* * * * *
"So I have to pay the penalty of my sister's crime," said Carmela to herself on reading this letter. "In order to save her, I have to sacrifice myself! Oh, it is cruel, cruel! and yet what can I do? If she is innocent, I am free to marry the man I love; but if she is guilty, God help me! I can do nothing but sacrifice myself to save her!"
* * * * *
"Ronald Monteith to Carmela Cotoner.
"Is it true? I ask you, is it true, this rumour which I hear, that you are engaged to your cousin, Vassalla? Oh, Carmela, why have you trifled with me in this way? You must have seen how I loved you, how I worshipped the very ground you trod on; and now you coldly throw me on one side, and accept the hand of a man whom you do not and cannot care about. Think of how you are ruining two lives--yours and mine--before you take this fatal step; once done, it cannot be recalled. I await your answer, and hope you may be able to deny this cruel lie.
"Ronald."
* * * * *
"Poor Ronald," mused Carmela, "I am cruel but only to be kind. He can never--marry into a family like ours, and the greatest kindness I can do him is to refuse him. God knows, I love him well enough, but he could never trust me, once he knows the secret of Leopold Verschoyle's death, and that he does know it I am convinced. He may blame me now, but he will bless me in the future; so I had better write and tell him that it is true, though my heart may break while I pen the words."
* * * * *
"Carmela Cotoner to Ronald Monteith.