The inns at Lucca are large enough to lodge a whole regiment of soldiers; in one of these our pilgrims took up their abode, being directed thither by some of the guardians of the city gates, who delivered them to the host, so that on the morrow, or when they departed, he would have to give up an account of them. As they entered, the lady Ruperta saw a person coming out who looked like a doctor, and saying so to the hostess, she replied, that he was one. "I do not know, lady," said she, "whether the young lady is mad, or possessed by the evil one, or rather whether she is not both mad and possessed; and yet I have hopes of her recovery, if her uncle is not in too great a hurry to take her away."

"Ah! good Heavens!" cried Ruperta, "and have we then got into a house of mad and possessed people; if it be so, we had much better not enter here."

"Your ladyship may alight without fear," said the hostess; "and I can assure you anybody might come a hundred miles to see the sight we have in this inn." They all alighted, and Auristella and Constance, who had heard what the hostess said, asked her what she had so very well worth seeing in her house.

"Come with me," said the hostess, "and you shall see what you shall see, and you will say what I say."

She led the way, and they followed her into a room, where, on a gilded bed, was lying a very beautiful girl, seemingly not above sixteen or seventeen years of age; her arms were extended on either side, and tied with fillets to the balustrade of the bedstead, to prevent her moving them. Two women, who appeared to be nurses, were going to fasten her legs in a similar way, but she cried out, "It is enough to tie my arms: my own modesty will be sufficient restraint for the rest;" and then turning to the pilgrims, she said in a loud voice, "ye heavenly creatures, ye angels in human form, I doubt not but that you come to restore me to health, for what else can I expect from your beauteous presence and Christian-like visitation. If ye be what I take ye for, command them to untie these bands, for if I do give myself four or five blows it will be all I shall do, and will not hurt me much, for I am not so mad as I seem, nor he who torments me, so cruel as to torment me to death."

"Poor thing! poor niece!" said an old man, who now entered the apartment; "and what is he whom thou sayest will not let thee die? Commend thyself to God, Isabella, and try to eat,—not thine own fair flesh, but what thy uncle, who loves thee dearly, brings to thee:—that which flies in the air, that which lives in the water, that which feeds upon the earth, all this I would offer to thee."

To which the girl answered, "Let me be left alone with these angels; perhaps my enemy, the devil, will fly from me, rather than stay in their presence;" and she made signs with her head that Auristella, Constance, Ruperta, and Felicia Flora should remain with her. "The rest," she said, "might go." This was accordingly done with willingness, and even with entreaty, by the unhappy old man, her uncle, from whom they learned that this was the lady in green who had passed them on the road, and whose name they had heard from the servant who remained behind, was Isabella Castrucho, who was going to be married at Naples.

Hardly did the sick person find herself alone with the four ladies we have mentioned, than she looked all round the room to see if there were no others remaining. Ruperta looked and scrutinized the apartment well, and assured her that there was not a creature left but themselves; thus assured, Isabella sat up as well as she could on the bed, and seemed about to speak; but first she uttered a sigh that appeared to come from the very bottom of her heart, after which she fell back on the bed fainting, and looked so nearly dead that they were forced to call for help and for some water to bathe her face.

The miserable uncle entered, carrying a cross in one hand, and in the other a sponge dipped in holy water. With him came two priests, who, thinking that she was possessed by the evil one, began to exorcise him. The hostess also entered with water, and after bathing her face she came to herself, saying, "All these ceremonies are quite unnecessary now: I shall go away soon, but it will not be at your pleasure, but when I myself think fit, and that will be when Andrew Marulo, the son of Juan Baptista Marulo, a gentleman of this city, shall arrive here, which said Andrew is now a student at Salamanca, very little thinking of what is happening here."

All that she said only confirmed the bystanders in the opinion that she was possessed, for they could not imagine how she could know anything about Juan Baptista Marulo, or his son Andrew, and some one present hastened to tell this Juan Baptista what the fair maniac had said of him and of his son. She again entreated to be left alone with those she had before chosen. The priests crossed themselves, and left her as she desired; judging from all she had said, they concluded that she was verily possessed with an evil spirit.

Again did Felicia Flora investigate the apartment, and shutting the door, she said to the afflicted young girl, "We are alone now, lady, tell us what you wish.&q............