ak
confidently--unfold the particulars of your grievances, and trust that
nought on earth shall induce the Queen to deviate a single step from the
sacred path of justice."

"Gracious Queen!" cried Monteblanco, "that hope has been my sole
inducement to prolong my miserable existence. I am injured deeply;
injured in the dearest feeling of a nobleman and a Spaniard. The honors
of my family, gained by a long line of illustrious ancestors, have been
foully tarnished by one who calls himself noble and a Spaniard, but who
is alike unworthy to rank as either. I will not enumerate the services
of the Monteblancos to interest our Queen in behalf of their affronted
house; still, whilst the lustre of their name is on the point of being
extinguished, it may be permitted to the last remaining but withered
branch of that noble tree, once again to speak of those who are alas!
now no more. Oh, Isabella, I had five sons; all--all deserving of the
name they bore. Bravely they fought against the Moors, and gloriously
they fell before the walls of this city, in the sacred cause of their
religion and country. I was left desolate with this only frail but dear
support of my declining age."

He cast a piteous look on Theodora, and then continued. "The fate of my
sons might draw tears from the eyes of a father; but those tears were
unmingled with the bitterness of shame. With pride I remembered that my
boys died for their country. Heaven! could I then surmise that in my
unfortunate daughter all the former glory so dearly earned should be
degraded! Could I ever anticipate that the day should come when the
noble fate of my sons would be to me a subject of regret! I am now
reduced to envy my country those lives which might now stand forward to
avenge the honor of their house. My daughter, blessed with innocence and
beauty, gentle and kind in her nature, was the only solace of my
declining years--the only sweet and blooming flower that still grew
smiling beside the parent stem. Yet of this, my only remaining comfort,
I was treacherously and cruelly deprived. A ruffian, honored far beyond
his deserts, and rich in the plenitude of power, envied me this solitary
consolation. My unfortunate daughter was seduced from her home! Oh
heaven! that a Monteblanco should be reduced to confess his shame! She
was seduced from the fond arms of her parent under the most sacred
promises, and then, in violation of his plighted honor, the miscreant
cast her aside to