I was again to expect to see that awful being. He had said
a year and a day; and I relied on his word.

Mina's parents were good, worthy old people, loving their only child most
tenderly; the whole affair had taken them by surprise, and, as matters
stood, they knew not how to act. They could never have dreamed that
Count Peter should think of their child; but it was clear he loved her
passionately, and was loved in return. The mother, indeed, was vain
enough to think of the possibility of such an alliance, and to prepare
for its accomplishment; but the calm good sense of the old man never gave
such an ambitious hope a moment's consideration. But they were both
convinced of the purity of my love, and could do nothing but pray for
their child.

A letter is now in my hand which I received about this time from Mina.
This is her very character. I will copy it for you.

"I know I am a weak, silly girl; for I have taught myself to believe
my beloved would not give me pain, and this because I deeply, dearly
love him. Alas! thou art so kind, so unutterably kind! but do not
delude me. For me make no sacrifice--wish to make no sacrifice.
Heaven! I could hate myself if I caused thee to do so. No, thou hast
made me infinitely happy; thou hast taught me to love thee. But go in
peace! my destiny tells me Count Peter is not mine, but the whole
world's; and then I shall feel proudly as I hear: 'That it was he--and
he again--that he had done this--that he has been adored here, and
deified there.' When I think of this, I could reproach thee for
forgetting thy high destinies in a simple maiden. Go in peace, or the
thought will make me miserable--me, alas! who am so happy, so blessed
through thee. And have not I entwined in thy existence an
olive-branch and a rose-bud, as in the garland which I dared to
present thee? Think of thyself, my beloved one; fear not to leave me,
I should die so blessed--so unutterably blessed, through thee."

You may well imagine how these words thrilled through my bosom. I told
her I was not that which I was supposed to be; I was only a wealthy, but
an infinitely-wretched man. There was, I said, a curse upon me, which
should be the only secret between her and me; for I had not yet lost the
hope of being delivered from it. This was the poison of my existence:
That I could have swept her away with me into the abyss; her, the sole
light, the sole bl