"The one is the offspring of the other; and necessity excuses us; for what precept or what law imposes on us the duty of respecting a life which has changed into a poniard to take our own? Let us heed the dictates of nature, a most merciful mother, who never fails; and she will say to you that between killing and being killed, it is best to kill...."
"You strike me with horror."
"And why?"
"Because, if I question my heart, a voice cries to me:—What precept or what law ever allows us to punish him who did not commit the crime? What justice ever taught us to make a victim, because we committed a crime? No, laws are never perverted thus, neither in this world nor the next...."
"Of the next world we will think by-and-by; for the present let us think of this. Isabella, you must have learned from your father the secret of concocting some beverage sweet to the taste, which puts one quietly asleep ... never to wake again...."
"Ah, wretched man! Would you renew the horrors of the family of Atreus?..."
"No, I do not intend to begin anything new, I only wish you to continue in the practice of domestic examples...."
Isabella bent her head; then raising and tossing it with a scornful look, replied resolutely:
"No, this crime shall not contaminate the pages of history; our family shall not have its Clytemnestra, and if you design such a wretched attempt against the life of your cousin, beware! I will defend him with all my powers, even with my own life...."
"Isabella, you cannot separate your fate from mine: love bound us willingly together for a short time; crime binds us unwillingly with an indissoluble tie...."