidy received the thanks of the victim whom she was about to sacrifice.