very, and
indomitable will; his word was law. His vassals obeyed his very looks,
and flew to execute his behests. Accustomed from infancy to command, he
became absolute and tyrannical; his gentle wife was all submission, and
his fair daughter Inez was educated in the practice of the strictest
obedience, so as scarcely to know that she had a mind of her own, when
her father was nigh. Is it wonderful that when the unnatural constraint
was removed by his absence, her innate gayety of disposition broke out
with all the impulsiveness of youth, and her young affections clung to
the nearest object? Such an object was found in Bernardo, a handsome
and noble young man, an orphan, and distant relative, who had been
reared in the castle: he had been the playmate of Inez in childhood; her
comforter, companion, and teacher in girlhood; and now, as she advanced
to woman's estate, they made the discovery that their hearts were knit
together by a love which had grown with their growth and strengthened
with their strength, till it had become a part of their very souls. But
how dare to reveal their affection? Bernardo, although of noble lineage,
and in himself every thing that the fondest father could desire for his
daughter, had his fortune yet to win by his good sword; and Inez was
heiress to broad lands, and might well aspire to a princely alliance.
But love scorns all such distinctions: humble thoughts of herself, and
proud thoughts of her Bernardo, filled the heart of Inez, and as she
plighted her troth to him, she vowed she would wed none but him, and
would patiently wait until the time should come when her betrothed could
claim her as his own. Bernardo went to the wars, and greatly
distinguished himself against the Moors: Ferdinand conferred upon him
various marks of favor, and the noble and lovely Queen Isabel girded on
the sword presented by the king with her own jewelled fingers.

And now, with a heart beating high with hope, and with the prospect of
great advancement before him, the young man returned to visit the home
of his childhood: it was his purpose, with the sweetness of a few weeks'
holiday, to repay himself for all the toils, dangers, and privations of
a year. But when he arrived, how changed was the whole aspect of the
castle! Inez was in disgrace, and was ordered by her tyrannical father
to be shut up in her room, and to be fed with the bread of affliction
and the water of humiliation. Bernardo was deeply distressed: