For pity's sake
answer me--answer me or kill me.'
'It is too true, Sophia; it was my father's will. In a little time I
am to give my hand to another woman.'
'Oh, merciful Heaven! I have heard these words, and live. Oh, my poor
life! But it cannot be: it is not true: you are not yet married:
there is still time. Go--fly to the feet of your father, tell him you
do not love that woman--that you love me, me only; that you have
loved me for six years!'
'Impossible, Sophia; things have already gone too far. She is a
princess--one of the first families of Florence. It breaks my heart,
but it is impossible.'
'What matters her rank, her relatives, if you do not love her?'
'And if I did love her?' said Edoardo, wavering, rather to see
whether it would be a means of ridding him of Sophia than expressing
the sincere feeling of his heart.
'If you did love her? oh, then, you would he the most infamous of
men--you would he a monster. But no; you cannot have forgotten your
vows; you cannot have forgotten all your words, our life of six
years.
Pages:
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259
260
261
262
263
264
265
266
267
268
269
270
271
272