Page:The Mysterious Warning - Parsons (1796, volume 3).djvu/227

 At the door, reclining on a kind of sofa, lay Heli; the noise of the horses made him start: Discerning who they were, he hastened to meet them.

"Ah!" cried he, "never more wished for, nor more welcome. The prophet has sent you to my wishes, or this night I should have sent for you."

"Have you then particularly wanted us?" asked Ferdinand.

"Yes," replied Heli.—"Strange things have happened; but come into this little room, and I will unfold the whole to you."

As they dismounted and entered, the Count asked for Fatima.

"Ah! the ingrate," cried he; "she is but too well, I believe."

This reply induced them to suppose she had behaved ill, if not deserted him; but they waited a farther explanation from him; and when they were seated, he thus began, addressing Ferdinand, as the Count was not so well acquainted with the language.