midnight
repeated the lady , with a curl of her proud but beautiful lip . `` Ay , love , Isabella Gonzales . For years I have loved you in secret . Too humble to become known to you , or to attract your eye , even , I have yet nursed that love , like the better angel of my nature ; have dreamed of it nightly ; have prayed for the object of it nightly ; have watched the starry heavens , and begged for some noble inspiration that would make me more worthy of thy affection ; I have read nothing that I did not couple in some tender way with thee ; have nursed no hope of ambition or fame that was not the nearer to raise me to thee , and over the midnight lamp have bent in earnestness year after year , that I might gain those jewels of the mind that in intelligence , at least , would place me by thy side . At last fortune befriended me , and I was able by a mischance to him , thy brother , to serve thee . Perhaps even then it might have ended , and my respect would still have curbed the promptings of my passion , had you not so kindly noticed me on the Paseo . O , how wildly did my heart beat at that gentle , kind and thoughtful recognition of the poor soldier , and no less quickly beats that heart , when you listen thus to me , and hear me tell how deeply I love . ''