And then I did not wish it otherwise.

One only had taught me to feel how ennobling, how elevating in all its impulses can be a deep-rooted passion for a young and beautiful girl! From her eyes alone had I caught the inspiration that made me pant for glory and distinction.

I could not transfer the allegiance of my heart, since it had taught that very heart to beat high and proudly.

Lucy, lost to me forever as she must be, was still more than any other woman ever could be; all the past clung to her memory, all the prestige of the future must point to it also.
And Power, why had he not trusted, why had he not confided in me?
Was this like my old and tried friend?
Alas! I was forgetting that in his eye I was the favored rival, and not the despised, rejected suitor.
"It is past now," thought I, as I rose and walked into the garden; "the dream that made life a fairy tale is dispelled; the cold reality of the world is before me, and my path lies a lonely and solitary one." My first resolution was to see Power, and relieve his mind of any uneasiness as regarded my pretentions; they existed no longer.

As for me, I was no obstacle to his happiness; it was, then, but fair and honorable that I should tell him so; this done, I should leave Lisbon at once.