Which shows what was the conversation that passed between Periander and Auristella.

Many and long were the disputes among our little band of pilgrims, whether the marriage of Isabella Castrucho, effected by so many devices and so much deceit, was valid or not. Periander oftentimes repeated that it was so, for that it was not their business to search into the case, but the thing which had displeased him was the mingling of baptism, marriage, and funeral together, and the ignorance of the physician, who had not been skilful enough to see through the trick of Isabella, nor to perceive the danger of her uncle. Sometimes they discoursed upon these matters, at others they retraced their past dangers. Croriano and Ruperta were eagerly trying to discover who Periander and Auristella could be, but they could not succeed in this; Constance and Antonio they also knew nothing of. They had known who the three French ladies were from the first commencement of their acquaintance.

By easy journeys they reached Aqua-pendente, a place near Rome. As they approached the town Periander and Auristella went on a little in advance of the others, out of hearing, and Periander spoke thus:—"You know well, dear lady, that the reasons which made us leave our own country and our royalty were as good as they were necessary. Already is the air of Rome playing on our cheeks, and the hopes that have supported us are beating in our hearts; already it seems to me that I am in possession of the beloved object so long desired. Look well, O Lady, whether your feelings still remain unchanged; scrutinize well your heart, and see if it is still firm and true to its first intentions, or will be after you have fulfilled your vow, which I doubt not that it will, for your royal blood cannot deceive nor give false promises. Let me then hear you say, O lovely Sigismunda, that the Periander you see before you, is the Persiles that you saw in the palace of my royal father; the same Persiles who pledged his word to you to be your husband there, and who would gladly fulfil that promise in the Deserts of Lybia, should our adverse fortune take us there."

Auristella looked wonderingly at him, listening attentively to all he said. She marvelled how Periander could doubt her truth, and said to him:—"O Persiles, in all my life I have never loved but one, that one has been yourself. It is now two years since I gave my heart to you, not perforce, but of my own free-will, and it is as firm and true now as it was the first day I made you master of it. If it were possible that my affection could have increased, it would have done so among the many wanderings and dangers we have gone through together; it gives pleasure to me to hear that you are unchanged in yours for me, and in accomplishing my vow I shall willingly fulfil my promise to you; but tell me, what are we to do afterwards, since we are still bound by the same constraint, and still under the dominion of the same yoke that is about our necks? We are far distant from our homes, and known to none in these countries, without any support to cling to in our need. I do not speak thus, because I lack the courage to suffer any inconveniences or distresses, since it will be with you, but I say it because any trouble you may be in will be mine also; until now my heart has suffered alone, henceforward it will suffer for itself and for you, though I am wrong to talk of two hearts, for are not ours but one?"

"Lady," replied Periander, "why should we not be the fabricators of our own fortune? they say every man makes his own from beginning to end. I will not answer for what I may do after our happy fate has united us; the inconvenience of our present divided state will soon be over, when we are one; there are fields enough where we can maintain ourselves, cottages wherein we may find shelter and clothes to cover us; for as to the happiness two souls made one, can feel, it is as you say unequalled by any other, and we could not enjoy this more beneath the gilded roofs of a palace. We shall find means to let my mother know where we are, and she will not fail in finding a way to help us, and in the mean time we have an inestimable treasure in our diamond cross, and the two pearls of priceless value which you possess, and which we have no fear of losing, for who would think such treasures could be hid beneath a pilgrim's weeds?"

Here they were overtaken by the rest of their party, and the conversation ceased, which was the first they had held upon these kind of subjects; ............