peasant when you were on the eve of being ordained, and in spite of all
the enthusiasm for your calling that you may naturally be supposed to
entertain--if you have thus yielded, urged by a passing impulse, am I
not right in foreseeing that you will make an abominable priest, impure,
worldly, and of evil influence, and that you will yield to temptation at
every step? On such a supposition as this, believe me, Don Luis--and do
not be offended with me for saying so--you are not even worthy to be the
husband of an honest woman. If, with all the ardor and tenderness of the
most passionate lover, you have pressed the hand of a woman, if you have
looked at one, with glances that foretold a heaven, an eternity of love,
if you have kissed a woman that inspired you with no other feeling than
one that for me has no name, then go, in God's name, and do not marry
her! If she is virtuous, she will not desire you for a husband, nor even
for a lover; but, for God's sake, do not become a priest either! The
Church needs men more serious, more capable of resisting temptation, as
ministers of the Most High.

"If, on the other hand, you have felt a noble passion for the woman of
whom we are speaking, although she be of little worth, why abandon and
deceive her with so much cruelty? However unworthy she may be, if she
has inspired this great passion, do you not suppose that she will share
it, and be the victim of it? For, when a love is great, elevated, and
passionate, does it ever fail to make its power felt? Does it not
tyrannize over and subjugate the beloved object irresistibly? By the
extent of your love for her you may measure that of her you love. And
how can you avoid fearing for her, if you abandon her? Has she the
masculine energy, the firmness of character produced by the wisdom
learned from books, the attraction of fame, the multitude of splendid
projects, and all the resources of your cultured and exalted intellect,
to distract her mind, and turn her away, without destructive violence,
from every other earthly affection? Can you not see that she will die of
grief, and that you, called by your destiny to offer up bloodless
sacrifices, will begin by pitilessly sacrificing her who most loves
you?"

"I too, madam," returned Don Luis, endeavoring to conquer his emotion,
and to speak with firmness--"I too, madam, am obliged to make a great
effort in order to answer you with the calmness necessary to one who
opposes argument to arg