partment. She did not now seem
like a timid gazelle, but like an angry lioness.

"What!" she said, once more facing the vicar, "has he nothing to do but
laugh at me, tear my heart to pieces, humiliate it, trample it under
foot, after having cheated me out of it? He shall remember me! He shall
pay me for this! If he is so holy, if he is so virtuous, why did he,
with his glance, promise me everything? If he loves God so much, why
does he seek to hurt one of God's poor creatures? Is this charity? Is
this religion? No; it is pitiless selfishness."

Pepita's anger could not last long. After she had spoken the last words,
it turned to dejection. She sank into a chair, weeping bitterly, and
abandoning herself to an anguish heart-breaking to witness.

The vicar's heart was touched with pity; but he recovered himself on
seeing that the enemy gave signs of yielding.

"Pepita, child," he said, "be reasonable; don't torment yourself in this
way. Console yourself with the thought that it was not without a hard
struggle he was able to conquer himself; that he has not deceived you;
that he loves you with his whole soul, but that God and his duty come
first. This life is short, and soon passes. In heaven you will be
reunited, and will love each other, as the angels love. God will accept
your sacrifice; he will reward you, and repay you with interest. Even
your self-love ought to be satisfied. How great must be your merit, when
you have caused a man like Don Luis to waver in his resolution, and even
to sin! How deep must be the wound you have made in his heart! Let this
suffice you. Be generous! be courageous! Be his rival in firmness. Let
him depart; cast out from your heart the fire of impure love; love him
as your neighbor, for the love of God. Guard his image in your memory,
but as that of the creature, reserving to the Creator the noblest part
of your soul. I know not what I am saying to you, my child, for I am
very much troubled; but you have a great deal of intelligence and a
great deal of common sense, and you will understand what I mean.
Besides, there are powerful worldly reasons against this absurd love,
even if the vocation and the vow of Don Luis were not opposed to it. His
father is your suitor. He aspires to your hand, even though you do not
love him. Does it look well that the son should turn out now to be the
rival of his father? Will not the father be displeased with the son for
loving you? See how dreadful all this