disregarded. Even then, so strong were his emotions, that sight itself
was obscured and dimmed, and it was long before he could read the
characters, which were already discoloured
by time. "TO INEZ. "I have but a few hours to live,--let
me spend them in atonement and in prayer, less for myself than thee.
Thou knowest not how madly I adored thee; and how thy hatred or
indifference
stung every passion into torture. Let this pass. When I saw thee
again--the forsaker of thy faith--poor, obscure, and doomed to a
peasant's lot--daring hopes shaped themselves into fierce resolves.
Finding that thou wert inexorable, I turned my arts upon thy husband. I
knew his poverty and his ambition: we Moors have had ample knowledge of
the avarice of the Christians'. I bade one whom I could trust to seek
him out at Madrid. Wealth--lavish wealth--wealth that could open to a
Spaniard all the gates of power was offered to him i
