his whole heart, he revealed what Barbara had been to him, and how,
unable to control his rage, he had rushed upon him when he thought he
had discovered, in the man who had just asked him to go far away from
the woman he loved, her betrayer.

After this explanation, Quijada had acquiesced in the knight's wish that
he should give him the office offered on that luckless evening, and he
now felt disposed also to intrust to him further negotiations with the
singer.

In the report made to the Emperor, Don Luis suppressed everything which
could offend him; but Charles remained immovable in his determination to
withdraw the expected gift of Fate, from its first entrance into the
world, from every influence except his own. Moreover, he threatened that
if the blinded girl continued to refuse to enter the convent and yield up
the child, he would withdraw his aid from both. After a sleepless night,
however, he remarked, on the following morning, that he perceived it to
be his duty, whatever might happen, to assume the care of the child who
was entitled to call him its father. What he would do for the mother
must depend upon her future conduct. This was another instance how every
trespass of the bounds of the moral order which the Church ordains and
hallows entails the most sorrowful consequences even here below.
Precisely because he was so strongly attached to this unfortunate woman,
once so richly gifted, he desired to offer her the opportunity to obtain
pardon from Heaven, and therefore insisted upon her retiring to the
convent. His own guilt was causing him great mental trouble and, in
fact, notwithstanding the arduous labour imposed upon him by the war, the
most melancholy mood again took possession of him.

The day before his departure to join the army which was gathered near by