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 resisted her beauty. Even kings long for her favors.”

“What attracts kings never has attracted a Hlohovsky. If, as you think, one of their descendants still lives, you may be certain that he will not worship any qualities in a woman except a heroic mind, a generous heart, and a noble conviction of faith for which she would not hesitate to give up her life. But how strangely you are behaving, comrade. You are, I think, the first lover who ever tried to persuade another to love his beloved. To be sure, the lover to whom you are offering her is only an illusion; otherwise such generosity would be matchless.”

“Your refusal is vain; your hypocrisy useless. It would be unworthy of you to refuse a reconciliation. This is possible only by marriage; marriage alone can end the feud. Bring me the documents that prove your origin, which, as you said, the faithful servant concealed with the child—and I will give you the engagement ring of Maria Felicia.”

“Enough of that empty, insolent pretense,”