"Let them starve, die, and be forgotten; it is the common lot ofhumanity."

"It is the lot of the wild tribes of nature," said Isabella, "butchiefly of those who are destined to support themselves byrapine, which brooks no partner; but it is not the law of naturein general; even the lower orders have confederacies for mutualdefence. But mankind--the race would perish did they cease toaid each other.--From the time that the mother binds the child'shead, till the moment that some kind assistant wipes the death-damp from the brow of the dying, we cannot exist without mutualhelp. All, therefore, that need aid, have right to ask it oftheir fellow-mortals; no one who has the power of granting canrefuse it without guilt."

"And in this simple hope, poor maiden," exclaimed the Solitary, "thouhast come into the desert, to seek one whose wish it were thatthe league thou hast spoken of were broken for ever, and that, invery truth, the whole race should perish? Wert thou notfrightened?"

"Misery," exclaimed Isabella, firmly, "is superior to fear."

"Hast thou not heard it said in thy mortal world, that I haveleagued myself with other powers, deformed to the eye andmalevolent to the human race as myself? Hast thou not heardthis--And dost thou seek my cell at midnight?"