Mercedes of Castile

is on t

mournful mel

boyhood, how yo

rt with sudden-

est San

few anticipated any results of importance. Of so much greater magnitude, indeed, did the conquest of the kingdom of Granada appear, at that instant, than any probab

d so truly and with so much feminine devotedness, nature had endowed this warm-hearted young creature with a sagacity and readiness of apprehension, which, when quickened by the sentiments that are so apt to concentrate all the energies of her sex, showed her the propriety of the distrust of the queen and her guardian, and fully justified their hesitation in her eyes, which were rather charmed than blinded by the ascendency of her passion. She knew too well what was due to her virgin fame, her high expectations, her great name, and her elevated position near the pers

ess, nor was accidentally favored in that way; but, no sooner was it understood Columbus had effected all that he deemed necessary in this particular, and had quitted the court for the coast, than the young man threw himself, at once, on the gene

peasant's child to be lightly cared for, but that she cometh of the noblest blood of Spain, having had a Guzman for a mother, and Mendozas out of number among her kinsmen. She is, moreover, one of the richest heiresses of

on her highest claims to merit, her heart, her beauty, her truth, and her thousand vir

nd the thousand virtues! Methinks a shorter catalogue might content one who is hi

uccessfully endeavoring to repress a little resentment that her language awakened, he

sed to wheedle her out of some concession, that it fairly caused Do?a Beatriz to start-"but I can say with more truth, 'Aunt-Marchioness,'-and a very dear aunt, too-wilt

end, next to Her Highness; and that she put all faith in my disposition to do full justice by her child. She died by slow degrees, and the fate of the orphan was often discussed between us. That she could ever become the wife of any but a Christian noble, neither of us imagined possible; but there are so many different characters under the same outward professions, that names deceived us not. I do believe that poor woman

the usual interpositions of masses and paters, Do?a Beatriz; but have

sensitive, true-hearted, enthusiastic girl, filled with the confidence of thy purit

y my having had but this one love, when I might have had fifty; and if I am not exactly overflowing with the confidence of purity, I have the confidence of youth, health, str

uant, every way worthy to be the

ut then again, I am not altogether undeserving of her. I am quite as noble, nearly as well endowed with estates, of suitable years, of fitting address as a knight, an

gravely, and reflect on what I say. I have told thee of the mother of Mercedes, of her dying doubts, her anxiety, and of her confidence in me. Her Highness and I were alone with her, the morning of the day that her spirit took its flight to heaven; and then she poured out all her feelings, in a way that has left on us

t of my constancy; but never has rebel thought of mine even presumed to doubt her right to command all our services, as well as all our lives. This is due to her sacred authority from

is fortunes. The honest praise of the queen went directly to the heart of the Marchioness, who rather idolized than loved her royal mistress, the long and close intimacy that had existed between them having made her thoroughly acquainted with the pure and almost holy character of Isabella; and when she repeated the words of her nephew to the latter, her own well-established reputation for truth caused them to be implicitly believed. Whatever may be the correctness of our views in general, one of the most certain ways to the feelings is the assurance of being respected and esteemed; while, of all the divine mandates,

milder expression in the countenance of his aunt, and a disposition to consider his

f thy duty to Her Highness, and of the almost heavenly sense of justice that reigneth in her heart, and through that heart, in Castile. Thou hast not lost in my estee

d? Is not my very choice, in some sort, a pledge of the

e heart to lean toward the richest and the noblest, whe

hy brother of being a feigner of that which he doth not feel?-one

, Luis, none that know thee will accuse thee of hypocrisy. We believe in the truth and a

en and thyself, than real feelings? A spurious and fan

e heart, when the head is not turned by vanity; and the more unquestionable the passion, the easier is it for its subject to make the discovery. Two drops of water do not glide together more naturally than two hearts, nephew, when there is a stro

mine, with a miracle! and yet it is more d

ial care of the Q

uld a Bobadilla be proscribe

e queen, since Isabella, distrusting the influence of blood, had cautioned the Marchioness on this subject; and the prudence of letting the young people see each other as little as possible, had been fully settled between them. It was in redeeming this promise, that the aunt related the substance of th

backward at emotions that it is known can never be again awakened in our bosoms;-"they are not sovereigns, Daughter-Marchioness, to woo by proxy, and wed as strangers. It may not be wise to suffer the intercourse to become too common, but it were cruel to deny the youth, as he i

flame," returned Do

Mercedes will never forget her duty, and, the imagination feeding itself, it may not be the wisest course to leave that of an enthusiast like our young charge, so entirely to its own pictures. Realities are often less hazar

ons are not to be depended on in an affair t

Luis is so near departure. Tell him I accord him that which he so desireth, and let him bear in

his last command, however gracious and kind in fact, as a strong rebuke, since he hath

ut he is now engaged in an honorable and noble enterprise, and

cide in which light this pure-minded and excellent female most merited the esteem of mankind-in her high character as a just and conscientious sovereign, or when she acted more directly under the gentler impulses of her sex. As for her friend, she was perhaps more tenacious of doing what she conceived to be her duty, by her ward, than the queen herself; since, with a greater responsibility, she was

admitted, she almost regretted their compliance. These contradictory emotions, however, soon subsided in the tender melancholy that gradually drew around her manner, as the hour for the departure approached. Nor were her feelings on the subject of Luis' ready enlistment in the expedition, more consistent. At times she exulted in her lover's resolution, and in his manly devotion to glory and the good of the church; remembering with pride that, of all the high nobility

s the hand of his aunt, and to make those other demonstrations of respect that the customs of the age required from the young to their seniors-more especially when there existed between them a tie of blood as close as that which united the Marchioness of Moya with the Conde de Lle

the very tones of her voice, she withdrew the foot that had involuntarily adv

be seen, of late, than it will be to discover this Cathay of the Genoese; for, between the Do?a Isabella and Do?a

y, Luis, when thou art

he crupper of a Christian knight's saddle, and place thee in the caravel of C

this act of madness, dear Luis,

prudence in all matters that

again; and this time unbidde

coldly cruel precautions make me forget myself. Am I a needy and unknown adv

ian cavaliers alone, and, but for the gracious condescension of Her Highness, and the indu

