All the affections of his soul were turned upon Nisida, whose birth had caused her mother's death; he loved her with that immoderate love that old people have for the youngest of their children.At the present moment he was gazing upon her with an air of profound rapture, and watching her come and go, as she now joined the groups of children and scolded them for games too dangerous or too noisy;now seated herself on the grass beside their mothers and took part with grave and thoughtful interest in their talk.Nisida was more beautiful thus than she had been the day before; with the vaporous cloud of perfume that had folded her round from head to foot had disappeared all that mystic poetry which put a sort of constraint upon her admirers and obliged them to lower their glances.She had become a daughter of Eve again without losing anything of her charm.
Simply dressed, as she usually was on work-days, she was distinguishable among her companions only by her amazing beauty and by the dazzling whiteness of her skin.Her beautiful black hair was twisted in plaits around the little dagger of chased silver, that has lately been imported into Paris by that right of conquest which the pretty women of Paris have over the fashions of all countries, like the English over the sea.
Nisida was adored by her young friends, all the mothers had adopted her with pride; she was the glory of the island.The opinion of her superiority was shared by everyone to such a degree, that if some bold young man, forgetting the distance which divided him from the maiden, dared speak a little too loudly of his pretensions, he became the laughing-stock of his companions.Even the past masters of tarentella dancing were out of countenance before the daughter of Solomon, and did not dare to seek her as a partner.Only a few singers from Amalfi or Sorrento, attracted by the rare beauty of this angelic creature, ventured to sigh out their passion, carefully veiled beneath the most delicate allusions.But they seldom reached the last verse of their song; at every sound they stopped short, threw down their triangles and their mandolines, and took flight like scared nightingales.
One only had courage enough or passion enough to brave the mockery;this was Bastiano, the most formidable diver of that coast.He also sang, but with a deep and hollow voice; his chant was mournful and his melodies full of sadness.He never accompanied himself upon any instrument, and never retired without concluding his song.That day he was gloomier than usual; he was standing upright, as though by enchantment, upon a bare and slippery rock, and he cast scornful glances upon the women who were looking at him and laughing.The sun, which was plunging into the sea like a globe of fire, shed its light full upon his stern features, and the evening breeze, as it lightly rippled the billows, set the fluttering reeds waving at his feet.Absorbed by dark thoughts, he sang, in the musical language of his country, these sad words:--"O window, that wert used to shine in the night like an open eye, how dark thou art! Alas, alas! my poor sister is ill.
"Her mother, all in tears, stoops towards me and says, 'Thy poor sister is dead and buried.'
"Jesus! Jesus! Have pity on me! You stab me to the heart.
"Tell me, good neighbours, how it happened; repeat to me her last words.
"She had a burning thirst, and refused to drink because thou wast not there to give her water from thy hand.
"Oh, my sister! Oh, my sister!
"She refused her mother's kiss, because thou wast not there to embrace her.
"Oh, my sister! Oh, my sister!
"She wept until her last breath, because thou wast not there to dry her tears.
"Oh, my sister! Oh, my sister!
"We placed on her brow her wreath of orangeflowers, we covered her with a veil as white as snow; we laid her gently in her coffin.
"Thanks, good neighbours.I will go and be with her.
"Two angels came down from heaven and bore her away on their wings.
Mary Magdalene came to meet her at the gate of heaven.
"Thanks, good neighbours.I will go and be with her.
"There, she was seated in a place of glory, a chaplet of rubies was given to her, and she is singing her rosary with the Virgin.
"Thanks, good neighbours.I will go and be with her.
As he finished the last words of his melancholy refrain, he flung himself from the top of his rock into the sea, as though he really desired to engulf himself.Nisida and the other women gave a cry of terror, for during some minutes the diver failed to reappear upon the surface.
"Are you out of your senses?" cried a young man who had suddenly appeared, unobserved among the women."Why, what are you afraid of?
You know very well that Bastiano is always doing things of this sort.
But do not be alarmed: all the fishes in the Mediterranean will be drowned before any harm comes to him.Water is his natural element.
Good-day, sister; good-day, father."
The young fisherman kissed Nisida on the forehead, drew near to his father, and, bowing his handsome head before him, took off his red cap and respectfully kissed the old man's hand.He came thus to ask his blessing every evening before putting out to sea, where he often spent the night fishing from his boat.
"May God bless thee, my Gabriel!" said the old man in a tone of emotion, as he slowly passed his hand over his son's black curls, and a tear came into his eye.Then, rising solemnly and addressing the groups around him, he added in a voice full of dignity and of gentleness."Come, my children, it is time to separate.The young to work, the old to rest.There is the angelus ringing."Everybody knelt, and after a short prayer each went on his way.
Nisida, after having given her father the last daily attentions, went up to her room, replenished the oil in the lamp that burned day and night before the Virgin, and, leaning her elbow on the window ledge, divided the branches of jasmine which hung like perfumed curtains, began to gaze out at the sea, and seemed lost in a deep, sweet reverie.