Letters of Two Brides

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.