herself with agitation, and when the gondola drew up at a little
chapel standing nearly by itself, she unhesitatingly accompanied
him, and knelt beside the altar where stood a priest and attendants.

"So absorbed with the various and conflicting emotions in her heart,
she uttered the responses mechanically, and when she rose, the
chapel was deserted, save by her husband and herself. Turning to
him, what was her horror at seeing not Leonarde Da Vinci, as she had
supposed, but Villani Brandini, a rejected suitor, and seeming
friend to Da Vinci, who had discovered the plan of escape by some
means, and revenged himself upon the lady in this manner. In spite
of her resistance, she was carried to Brandini's palace, from whence
in three days she escaped; and fearing her father would never grant
his forgiveness, knowing she was forever separated from the one to
whom her heart was given, she managed by the sale of several
valuable jewels which she had upon her person at the time of her
flight, to procure a passage to Naples, where she hoped to turn her
numerous accomplishments to advantage.

"Shortly after her arrival in that place, an American family, who
were in need of a governess for two little girls, met with her. Her
appearance spoke so strongly in her favor, that notwithstanding the
absence of credentials, they engaged her, and in a little while
sailed for America. When near the place of their destination, a
violent storm arose, and they were shipwrecked. The young girl was
lashed to a spar, and the last thing she remembered was, being
washed overboard by a mountain wave. She was picked up by a merchant
vessel bound for Havana. There she arrived in a state of utter
destitution, and she who was once the companion of princesses, was
obliged to sing in the street for a living, and now--"