he slumbers of his beloved.

Gomez Arias still gazed on her--he heard his name in smothered accents
escape her tender bosom, but it awakened in him no feeling of delight,
for his heart had now resumed its cold calculations of worldly pursuits;
perhaps the predominant sentiment of his mind at this moment, was the
necessity of immediate departure, lest the imagination of the
unconscious victim should master the deluded senses, and call them back
to life, before he had time to remove from the spot.

"Lope! my love!" murmured Theodora, and a gentle thrill seemed to
agitate her, as she extended her arm, as though she would assure him
that whether sleeping or awake, Gomez Arias was the object that
predominated over all her thoughts and affections. Yet Gomez Arias stood
calmly for a moment by the victim he was deserting, and bidding her a
long farewell, rode slowly and silently on his way.

CHAPTER XIV.

El honor
Es un fantasma aparante,
Que no esta' en que yo lo tenga,
Sino en que el otro lo piense.

_Calderon._

Honor's a fine imaginary notion.

_Addison._

Honor! thou dazzling and wayward deity, how boundless is thy dominion!
How widely different the nature and pretensions of thy worshippers! All
do thee homage; all gladly and proudly profess themselves thy votaries;
all would resent the supposition of being heretical to thy creed, and
yet how few truly adhere to the purity of thy precepts! How few are
sincere in the expression of their adoration!--nay, how limited the
number of those who really understand the essence of thy doctrine! The
sanguinary ruffian considers himself as zealous in the service of honor,
as the high minded and courageous man who has a sword to avenge the
wrongs of his country, and a heart to sympathise with the picture of
human misery. All are swayed by the magic word, Honor; for even those
who affect to despise virtue, her attractions being of too humble and
plebeian a character, nevertheless pretend to revere the name of
_honor_, as conveying an idea more bright and consonant with worldly
pomp, and at the same time affording a greater latitude for various
interpretations. Alas! this very vagueness has something more flattering
to deluded mortals, than the strict and definite term, the more heroic
nature of virtue.

Honor was the idol of Gomez Arias, who appeared one of the most
scrupul