"Will this letter ever meet thine eyes? I know not; but it is comfort to
write to thee on the bed of death; and were it not for that horrible and
haunting thought that thou believest me--me whose very life was in thy
love--faithless and dishonoured, even death itself would be the sweeter
because it comes from the loss of thee. Yes, something tells me that
these lines will not be written in vain; that thou wilt read them yet,
when this hand is still and this brain at rest, and that then thou wilt
feel that I could not have dared to write to thee if I were not innocent;
that in every word thou wilt recognise the evidence that is strong as the
voice of thousands,--the simple but solemn evidence of faith and truth.
What! when for thee I deserted all--home, and a father's love, wealth,
and the name I had inherited from Moors who had been monarchs in their
day--couldst thou think that I had not made the love of thee the core,
and life, and principle of my very being! And one short year, could that
suffice to shake my faith?--one year of marriage, but two months of
absence? You left me, left that dear home, by the silver Xenil. For
love did not suffice to you; ambition began to stir within you, and you
called it 'love.' You said, 'It grieved you that I was poor; that you
could not restore to me the luxury and wealth I had lost.' (Alas! why
did you turn so incredulously from my assurance, that in you, and you
alone, were centred my ambition and pride?) You declared that the vain
readers of the stars had foretold at your cradle that you were
predestined to lofty honours and dazzling power, and that the prophecy
would work out its own fulfilment. You left me to seek in Madrid your
relation who had risen into the favour of a minister, and from whose love
you expected to gain an opening to your career. Do you remember how we
parted? how you kissed away my tears, and how they gushed forth again?
how again and again you said, 'Farewell!' and again and again returned as
if we could never part? And I took my babe, but a few weeks born, from
her cradle, and placed her in thy arms, and bade thee see that she had