which my youth had idly languished and vainly burned."

"And to me his duty is transferred," replied the stranger. "Yonder lies,
anchored in the bay, the vessel in which Zanoni seeks a fairer home;
a little while and the breeze will rise, the sail will swell; and the
stranger will have passed, like a wind, away. Still, like the wind, he
leaves in thy heart the seeds that may bear the blossom and the fruit.
Zanoni hath performed his task,--he is wanted no more; the perfecter of
his work is at thy side. He comes! I hear the dash of the oar. You will
have your choice submitted to you. According as you decide we shall meet
again." With these words the stranger moved slowly away, and disappeared
beneath the shadow of the cliffs. A boat glided rapidly across the
waters: it touched land; a man leaped on shore, and Glyndon recognised
Zanoni.

"I give thee, Glyndon,--I give thee no more the option of happy love and
serene enjoyment. That hour is past, and fate has linked the hand that
might have been thine own to mine. But I have ample gifts to bestow
upon thee, if thou wilt abandon the hope that gnaws thy heart, and the
realisation of which even _I_ have not the power to foresee. Be thine
ambition human, and I can gratify it to the full. Men desire four things
in life,--love, wealth, fame, power. The first I cannot give thee, the
rest are at my disposal. Select which of them thou wilt, and let us part
in peace."

"Such are not the gifts I covet. I choose knowledge; that knowledge must
be thine own. For this, and for this alone, I surrendered the love of
Viola; this, and this alone, must be my recompense."

"I cannot gain say thee, though I can warn. The desire to learn does not