e object of general
compassion.

Theodora had been schooled in affliction, and familiarized with
suffering, yet when she was apprised of the result of the trial, many
circumstances conspired to add to the intensity of her grief. She
considered herself as the primary, though innocent cause of her
husband's untimely fate; all his ingratitude and cruelty; all the
treachery of which he had been guilty towards her, were now forgotten,
and her vivid fancy, excited by the extent of the danger, now saw
nothing but his brilliant qualities, and his untimely fate. Doubly dear
was Gomez Arias to Theodora, when she perceived him on the brink of
destruction. Hope, however, did not entirely forsake her, though the
boding voice of grief, which floated on the air, soon dissolved so
enchanting an illusion. If expectation had been great, the
disappointment was now doubly terrible; the sentence had been
pronounced, and the queen alone could mitigate its rigour by virtue of
the royal prerogative. To this last hope Theodora clung with fond
expectation; Isabella was humane and a woman; she had, it was true,
acquired celebrity by the rigid and unimpeachable justice of her
decisions, but could she send to the scaffold, a young and gallant
nobleman, to whom she stood indebted for a brilliant victory, without
infringing the sacred principles of that justice. She was a woman, and
though heroic and high-minded, still nature must have planted in her
bosom the genuine attributes of her sex. Pity, humanity, generosity,
would stifle the sterner voice of duty, and she could not repel from her
throne, the humble, yet noble supplicants for mercy; she would be deeply
moved by the tears of one, whom but lately she had made a bride, and
whom another word would make a widow. Besides, the application of many
intimate friends, and many of the first families in the kingdom, could
not be utterly disregarded by the queen, to whom their services had been
so important.

These soothing ideas in some measure lulled Theodora's apprehensions,
and she successfully combated the idea of losing him for ever.
Unfortunate woman! soon she was doomed to learn the fallacy of her
expectations! Several strong appeals had already been made to the queen;
the first families of Granada had deeply interested themselves in favor
of Gomez Arias, but all applications had met with a disheartening and
absolute repulse. Nor indeed could the queen be taxed with ingratitude
and cruelty, for