Miss Mary. Yes. But what if your lover had failed to keep those
promises by which he was to gain your hand? what if he were a man
incapable of self-control? what if he were--a--a drunkard?

Jovita (musing). A drunkard! (Aside.) There was Diego, he was a
drunkard; but he was faithless. (Aloud.) You mean a weak,
faithless drunkard?

Miss Mary. No! (Sadly.) Faithless only to himself, but devoted--
yes, devoted to YOU.

Jovita. Miss Mary, I have found that one big vice in a man is apt
to keep out a great many smaller ones.

Miss Mary. Yes; but if he were a slave to liquor?

Jovita. My dear, I should try to change his mistress. Oh, give me
a man that is capable of a devotion to anything, rather than a
cold, calculating average of all the virtues!

Miss Mary (aside). I, who aspire to be her teacher, am only her
pupil. (Aloud.) But what if, in this very drunkenness, this
recklessness, he had once loved and worshipped another woman? What
if you discovered all this after--after--he had won your heart?

Jovita. I should adore him! Ah, Miss Mary! Love differs from all
the other contagious diseases: the last time a man is exposed to
it, he takes it most readily, and has it the worst! But you, YOU
cannot sympathize with me. You have some lover, the ideal of the
virtues; some man as correct, as well regulated, as calm as--