The door swung back, and a dark damsel looked out.
"Is it thee, Pietro ?" "It is I, Zara." He stepped in as he spoke, closed the door, took her face between his hands, and kissed both brown cheeks.

The girl's dark face lighted up into the splendor of absolute beauty as she returned his caress.
"And how is it with thee, my Zara, and thy little one ?" "It is well.

And thyself, Pietro ?" "Very well.

And the mother ?" "Ah, the mother! Poor mother! She lies as you saw her last--as you will always see her in this lower world--dead in life! And he"-- the girl Zara's eyes lighted fiercely up--"didst see him, Pietro ?" "I have seen him, spoken to him, told him the past, and terrified him for the future.

There is a son, Zara--a new-born son." "Dog and son of a dog!" Zara cried, furiously.