circumstance that the murderer seemed to my eyes of an inferior height
to Gerald, and that the person whom I had pursued on the night I had
received that wound which brought Isora to my bedside, and who, it was
natural to believe, was my rival, appeared to me not only also slighter
and shorter than Gerald, but of a size that seemed to tally with the
murderer's.

This solitary circumstance, which contradicted my other impressions,
was, I say, more effectual in making me dismiss the thought of personal
revenge on Gerald than the motives which virtue and religion should have
dictated. The deep desire of vengeance is the calmest of all the
passions, and it is the one which most demands certainty to the reason,
before it releases its emotions and obeys their dictates. The blow
which was to do justice to Isora I had resolved should not be dealt till
I had obtained the most utter certainty that it fell upon the true
criminal. And thus, though I cherished through all time and through all
change the burning wish for retribution, I was doomed to cherish it in
secret, and not for years and years to behold a hope of attaining it.
Once only I vented my feelings upon Gerald. I could not rest or sleep
or execute the world's objects till I had done so; but when they were
thus once vented, methought I could wait the will of time with a more
settled patience, and I re-entered upon the common career of life more
externally fitted to fulfil its duties and its aims.

That single indulgence of emotion followed immediately after my
resolution of not forcing Gerald into bodily contest. I left my sword,
lest I might be tempted to forget my determination. I rode to Devereux
Court; I entered Gerald's chamber, while my horse stood unstalled at the
gate. I said but few words, but each word was a volume. I told him to
enjoy the fortune he had acquired by fraud, and the conscience he had