Zanoni — Edward Bulwer-Lytton

Haste, haste; and may love supply the loss of all that it has dared to sacrifice! Come.” Viola hesitated no more. She threw her mantle over her shoulders, and gathered up her dishevelled hair; a moment, and she was prepared, when a sudden crash was heard below. “Too late! —fool that I was, too late!” cried Zanoni, in a sharp tone of agony, as he hurried to the door. He opened it, only to be borne back by the press of armed men. The room literally swarmed with the followers of the ravisher, masked, and armed to the teeth. Viola was already in the grasp of two of the myrmidons. Her shriek smote the ear of Zanoni. He sprang forward; and Viola heard his wild cry in a foreign tongue. She saw the blades of the ruffians pointed at his breast! She lost her senses; and when she recovered, she found herself gagged, and in a carriage that was driven rapidly, by the side of a masked and motionless figure. The carriage stopped at the portals of a gloomy mansion. The gates opened noiselessly ; a broad flight of steps, brilliantly illumined, was before her. She was in the palace of the Prince di .

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CHAPTER XIV.

Ma lasciamo, per Dio, Signore, ormai Di parlar @’ ira,e di cantar di morte.! Orl. Fur., Canto xvii xvii.

THE young actress was led to, and left alone in a chamber adorned with all the luxurious and half-Eastern taste that at one time characterized the palaces of the great seigneurs of Italy. Her first thought was for Zanoni. Was he yet living? Had he escaped unscathed the blades of the foe, — her new treasure, the new light of her life, her lord, at last her lover? She had short time for reflection. She heard steps approaching the chamber; she drew back, but trembled not. A courage not of herself, never known before, sparkled in her eyes, and dilated her stature. Living or dead, she would be faithful still to Zanoni! There was a new motive to the preservation of honor. The door opened, and the prince entered in the gorgeous and gaudy costume still worn at that time in Naples. “ Fair and cruel one,” said he, advancing with a halfsneer upon his lip, “thou wilt not too harshly blame the viclence of love.” He attempted to take her hand as he spoke. “Nay,” said he, as she recoiled, “reflect that thou art now in the power of one that never faltered in the pursuit of an object less dear to him than thou art.

1 But leave me, I solemnly conjure thee, signor, to speak of wrath, and to sing of death.

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Thy lover, presumptuous though he be, is not by to save thee. Mine thou art; but instead of thy master, suffer me to be thy slave.” “Prince,” said Viola, with a stern gravity, “ your boast is in vain. Your power! I am mot in your power. Life and death are in my own hands. I will not defy; but Ido not fear you. I fee! —andin some feelings,” added Viola, with a solemnity almost thrilling, “there is all the strength, and all the divinity of knowledge — I feel that I am safe even here; but you — you, Prince di , have brought danger to your home and hearth! ” The Neapolitan seemed startled by an earnestness and boldness he was but little prepared for. He was not, however, a man easily intimidated or deterred from any purpose he had formed; and, approaching Viola, he was about to reply with much warmth, real or affected, when a knock was heard at the door of the chamber. The sound was repeated, and the prince, chafed at the interruption, opened the door and demanded impatiently who had ventured to disobey his orders, and invade his leisure. Mascari presented himself, pale and agitated: ‘My lord,” said he, in a whisper, “ pardon me; but a stranger is below, who insists on seeing you; and, from some words he let fall, I judged it advisable even to infringe your commands.” “A stranger! —and at this hour! What business can he pretend? Why was he even admitted ? ” “He asserts that your life is in imminent danger. The source whence it proceeds he will relate to your Excellency alone.” The prince frowned; but his color changed. He mused a moment, and then, re-entering the chamber and advancing towards Viola, he said, —

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