Whereupon the
Eremite himself, fetching a load of fresh rushes, arranged them in one
of the cells, and invited the fair Iduna to repose. The daughter of
Hunniades, first humbling herself before the altar of the Virgin, and
offering her gratitude for all the late mercies vouchsafed unto her,
and then bidding a word of peace to her host and her companion,
withdrew to her hard-earned couch, soon was buried in a sleep as sweet
and innocent as herself.
But repose fell not upon the eye-lids of Nicaeus in spite of all
labours. The heart of the Athenian Prince was distracted by two most
powerful of passions -- Love and Jealousy -- and when the Eremite,
pointing out to his guest his allotted resting-place, himself retired
to his regular and simple slumbers, Nicaeus quitted the cavern, and
standing upon the bank of the river, gazed in abstraction upon the
rushing waters foaming in the moonlight. The Prince of Athens, with
many admirable qualities, was one of those men who are influenced only
by their passions, and who, in the affairs of life, are invariably
guided by their imagination instead of their reason.
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