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Sweet and beloved Elizabeth! I read and reread her letter, and

some softened feelings stole into my heart and dared to whisper

paradisiacal dreams of love and joy; but the apple was already

eaten, and the angel's arm bared to drive me from all hope. Yet I

would die to make her happy. If the monster executed his threat,

death was inevitable; yet, again, I considered whether my

marriage would hasten my fate. My destruction might indeed arrive

a few months sooner, but if my torturer should suspect that I

postponed it, influenced by his menaces, he would surely find

other and perhaps more dreadful means of revenge. He had vowed to

be with me on my wedding-night, yet he did not consider that

threat as binding him to peace in the meantime, for as if to show

me that he was not yet satiated with blood, he had murdered

Clerval immediately after the enunciation of his threats.