I pitied the unfortunate father, and I feared his handsome daughter might fall into hands that would not protect her so carefully as I resolved to do.

I knew the freedom of her choice was not interfered with, for she confessed she loved me.
"Senor Gonsalez, who was more attached to her than to anything else in the world, soon afterward gathered up the fragments of his broken fortune, and came to reside near us.

I know it was a great satisfaction to his dying hours that he left Eulalia in my care, and the dear girl was entirely happy with me.

If I had manumitted her, carried her abroad, and legally married her, I should have no remorse mingled with my sorrow for her loss.

Loving her faithfully, as I did to the latest moment of her life, I now find it difficult to explain to myself how I came to neglect such an obvious duty.