'No, dear, it is not; but I will teach you a better.'
'Hush, Edward, you must not say that. Holy Virgin! if Friar Ricardo should hear you! I think that Inez must have told him, for he fixes his dark eyes upon me so earnestly. Yesterday he observed to me that I had not confessed.'
'Tell him to mind his own business.'
'That is his business, and I was obliged to confess to him last night. I told him a great many things, and then he asked if that was all. His eyes went through me. I trembled as I uttered an untruth, for I said it was.'
'I confess my sins but to my Maker, Clara! and I confess my love but to you. Follow my plan, dearest!'
'I will half obey you, Edward. I will not tell my love.'
'And sins you have none, Clara; so you will obey me in all.'
'Hush, Edward, you must not say that. We all have sins; and oh! what a grievous sin they say it is to love you, who are a heretic! Holy Virgin, pardon me! but I could not help it.'
'If that is your only sin, dearest, I can safely give you absolution.'
'Nay, Edward, don't joke, but hear me. If Inez has confessed, they will look for me here, and we must not meet again—at least not in this place. You know the little bay behind the rock, it is not much farther off, and there is a cave where I can wait: another time it must be there.'