(Signed) YOUR QUEEN.
"The Senorita Isabella Gonzales."
One might have thought that this would have aroused the pride and
anger of Isabella Gonzales, but it did not; it surprised her; and
after the first sensation of this feeling was over, it struck her as
so truthful, what the queen had said, that she wept bitterly.
"Alas! she has most justly censured me, but points out no way for me
to retrieve the bitter steps I have taken," sobbed the unhappy girl,
aloud. "Might have espoused one my superior in rank and fortune, at
Madrid, but he had no heart to give! Fool that I am, I see it all;
and the queen is indeed but too correct. But what use is all this
information to me, save to render me the more miserable? Show a
wretch the life he might have lived, and then condemn him to death;
that is my position-that my hard, unhappy fate!
"Alas! does he love me still? he whom I have so heartlessly
treated-ay, whom I have crushed, as it were, for well knew how
dearly he loved me! He has challenged even the admiration of the
queen, and has been, perhaps, promoted; but still has been true to
me, who in soul have been as true to him."
Thus murmured the proud girl to herself-thus frankly realized the
truth.
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