ll you my whole purpose,
Mahmoud, you must know that I desire not to turn in any direction in
which I may find any sort of consolation, but that the sad thoughts and
memories which have never left me since the death of Leonisa may become
so identified with my captive life that it may never afford me the least
pleasure. And if it is true that continual sorrow must at last wear out
itself, or him who suffers it, mine cannot fail to wear me out, for I am
resolved to give it such free scope that in a few days it shall put an
end to the wretched life I endure so unwillingly.

"This is, brother Mahmoud, my sad story; this is the cause of my sighs
and tears; judge now if it is enough to draw them forth from my inmost
vitals, and to engender them in the desolation of my afflicted heart,
Leonisa is dead, and with her all my hope; and though whilst she lived
it hung by the merest thread, yet, yet--"

Here the speaker's voice faltered, so that he could not utter another
word, or restrain the tears which coursed each other down his cheeks so
fast that they bedewed the ground. Mahmoud mingled his own with them;
and when the paroxysm had somewhat abated, he tried to console Ricardo
with the best suggestions he could offer; but the mourner cut them
short, saying, "What you have to do, friend, is to advise me how I shall
contrive to fall into disgrace with my master, and with all those I have
to do with, so that, being abhorred by him and by them, I may be so
maltreated and persecuted that I may find the death I so much long for."

"I have now," said Mahmoud, "experienced the truth of the common
saying, that what is deeply felt is well expressed, though it is true
that sometimes excess of feeling paralyses the tongue. Be that as it
may, friend Ricardo,--whether your woes inspire your language, or your
language exalts your woes,--you shall always find in me a true friend,
to aid or to counsel, though my youth, and the folly I committed in
assuming this garb, cry aloud that I am little to be relied on in this
capacity. I will try, however, to prove that such a conclusion is
unfounded; and though you do not desire either counsel or help, I will
not the more desist from doing what your case requires, just as people
give a sick man not what he asks for, but what is good for him. There is
no one who has more power and influence in this city than my master, the
Cadi; not even your own master, who comes to it as viceroy, will have so
much. T