"Must I then, sir," said she, "in order to convince you, forget that I
am a young girl, and that I am not talking to my mother, but to a man!
For his sake I will do so. It is four years, sir, since we first loved
each other. Since that time, I have not kept a single one of my thoughts
from him, nor has he hid one of his from me. For four years, there has
never been a secret between us; he lived in me, as I lived in him.
I alone can say how worthy he is to be loved; I alone know all that
grandeur of soul, nobleness of thought, generosity of feelings, out of
which you have so easily made an assassin. And I have seen him, oh! so
unhappy, while all the world envied his lot. He is, like me, alone in
the world; his father never loved him. Sustained one by the other, we
have passed through many unhappy days; and it is at the very moment our
trials are ending that he has become a criminal? Why? tell me, why?"
"Neither the name nor the fortune of the Count de Commarin would descend
to him, mademoiselle; and the knowledge of it came upon him with a
sudden shock. One old woman alone was able to prove this. To maintain
his position, he killed her.
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