Page:The Monk, A Romance - Lewis (1796, 1st ed., Volume 2).djvu/111

 She was evidently much affected by my narrative. When it was concluded, she confessed the injustice of her suspicions, and blamed herself for having taken the veil through despair at my ingratitude.

"But now it is too late to repine!" she added; "the die is thrown: I have pronounced my vows, and dedicated myself to the service of heaven. I am sensible how ill I am calculated for a convent. My disgust at a monastic life increases daily: ennui and discontent are my constant companions; and I will not conceal from you, that the passion which I formerly felt for one so near being my husband, is not yet extinguished in my bosom: but we must part! Insuperable barriers divide us from each other, and on this side the grave we must never meet again!"

I now exerted myself to prove, that our union was not so impossible as she seemed to think it. I vaunted to her the cardinal-duke of Lerma's influence at the court of Rome. I assured her, that I should easily