not like the lovers I wished to provide her with. She has taken refuge in a cloister near Trajan's pillar, and the abbey refuses to deliver her up to me. But just mention your name at the door, and the gipsy will leap into your arms: for she can dream and think of nothing but you, so much has her silly heart been bewitched since that night on which you met her in my cottage in the forest. Indeed I am glad to be quit of her. I have got a better sort of person to keep me company in my declining years. Farewell, young man; go to your Crescentia, and may you be happy with her."
Antonio carried with him all the letters, the child's clothes, and the other proofs of her identity. As he was leaving the house he met Berecynth at the door. A storm passing ewer at the time, showed who it was that was abroad; but the young man never perceived it, so light of heart was be as he winged his way to the parents of Crescentia.
The happy parents were soon convinced that the twin-sister of Crescentia was still alive; and on the following morning her father took her from the cloister. The maiden's joy was unspeakable in being restored to her parents, and in again finding the youth to whom she had given up her whole heart from the moment she first saw him in the forest.
Shortly after this she and Antonio were married, and went to reside with Podesta. and his wife in the neighbourhood of Naples. In the happiness and repose of love, Antonio forgot the afflictions of his youth; and in their children and grandchildren the parents were recompensed for the loss of their beautiful and deeply-beloved Crescentia.[1]
- ↑ Pietro d'Abano, so called from his birthplace, a small village near Padua, was a real personage, and flourished during the 13th century. Like most others at that period, whose knowledge surpassed that of the vulgar, he got the credit of being a sorcerer;—but in reality he was no inconsiderable philosopher, and is known in the history of philosophy under the title of the Conciliator.
