The conquered have time during their flight to ponder their own case
and that of their vanquished party. At the spectacle of my noble
country, a corpse for monks to prey on, my eyes filled with tears; I
read in it the presage of Spain's gloomy future.
At Marseilles I heard of Riego's end. Painfully did it come home to me
that my life also would henceforth be a martyrdom, but a martyrdom
protracted and unnoticed. Is existence worthy the name, when a man can
no longer die for his country or live for a woman? To love, to
conquer, this twofold form of the same thought, is the law graven on
our sabres, emblazoned on the vaulted roofs of our palaces,
ceaselessly whispered by the water, which rises and falls in our
marble fountains. But in vain does it nerve my heart; the sabre is
broken, the palace in ashes, the living spring sucked up by the barren
sand. Here, then, is my last will and testament.
Don Fernand, you will understand now why I put a check upon your ardor
and ordered you to remain faithful to the rey netto. As your brother
and friend, I implore you to obey me; as your master, I command. You
will go to the King and will ask from him the grant of my dignities
and property, my office and titles. He will perhaps hesitate, and may
treat you to some regal scowls; but you must tell him that you are
loved by Marie Heredia, and that Marie can marry none but a Duc de
Soria. This will make the King radiant. It is the immense fortune of
the Heredia family which alone has stood between him and the
accomplishment of my ruin. Your proposal will seem to him, therefore,
to deprive me of a last resource, and he will gladly hand over to you
my spoils.
You will then marry Marie. The secret of the mutual love against which
you fought was no secret to me, and I have prepared the old Count to
see you take my place. Marie and I were merely doing what was expected
of us in our position and carrying out the wishes of our fathers;
everything else is in your favor. You are beautiful as a child of
love, and are possessed of Marie's heart. I am an ill-favored Spanish
grandee, for whom she feels an aversion to which she will not confess.
Some slight reluctance there may be on the part of the noble Spanish
girl on account of my misfortunes, but this you will soon overcome.
Duc de Soria, your predecessor would neither cost you a regret nor rob
you of a maravedi. My mother's diamonds, which will suffice to make me
independent, I will keep, because the gap caused by them in the family
estate can be filled by Marie's jewels. You can send them, therefore,
by my nurse, old Urraca, the only one of my servants whom I wish to
retain. No one can prepare my chocolate as she does.