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 wishes I will not do for myself nor against you, my Emperor, who have never been treated by your friends with candor, and who were the first to praise it in me as a virtue.”

Day after day passed, and the Count did not receive the desired answer from his daughter, nor did he receive a supplication or one repentant word. And Maria Felicia expected no sign of relenting from her father. She knew him, and was convinced that her fate was sealed, that he would not alter one word of his sentence. Either to Vienna she must go and act according to his desire, or to her mother, to that mother who left her without any regard or feeling.

The Countess felt that there was no one in the whole world so forsaken and unhappy as she.

Several times she thought she would write to the Emperor. She knew of one trustworthy friend who would deliver the message to him. This friend was the only one who dared to defy her father’s command and constantly show his devotion to her. She heard