In one of their evening strolls, they had ascended to the mountain of the Sun, where is situated the Generaliffe, the palace of pleasure, in the days of Moorish dominion, but now a gloomy convent of Capuchins.  They had wandered about its garden, among groves of orange, citron, and cypress, where the waters, leaping in torrents, or gushing in fountains, or tossed aloft in sparkling jets, fill the air with music and freshness.

There is a melancholy mingled with all the beauties of this garden, that gradually stole over the feelings of the lovers.  The place is full of the sad story of past times.  It was the favourite abode of the lovely queen of Granada, where she was surrounded by the delights of a gay and voluptuous court.  It was here, too, amidst her own bowers of roses, that her slanderers laid the base story of her dishonour, and struck a fatal blow to the line of the gallant Abencerrages.

The whole garden has a look of ruin and neglect.  Many of the fountains are dry and broken; the streams have wandered from their marble channels, and are choked by weeds and yellow leaves.  The reed whistles to the wind, where it had once sported among roses, and shaken perfume from the orange-blossom.  The convent-bell flings its sullen sound, or the drowsy vesper-hymn floats along these solitudes, which once resounded with the song, and the dance, and the lover’s serenade.  Well may the Moors lament over the loss of this earthly paradise; well may they remember it in their prayers, and beseech Heaven to restore it to the faithful; well may their ambassadors smite their breasts when they behold these monuments of their race, and sit down and weep among the fading glories of Granada!

It is impossible to wander about these scenes of departed love and gayety, and not feel the tenderness of the heart awakened.  It was then that Antonio first ventured to breathe his passion, and to express by words what his eyes had long since so eloquently revealed.  He made his avowal with fervour, but with frankness.  He had no gay prospects to hold out:  he was a poor scholar, dependent on his “good spirits to feed and clothe him.”  But a woman in love is no interested calculator.  Inez listened to him with downcast eyes, but in them was a humid gleam that showed her heart was with him.  She had no prudery in her nature; and she had not been sufficiently in society to acquire it.  She loved him with all the absence of worldliness of a genuine woman; and, amidst timid smiles and blushes, he drew from her a modest acknowledgment of her affection.

They wandered about the garden, with that sweet intoxication of the soul which none but happy lovers know.  The world about them was all fairy land; and, indeed, it spread forth one of its fairest scenes before their eyes, as if to fulfil their dream of earthly happiness.  They looked out from between groves of orange, upon the towers of Granada below them; the magnificent plain of the Vega beyond, streaked with evening sunshine, and the distant hills tinted with rosy and purple hues:  it seemed an emblem of the happy future, that love and hope were decking out for them.