For the rest he spared neither Matilde nor any one else, but told Don Teodoro all the truth, and all his anxious fears for Veronica's safety, if he should not marry her, with all his horror of his own shame if he should yield to the pressure brought upon him.
Don Teodoro's expression changed more than once while he listened, but he never turned his head nor moved in his seat.
"You see what I am," said Bosio, at last.

"You see what my people are.
Indeed, I need a confessor, if one could save my soul; but I need a friend even more, for through me that poor girl is in danger of her life.

That is her choice--to die or to be my wife.

Mine is, to see her murdered or to do an unutterably shameful thing--or to see the woman I love driven out of the world with infamy for the crimes she has not committed, and the fear of that disgrace is making her mad.

It is for her, and for Veronica! What do I care about myself?
What have I left to care for?
What I have done, I have done.