not to have heard. My eldest sister was much quieter than I was, but I would not follow her example, but preferred to imitate the example of an older cousin who came often to the house, and whose conduct my mother had many times severely blamed. She and I soon became very intimate. We were always together. She confided her secret love-affairs to me, and encouraged me in all my vanities. My father and sister often reproved me for this intimacy, but I would not listen to their advice; and finally, when they found out how far wrong she had led me, my father determined to send me away from home.”
By her own statements, Theresa was certainly engaged; but whether her self-chosen fiancé was not a suitable one in regard to age, fortune, or character, is not recorded; evidently Don Alfonso was alarmed at his daughter’s independence, and thought it wise to remove her at once from these temptations. After some consultation with his eldest daughter, Marie,—about to be married to an excellent nobleman, Don Martin de Guzman,—it was decided to send
