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 “In such a moment as this you recall that dark scene?” the Emperor said reproachfully.

“I am not recalling it; it is always present in my mind. I see it, I hear the heart-rending wails of the mothers, the wives, and the daughters of the beheaded; their despairing forms haunt my bed and frighten away my sleep and rest.”

“You weaken your health by yielding to such illusions,” the Emperor said with anxiety. She trembled by his side like an aspen leaf; he tried to lead her away from the window, but in vain; she did not yield to his wish.

“Try to control those fantasies which so dreadfully agitate you; you are strong and valiant in other things. Turn your mind away from crimes committed so many ages ago.”

“How can I forget that there, among the judges at whose command the headsman raised his sword, the jailer prepared his hot iron, sat my forefather? How can I forget that the wealth which was taken from one of those ill-fated victims was presented to him by your