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 fore I should have received from such an intimation rushed upon my mind; and I sunk groaning to the earth at the contrast I now drew between it and my present feelings.

'Do not, by yielding to this wretchedness (said the monk), aggravate the misery of your wife and her father; 'tis the guilty heart, not the guilty hand, my son (proceeded he, trying to compose my mind), which merits the vengeance of heaven; your hand, not your heart, is guilty: the vilest arts could alone have turned it against your brother; and upon the contriver of such diabolical schemes, his blood must certainly rest; compose yourself, therefore, and you may again experience some degree of happiness.'

"I started up; 'repeat that word no more (cried I with fierceness); happiness and I must henceforth be as distant from each other as heaven and hell.'

'Promise (said Geraldine kneeling before me, and laying her cold and trembling hands upon me), promise that you will be guided