“It was but yesterday!” she continued; “But a few short hours have passed, since I was dear to him! He esteemed me, and my heart was satisfied! Now!⁠ ⁠… Oh! now how cruelly is my situation changed! He looks on me with suspicion! He bids me leave him, leave him forever! Oh! You, my saint! my idol! You, holding the next place to God in my breast! Yet two days, and my heart will be unveiled to you.⁠—Could you know my feelings, when I beheld your agony! Could you know, how much your sufferings have endeared you to me! But the time will come, when you will be convinced that my passion is pure and disinterested. Then you will pity me, and feel the whole weight of these sorrows!”

As she said this, her voice was choked by weeping. While she bent over Ambrosio, a tear fell upon his cheek.

“Ah! I have disturbed him!” cried Matilda, and retreated hastily.