"Friend Calabressa," said Von Zoesch, in a kindly way, "it seems as if
you had transferred your old love for Natalie Berezolyi to Natalie's
daughter, only with double intensity; but, you see, we must not allow
you to sacrifice yourself merely because a girl turns her heel on you.
It is not to be thought of. We cannot afford to lose you; besides, it is
monstrous that the innocent should suffer, and the guilty go free--"
"The articles of the Society, your Excellency--"
"That particular article, my Calabressa, was framed with a view to
encourage self-sacrifice and generosity, no doubt, but not with a view,
surely, to any such extreme madness as this. No. The fact is, I had no
time to explain the circumstances of the case to the young lady, or I
could easily have shown her how you were no more involved than herself
in procuring the decree against her father. To-day I cannot; to-morrow I
cannot; the day after to-morrow, I solemnly assure you, I will see her,
and reason with her, and convince her that you have acted throughout as
her best friend only could have done.
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