"I wish to be the son-in-law of Joam Garral, and I will." "You ignore, then, that my daughter is going to marry Manoel Valdez ?" "You will break it off with Manoel Valdez!" "And if my daughter declines ?" "If you tell her all, I have no doubt she would consent," was the impudent answer.
"All ?" "All, if necessary.

Between her own feelings and the honor of her family and the life of her father she would not hesitate." "You are a consummate scoundrel, Torres," quietly said Joam, whose coolness never forsook him.
"A scoundrel and a murderer were made to understand each other." At these words Joam Garral rose, advanced to the adventurer, and looking him straight in the face, "Torres," he said, "if you wish to become one of the family of Joam Dacosta, you ought to know that Joam Dacosta was innocent of the crime for which he was condemned." "Really!" "And I add," replied Joam, "that you hold the proof of his innocence, and are keeping it back to proclaim it on the day when you marry his daughter." "Fair play, Joam Garral," answered Torres, lowering his voice, "and when you have heard me out, you will see if you dare refuse me your daughter!" "I am listening, Torres." "Well," said the adventurer, half keeping back his words, as if he was sorry to let them escape from his lips, "I know you are innocent! I know it, for I know the true culprit, and I am in a position to prove your innocence." "And the unhappy man who committed the crime ?" "Is dead." "Dead!" exclaimed Joam Garral; and the word made him turn pale, in spite of himself, as if it had deprived him of all power of reinstatement.
"Dead," repeated Torres; "but this man, whom I knew a long time after his crime, and without knowing that he was a convict, had written out at length, in his own hand, the story of this affair of the diamonds, even to the smallest details.

Feeling his end approaching, he was seized with remorse.

He knew where Joam Dacosta had taken refuge, and under what name the innocent man had again begun a new life.

He knew that he was rich, in the bosom of a happy family, but he knew also that there was no happiness for him.