Highness, when thou seest that we are watched by the eye, if not by the ear! I fear to s

a of his mistress, whose person was visible through an open door, in an adjoini

wn innocent thoughts and words, than would have proved a reduplication of herself, had such a thing been possible. "Many have been her protestations against this meetin

ery generous mind a-tilting with her. One can see envy of t

h nothing, and who hath but one marked weakness, and that i

?a; ay, as I de

e that the very due?a who is so displeasing to the lover, getteth to be a grateful object, in time, with the husband. As my features and wrinkles, however, are so disagreeable to you,

men of the due?a's class, and with a good-nature that seemed indom

springing forward to interpose her own hand against the act. "What is there th

noble cavalier is ab

uncommon, that it frighteneth thee! Hath thy discourse been

nketh of your love as she thinketh of mine. Surely, child, thou dost not fancy me a gay, gallant young noble, come to pour out his soul at thy feet, and mistakest

was laid, with its pretty fellow, on her crimsoned face. Pepita profited by her advantage, and closed the door. A smile of triumph gleamed on the handsome features of Luis, and, after he had forced his mistress, by a gentle compulsion, to resume the seat from w

d be tolerated near thy person. This Pepita is a jewel, and she may consider herself established in her office for life, if, by the cunn

r own conceit, "that if the husband esteemeth the due?a the lover could not endure

troversy, and that I am ready to maintain in the face of all the doctors of Salamanca, or all the chivalry of Christendom, that of the Infidel included; which is, that thou art the fa

er fully warranted, forgot the due?a and her little interruption, in the delight of listening to declarations that were so grateful to her affectio

in the tourney, are ever making some such protestations in favor of this or that noble maiden, in order to provoke others

t in the age of the errants and the troubadours, when men committed a thousand follies that they might be thought weaker even than nature had made them. In

e restraint of her presence. But that which thou termest the morality of the good due?a, is, in truth, the morality of the exc

ful, and rich, and virtuous, to guard. They say you young maidens are told that we cavaliers are so many ogres, and that the only way to reach paradise is to think naught of us but

the two sexes think ill of each other. But, Luis, this is pure idleness, and we waste in it most precious

with the royal authority to sustain him in the fullest manner. If thou hearest aught of one Pedro de M

ellation. Concealments of this nature are seldom wise, and surely thou dost not undertake the enterprise"-

my shield, and let it be known, far and near, that Luis of Llera sought the court of Cathay,

rant, Don Luis de Bobadilla, as thou thyself hast just affirmed; but one in which even the lover is reflecting, and as apt to discover the faults of his lady-love as to dwell upon her perfections. I look for better things from thee, than to hear that thou hast ridden through the highways of Cathay, defying to combat and seeking giants, in order to exalt my beauty, and tempting others

elings, thus uniting his fate with her own; and when she ceased speaking, all unconscious how much might be indirectly

Colon with no other object; share his chances, to remove the objections of Do?a Isabella; and will accompany him to the earth's end, rather t

conceive it, and the heart to undertake it in his own person, on account of the good it must produce to the heathen, and the manner in which it will necessarily redound to the glory of God, still I fear that I am equal

even thou wouldst be ashamed to confess an interest in an unfortunate adventurer who hath returned without success, and thereby made

l-"then, Luis de Bobadilla, thou knowest me not. I wish thee to share in the glory of this enterprise, because calumny and censure have not been altogether idle with thy youth, and because I feel that Her Highness' favor is most easily obtained by it; but, if thou b

th, of thy pure sincerity, and of all thy devoted feelings! Drive me

tiful girl, smiling and blushing as she spoke, and turning her eloquent eyes on the youth in a way to avow volum

was inconsistent, jealous, repentant, full of passion and protestations, fancying a thousand evils at one instant, and figuring in his imagination a terrestrial paradise at the next; while Mercedes was enthusiastic, generous, devoted, and yet high-principled, self-den

o marry another, were given, again and again. As the time for separating approached, Mercedes opened a smal

ho will wait its issue with doubts and fears little less active than those of Colon himself. Thou needst no other crucifix to say thy paters before, and these stones are sapphires, which thou knowest are the toke

he had just alluded, that much disposed her to smile; and it was said with those winning accents with which the youthful and tender avow their emotions, when the heart is subdued by the thought

and again-"and art resolved if the sovereign of Cathay should refuse to be converted to our faith, that we shall not

s all I desire. Thou knowest t

aked as a priest's, or even an Infidel's; but the Bobadillas have their jewels, and a Bobadilla's bride shall wear them: this necklace was

u hast chosen the gorgeous and the brilliant, which pall in time, and seldom lead to contentment; while my woman's heart hath led me to constancy. I fear so

d at the final moment of parting, as ever happens with woman, feeling got the better of form, and her whole soul confessed its weakness. At length Luis tore hi