ind that the
reasons which militated in the breast of Don Luis against his love for
Pepita were not only his vow to himself, which, though unconfirmed, was
binding in his eyes, or the love of God, or respect for his father,
whose rival he did not wish to be, or, finally, the vocation which he
felt himself to have for the priesthood. There were other reasons of a
more doubtful character than these.

Don Luis was stubborn; he was obstinate; he had that quality of soul
which, well directed, constitutes what is called firmness of character,
and there was nothing that lowered him more in his own eyes than to feel
himself obliged to change his opinions or his conduct. The purpose of
his life, a purpose which he had declared and maintained on all
occasions, his moral ideal, in a word, was that of an aspirant to
holiness, of a man consecrated to God, of one imbued with the sublimest
religious teachings. All this could not fall to earth, as it would fall,
if he allowed himself to be carried away by his love for Pepita, without
great discredit. Although the price, indeed, was in this case
incomparably higher, yet Don Luis felt that, should he yield to his
passion, he would be following the example of Esau, selling his
birthright and bringing opprobrium on his name.

Men, as a rule, allow themselves to be the plaything of circumstances;
they let themselves be carried along by the current of events, instead
of devoting all their energies to one single aim. We do not choose our
part in life, but accept and play the part allotted us, that which blind
fortune assigns to us. The profession, the political faith, the entire
life of many men depend on chance circumstances, on what is fortuitous,
on the caprice and the unexpected turns of fate.

Against all this the pride of Don Luis rebelled with titanic power. What
would be thought of him, and above all, what would he think of himself
if the ideal of his life, the new man that he had created in his soul,
if all his plans of virtue, of honor, and even of holy ambition, should
vanish in an instant, should melt away in the warmth of a glance, at the
fugitive flame of a pair of beautiful eyes, as the hoar-frost melts in
the yet mild ray of the morning sun?

These and other reasons of a like egotistic nature also militated, in
the breast of Don Luis, side by side with more weighty and legitimate
ones, against the widow; but every argument clothed itself in the same
religious garb, so that