CHAP. VI.
Retiring to an adjoining room, Don Fernandos, bursting into tears, embraced me, and thus began:
"Pardon, O pardon my worthy friend, the man, who hurried away by a long fostered and resistless passion, has now abjured it in the blood of the miscreant, who, by the most mysterious artifice, had flattered me with the perpetration of a crime, inexpiable by its consequences, and a source of everlasting remorse to my misguided heart.
"You must have perceived how powerfully the charms of your Adela operated on my captivated mind, from the first moment we saw her. You must likewise have been aware, that her condescending familiarity and the indulgence with which you encouraged our intercourse, could not but add fresh fuel to the unhappy flame, which my nature was too weak to stifle in my languishing and too susceptible bosom. As I was
