"The thought of my Constantia, which for some years has been my only
happiness, is now become a greater torment to me than I am able to
bear. Must I then live to see you another's? The streams, the
fields, and meadows, where we have so often talked together, grow
painful to me; life itself is become a burden. May you long be
happy in the world, but forget that there was ever such a man in it
as

"THEODOSIUS."


This letter was conveyed to Constantia that very evening, who
fainted at the reading of it; and the next morning she was much more
alarmed by two or three messengers that came to her father's house,
one after another, to inquire if they had heard anything of
Theodosius, who, it seems, had left his chamber about midnight, and
could nowhere be found. The deep melancholy which had hung upon his
mind some time before made them apprehend the worst that could
befall him. Constantia, who knew that nothing but the report of her
marriage could have driven him to such extremities, was not to he
comforted. She now accused herself for having so tamely given an
ear to the proposal of a husband, and looked upon the new lover as
the murderer of Theodosius. In short, she resolved to suffer the
utmost effects of her father's displeasure rather than comply with a
marriage which appeared to her so full of guilt and horror. The
father, seeing himself entirely rid of Theodosius, and likely to
keep a considerable portion in his family, was not very much
concerned at the obstinate refusal of his daughter, and did not find
it very difficult to excuse himself upon that account to his
intended son-in-law, who had all along regarded this alliance rather