In modern
courts of justice, to refuse the validity of evidence merely because
the manner of obtaining it was supposed dishonorable, would be
pronounced the acme of folly and romance. In the age of which we
write, and in Spain especially, the sense of honor was so exquisitely
refined, that the King's rebuke, and determination not to allow the
validity of Don Luis's evidence, unless confirmed by an honorable
witness, excited no surprise whatever; every noble, nay, every one of
the Associated Brethren, there present, would have said the same; and
the eager wonder, as to the person of the witness on whom so much
stress was laid, became absolutely intense. The prisoner was very
evidently agitated; his cheek flushed and paled in rapid alternation,
and a suppressed but painful exclamation escaped from him as Don Felix
re-entered, leading with him a female form; but the faint sound was
unheard, save by the King and the Sub-Prior, who had been conversing
apart during d'Estaban's absence--lost in the irrepressible burst of
wonder and sympathy, which broke from all within the hall, as in the
new witness, despite the change of garb, and look, from the dazzling
beauty of health and peace, to the attenuated form of anxiety and
sorrow, they recognized at once the widow of the murdered, Donna
Marie.
Pages:
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223