he'd consent To counsel all my former debts to him; Refusing this, I knew th' alternative. Don Diego is a soldier fierce and proud As he is courageous, stern and merciless Towards those who thwart his will. What could I do? 396Unable to pay and in his power, Groaning 'neath a sense of obligation; Allured, too, perhaps, by prospects flattering In worldly sense to her, a poor man's daughter, I e'en consented. In an evil hour I gave my word to friend Diego, A man of my own years, whose castle stands Upon the opposite peak. Behold it. A man, I say, who might be her grandsire; Nor is it mere disparity of years That makes the gap to gape between the pair. Besides his age, and now decaying health, Don Diego all his youth has led a life The most licentious. Rumours strange and wild Are busy with his name, for it is known That he esteems the holy love of woman But as a flower to pluck and cast aside. He hath no reverence for religious rites, And thinks of matrimony but as a bond, Of all bonds easiest broke. With thoughts like these How shall it fare then with my poor daughter When once the knot is tied? His temper then Is stern and imperious, blunt and rude. Accustomed to command, he reigns alone Amidst a flattering troup of followers, Like petty tyrant, treating men as serfs. In boasting moods he vaunts of ancestry 397Who never thwarted were in lust or hate, And to this man shall I consign my daughter? No, no, it was an evil hour when I O'er hastily did consent to sacrifice My lovely Inez, purest of her sex, To this man's savage and rapacious lust. Repentance came too late, for he doth hold Me still to my promise, and all in vain Are pleadings of my daughter's tender age. The promise of her hand at some time hence, When she to riper womanhood hath grown, Excuse or promise unavailing both, For he, with military punctilio And lustful hot impatience, doth demand Her hand at once, and will brook no delay. He called on me of late, and from his mien I saw there was but little left to hope. A father's tears, as ever, failed to soften His all too stubborn nature, and at length He threatened me with ruin or with death And forcible abduction of my daughter If on a certain day ('tis now at hand) I gave not him my daughter for his wife. As yet my child knows nothing of this plan, But now the time draws near when she must know. How can I face my daughter? How can I With humble, piteous whine, say, "Inez, Thy father is ruined, an thou heed him not? 398Save him by the sacrifice of thyself." Or else, with imperious and austere brow, Say, "Inez, I command thee as a father To wed the man I've chosen thee—Don Diego. Obedience is a filial duty, and Thy father better knows what's for thy good Than thou thyself. At once prepare, obey!" Or should I, contrary to precepts taught 

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