"Adorable Leonora!" cried the Count, "you wrong my love most cruelly! Your virtue, too scrupulous, is causelessly alarmed. What! can you conceive that, because I have been so happy as to prevail on you to favour my passion, I should cease to esteem you? What injustice! No, madam, I know, too well, the value of your kindness; it can never deprive you of my esteem; and I am ready to do as you require me. I will, to-morrow, see Don Luis; and nothing shall be wanting on my part to ensure my happiness: but I cannot conceal from you, that I scarcely indulge a hope." "How!" replied; Leonora, with extreme surprise; "is it possible that my father should refuse me to the Count de Belflor?"—"Ah! it is that very title which gives me cause for alarm. But I see this surprises you: your astonishment, however, will soon cease.
"Only a few days ago," continued he, "the King was pleased to declare his will, that I should marry: you know how these matters are managed at our Court. He has not, however, named the lady for whom I am intended; but has contented himself with intimating that she is one who will do me honour, and that he has set his mind upon our union. As I was then ignorant of your disposition towards me,—for, as you well know, your rigorous severity has never until now, permitted me to divine it,—I did not let him perceive in me any aversion to the accomplishment of his desires. You may now therefore, judge, madam, whether Don Luis would hazard the King's displeasure, by accepting me as his son-in-law."
"No, doubtless," said Leonora; "I know my father well: however desirable he might esteem your alliance, he would not hesitate to renounce it, rather than expose himself to the anger of his Majesty. But, even though my father had consented to our union, we should not be less unfortunate; for, Belflor, how could you possibly bestow on me a hand which the King has destined for another?" "Madam," replied the Count, "I will not disguise that your question embarrasses me. Still, I am not without hope that, by prudent management with the King, and by availing myself of the influence which his friendship for me secures, I should find means to avoid the misfortune which threatens me; and yourself, lovely Leonora, might assist me in so doing, did you but deem me worthy of the happiness of being yours." "I assist you!" she exclaimed; "how could I possibly enable you to avert an union which the King proposes for you?" "Ah! madam," he replied, with impassioned looks, "would you deign to receive my vows of eternal fidelity to you, I should have no difficulty in preserving my faith inviolate, without offending my sovereign. Permit, charming Leonora," he continued, throwing himself at her feet, "permit me to espouse you in the presence of our friend Marcella; she is a witness who will vouch for the sanctity of our engagements. I shall thus escape the hateful bonds they would impose upon me; for, should the King still press me to accept the lady he designs for me, I will prostrate myself before him, and, on my knees, confess how long and ardently my love has been devoted to you, and that we are secretly married. However desirous he may be to unite me with another, he is too gracious to think of tearing me from the object I adore, and too just to offer so grievous an affront to your honourable family.
"What is your opinion, discreet Marcella?" added he, turning towards the governante; "what think you of this project with which love has so opportunely inspired me?" "I am charmed with it," said the duenna; "the rogue, Cupid, is never at a loss for an expedient." "And you, dearest Leonora," resumed the Count, "what do you say to it? Can your heart, always mistrustful, refuse its assent to my proposal?" "No," she replied, "provided my father consent to it; and I do not doubt that he will, when you have explained to him your reasons for secrecy." "You must be very cautious how you consult him upon the subject," interrupted the abominable duenna; "you do not know Don Luis: his notions of honour are too scrupulous to permit him to engage himself with secret amours. The proposal of a private marriage would shock him; besides which, he is too prudent not to foresee the possible consequences of one which interfered with the designs of the King. And, once proposed to him, and his suspicion aroused, his eyes will be constantly upon you; and he will take good care to prevent your marriage, by separating you for ever."
"And I should die with grief and despair," cried our courtier. "But madam," continued he, addressing himself to Marcella, with an air of profound disappointment, "do you really think, then, that there is no chance of Don Luis yielding to our prayer?" "Not the slightest!" replied the governante. "But suppose he should! Exact and scrupulous as he is, he would never consent to the omission of a single religious ceremony on the occasion; and if they are all to be observed in your marriage, the secret will be soon known in Madrid."
"Ah! my dear Leonora," said the Count, taking her hand, and tenderly pressing it within his own, "must we, then, to satisfy a vain notion of decorum, expose ourselves to the frightful danger of an eternal separation? Our happiness is in your hands; since it depends on you alone to bestow yourself on me. A father's consent might, perhaps, spare you some uneasiness; but since our kind Marcella has convinced us of the impossibility of obtaining it, yield yourself, without further scruple, to my innocent desires. Receive my heart and hand; and when the time shall have arrived, that we may inform Don Luis of our union, we shall have no difficulty in satisfying him as to our reasons for its concealment." "Well, Count," said Leonora, "I consent to your not at once speaking to my father, but that you first sound the King upon the subject. Before, however, I receive thus secretly your hand, I would have this done. See his Majesty; tell him even, if necessary, that we are married. Let us endeavour, by this show of confidence,——" "Alas! madam," interrupted Belflor, "what do you ask of me? No, my soul revolts at the thoughts of falsehood. I cannot lie; and you would despise me, could I thus dissemble with the King;—besides, how could I hope for pardon at his hands, should he discover the meanness of which I had been guilty?"
"I should never have done, Signor Don Cleophas," continued the Demon, "were I to repeat word for word all that Belflor said, in order to seduce his lovely mistress; I will only add, that he repeated, without my assistance, all those passionate phrases with which I usually inspire gallants upon similar occasions. But in vain did he swear he would publicly confirm, as soon as possible, the faith which he proposed to pledge in secret: Leonora's virtue was proof against his oaths; and the blushing day, which surprised him while he called Heaven to witness for his fidelity, compelled him to retire less triumphant than he had anticipated."
On the following morning, the duenna, conceiving that her honour, or rather her interest, engaged her not to abandon the enterprise, took an opportunity of reverting to the subject. "Leonora," said she, "I am confounded by what passed last evening; you appear to disdain the Count's affection, or to regard it as inspired by an unworthy motive. Perhaps, however, after all, you remarked something in his person or manner that displeased you?" "No, good governante," replied Leonora; "he never appeared to me more amiable; and his conversation discovered to me a thousand new charms." "If that be the case," said the duenna, "I am still more perplexed. You acknowledge to be strongly prepossessed in his favour, and yet refuse to yield in a point, the absolute necessity of which he has so clearly demonstrated."
"My dear Marcella," replied her ward, "you are wiser, and have had more experience in these matters, than myself; but have you sufficiently reflected on the consequences of a marriage contracted without my father's knowledge?" "Yes, certainly," answered the duenna, "I have maturely considered all that; and I regret to find you oppose yourself, with an obstinacy of which I deemed you incapable, to the brilliant establishment which fortune presents so uselessly. Have a care that your perverseness does not weary and repel your lover; remember that he may discover the inequality of your station and fortune, which his passion overlooks. While he offers you his faith, receive it without hesitation. His word is his bond; there is no tie more sacred with a man of honour, like Belflor: besides, I am witness that he acknowledges you as his wife; and I need not tell you that a testimony like mine would be more than sufficient to condemn a lover who should dare to perjure himself, and attempt to evade a legal contract."
By this and similar conversations, the resolution of the artless Leonora was at last shaken; and the perils which surrounded her were so adroitly concealed by her perfidious governante, that, some days afterwards, she abandoned herself, without further reflection, to the will of the Count. Belflor was introduced nightly, by the balcony, into his mistress's apartment; which he left again before daybreak, when summoned by the duenna.