"No—Señor."
"And he used to say loving words to you and make you promises?..."
"Yes, oh yes, Señor. He told me I should be his companion as long as he lived—and—and I believed him."
"And why should you not?"
"He said he could not live without me, and that even if he ever could see he would still love me. I was quite happy; I was ugly, and little, and ill-made, but I did not care, for he could not see me; and in his darkness he thought I was pretty.—And then...."
"Then," said Golfin gently, for he was filled with pity. "I see the fault is all mine."
"Fault, no; for you did a good deed. You are very, very good. It is good to have given him his sight. I know, I tell myself, that it is good; but after that I must go away, quite away—for he will see Señorita Florentina and will compare me with her—and Señorita Florentina is as pretty as the angels, and I—it is like comparing a piece of broken glass with the sun! Of what good can I be? I dreamed that I ought never to have been born! Oh why was I ever born? God made a mistake; he gave me an ugly face, and a miserable little body, and such a large heart! But of what use to me is a large heart?—It is a torment and nothing else. Woe is me! If I did not keep it under, it would hate and detest a great many people. And yet I do not want to hate people—I do not know how to hate them, and I would rather bury my miserable heart than live to learn to hate; bury it, so that it should not torment me any more."
"You are tormented by jealousy, and by your sense of humiliation. Poor little one, you are indeed alone! Neither the knowledge you lack, nor the home you have never had, nor the work you cannot do would avail to save you from this. But tell me, what do you feel about the protection and kindness that Florentina offers you?"
"Terror! Shame!" exclaimed Nela, opening her eyes wide in horror. "To live with them—to see them constantly! For they will marry—my heart tells me they will marry; I dreamed it, I know it."