Unable longer to contend with the variety of emotions which shook her bosom and hourly preyed upon her life, she resolved, with the impulse of despair, to upbraid him for his cruelty, to unfold her love, and to die. And, half blinded with streaming tears, she committed her unhappy secret to paper, filled with the very soul of wretched passion, an appeal which no heart of marble, much less that of a fond lover, could have withstood. The conclusion was, that she had resolved to die rather than to survive the weakness of betraying her unhappy love. The young page to whom she confided the letter, conceiving from her manner that it contained something of high importance, and fearful of the result, bore it immediately to the Count, his master.
Young Castilian
It is impossible to express her father`s surprise and grief on learning the extravagance and folly of which this, his only daughter, had been guilty; but every noble spirit shunning infamy and disgrace beyond death itself, may form some idea of his sensations. In this afflicting circumstance he adopted and rejected a thousand various plans of punishing his unworthy child; but as he felt that it on sdit to be something proportionate to the intolerable pain which she had thus inflicted upon him, he first determined to try the worth and firmness of the young Castilian, and took his measures accordingly. Having carefully wrapped and sealed the letter, he returned it to the boy with orders to deliver it to Messer Aries, and having waited for a reply, to bring it immediately back to him.
These orders being promptly complied with, the young cavalier received it with a throb of ecstasy as he caught the name of his beloved; yet having already prepared his mind by strict discipline and self-control, he persevered in braving the fascinating danger. Armed strong in rectitude, he replied with all the delicacy and honor of a true knight to the lady`s letter, beseeching her in conclusion rather to inflict any kind of punishment upon him, even unto death, than tempt him either in thought or word to presume on what might offend the honor and dignity of the Count, her father.
Dreading, nevertheless, to hurt the feel- irgs of her he loved, and aware of the fatal consequences of scorned or disappointed affections in a woman`s soul, he implied the high honor and gratification he should have experienced in indulging such lofty hopes. “Would you venture,” he continued, “to throw yourself upon your father`s confidence, revealing to him every feeling of your breast (fully sensible as I am of the inequality of our lot), and were it possible that should smile upon our loves, then, only then, might we pronounce ourselves blest; but otherwise forget me—hate me; for when I dwell on the obligations I owe to your father, neither beauty nor ambition, nor any charms or treasures upon earth, shall lead me to sully, in any manner or degree, the brightness of his name.”
Read More about Turks Franks Cumans and Manichaeans part 22
