"Forgive me, forgive me, Bustamente; I love you, I respect you and I bless you on my knees for your love and your benefactions. Do not hate me; you know that I do not belong to myself, that an invisible hand controls my actions and throws me against my will into that man's arms. O my friend, forgive me and do not seek revenge. I love him, I cannot live without him. I cannot know that he exists without longing for him, I cannot see him pass without following him. I am his wife, you see, and he is my master; it is impossible for me to escape from his passion and his authority. You saw whether I was able to resist his summons. There was something like an electric current, a magnet, which lifted me up and drew me to his heart, and yet I was by your side, I had my hand in yours. Why did you not hold me back? you had not the power; your hand opened, your lips were powerless to call me back; you see that it is beyond our control. There is a hidden will, a magic power, which ordains and accomplishes these strange things. I cannot break the chain that binds me to Leoni, it is the fetter that couples galley-slaves, but it was God's hand that welded it. "O my dear Aleo, do not curse me! I am at your feet. I implore you to let me be happy. If you knew how dearly he loves me still, with what joy he received me! what caresses, what words, what tears! I am as one drunk, I seem to be dreaming. I must forget his crime against me: he was mad. After deserting me, he reached Naples in such a state of mental alienation that he was confined in an insane asylum. I do not know by what miracle he was cured and discharged, nor to what lucky chance he owes it that he is now once more at the very pinnacle of wealth. But he is handsomer, more brilliant, more passionate than ever. Let me, oh! let me love him, though I am destined to be happy but a single day and to die to-morrow. Should not you forgive me for loving him so madly, you who have an equally blind and misplaced passion for me?