“No one in the world, perhaps! But, ah! what odds? Could the proving of my marriage bring _him_ back to life, or give my father happiness?” “Most wretched girl! You seem quite lost to the shame you have brought upon yourself! the dishonor you have brought upon your family!” “Ah, go on! You cannot say anything to me so bitter as my heart is saying all the time!” “Your father! Your old, gray-haired father! to bring him to shame in his old age! Can he survive the knowledge of your fall?” “I know he cannot! I know it! Oh, oh!” “Carolyn, too! To destroy all her prospects in life. Who will ever wed the sister of a supposed—” “Ah, spare me that! Why did you pluck me back! the river would have covered all!” “Because I did not know or dream your folly! Zuleime, your father, who could bear your death, could never survive your disgrace!” “Oh, God, I feel it!” “Zuleime—_you must die_!” A pause, when but for the roar of the torrent, and the howl of the wind, their very hearts might have been heard slowly beating. “Zuleime, you must not live to bring shame upon us! You must die!” “Ah! Why did you hinder me when it would not have been a crime?” “What mean you?” “I was mad then! I knew not what I did! God would not have charged me with my death! I am sane now!—sane, though most wretched!” “Zuleime, you must die!—not in reality, but in appearance. It must be believed that you are dead—dead by your own act, as you intended. And I will provide for your escape and your future support.” “Alas! lady, what is it you advise me to do? Deceive my poor father, so cruelly, and never, never undeceive him again? And never, never see him again?” “Lost girl! if I had not saved you an hour ago, would you have been alive to ask the question?” “Ah, no! But, oh, my father! Who will comfort him?” “Who would have comforted him had you effected your purpose this hour? What would comfort him for your degradation? Foolish girl, that will console him for your supposed death, which never could console him for your fall—_time_. Besides, if you are supposed to be dead, it will not only save us all from shame, but your father will be your heir, and can appropriate that thirty thousand dollars to the payment of his debts. Zuleime, it seems to me you owe us all this sacrifice.” “I—I am very weak and miserable. I—I scarcely know right from wrong! Do what you please with me, only console my father!” “And at any rate, girl, this plan is far better than the self-destruction you meditated awhile ago. By this plan you will be able to save your child.” “Ah! to what end? To be as miserable as its mother?”