which no other tie must hinder, to accomplish which I must shrink from
no hardship however severe, no humiliation however bitter. Another lay
closer to my heart, I'll allow, the words of pardon which I hoped to sue
forth from the dearest lips in all the world--for I could never hope to
be happy until the being whom, most loving, I had most offended could
consent to assure me of my peace. This, however, I resolutely put by as
a selfish pleasure which I must not expect to enjoy until I had earned
it. However natural might be the impulse which urged me to find Aurelia,
fall at her feet, anoint them with my tears, I must withstand it until I
could be sure of her honour saved. Now, was that surety to be gained
first from her or first from her wrathful husband?

I turned to the custode, who stood smiling and rubbing his chin in my
doorway. I said, "Beppo, I am in great perplexity. It is idle to deny
that I am the immediate cause of all this misery, for you know it as
well as I do."

He said that he had guessed something of what I was so good as to tell
him. "There was, as I understand, a little misadventure with a cupboard
door," he said; "but who can contend with Fate?"

"It has been my fate," I said, "to bring ruin upon the lady whom I
adore. My sin is worse than that of Hophni and Phineas, and I would that
the requital might be as theirs was, save that I can make it more bitter
yet."

"Why," says he, "what was done to those gentlemen?" I told him that they
were slain with the sword; to which he replied that, so far as he had
ever heard, the doctor was nothing of a swordsman, and that he knew I
had some proficiency in fence. "I hope then," he added, "that your