Zicci | Page 9

a general to his army. The least disobedience, the
least hesitation, and the offender was at once dismissed. He was a man
who sought tools, and never made confidants.
Zicci remained for a considerable time motionless and thoughtful. The
hand of the clock before him pointed to the first hour of morning. The
solemn voice of the timepiece aroused him from his revery.
"One sand more out of the mighty hour-glass," said he, rising; "one
hour nearer to the last! I am weary of humanity. I will enter into one of
the countless worlds around me." He lifted the arras that clothed the
walls, and touching a strong iron door (then made visible) with a
minute key which he wore in a ring, passed into an inner apartment
lighted by a single lamp of extraordinary lustre. The room was small; a
few phials and some dried herbs were ranged in shelves on the wall,
which was hung with snow-white cloth of coarse texture. From the
shelves Zicci selected one of the phials, and poured the contents into a
crystal cup. The liquid was colorless, and sparkled rapidly up in
bubbles of light; it almost seemed to evaporate ere it reached his lips.
But when the strange beverage was quaffed, a sudden change was

visible in the countenance of Zicci: his beauty became yet more
dazzling, his eyes shone with intense fire, and his form seemed to grow
more youthful and ethereal.

CHAPTER V.
The next day, Glyndon bent his steps towards Zicci's palace. The young
man's imagination, naturally inflammable, was singularly excited by
the little he had seen and heard of this strange being; a spell he could
neither master nor account for, attracted him towards the stranger.
Zicci's power seemed mysterious and great, his motives kindly and
benevolent, yet his manners chilling and repellant. Why at one moment
reject Glyndon's acquaintance, at another save him from danger? How
had Zicci thus acquired the knowledge of enemies unknown to
Glyndon himself? His interest was deeply roused, his gratitude
appealed to; he resolved to make another effort to conciliate Zicci.
The signor was at home, and Glyndon was admitted into a lofty saloon,
where in a few moments Zicci joined him.
"I am come to thank you for your warning last night," said he, "and to
entreat you to complete my obligation by informing me of the quarter
to which I may look for enmity and peril."
"You are a gallant, Mr. Glyndon," said Zicci, with a smile; "and do you
know so little of the South as not to be aware that gallants have always
rivals?"
"Are you serious?" said Glyndon, coloring.
"Most serious. You love Isabel di Pisani; you have for rival one of the
most powerful and relentless of the Neapolitan princes. Your danger is
indeed great."
"But, pardon me, how came it known to you?"
"I give no account of myself to mortal man," replied Zicci, haughtily;

"and to me it matters not whether you regard or scorn my warning."
"Well, if I may not question you, be it so; but at least advise me what to
do."
"You will not follow my advice."
"You wrong me! Why?"
"Because you are constitutionally brave; you are fond of excitement
and mystery; you like to be the hero of a romance. I should advise you
to leave Naples, and you will disdain to do so while Naples contains a
foe to shun or a mistress to pursue."
"You are right," said the young Englishman, with energy; "and you
cannot reproach me for such a resolution."
"No, there is another course left to you. Do you love Isabel di Pisani
truly and fervently? If so, marry her, and take a bride to your native
land."
"Nay," answered Glyndon, embarrassed. "Isabel is not of my rank; her
character is strange and self-willed; her education neglected. I am
enslaved by her beauty, but I cannot wed her."
Zicci frowned.
"Your love, then, is but selfish lust; and by that love you will be
betrayed. Young man, Destiny is less inexorable than it appears. The
resources of the great Ruler of the Universe are not so scanty and so
stern as to deny to men the divine privilege of Free Will; all of us can
carve out our own way, and God can make our very contradictions
harmonize with His solemn ends. You have before you an option.
Honorable and generous love may even now work out your happiness
and effect your escape; a frantic and interested passion will but lead
you to misery and doom."
"Do you pretend, then, to read the Future?"

"I have said all that it pleases me to utter."
"While you assume the moralist to me, Signor Zicci," said Glyndon,
with a smile, "if report says true you do not