You
see, Signor Marchese, I have made up my mind to speak clearly; more
clearly than I could, I think, have ventured to do, had I not the
advantage of having had those conversations with my friend Paolina
in the Cardinal's chapel."
"In what respect did it seem to you, that what I proposed saying to
my uncle in the first instance, was unfair, Signorina?"
"In this it would be unfair. To talk of your want of success in
obtaining what you never sought to obtain, is simply to throw on me
the burden and the blame of disappointing the wishes and plans of
both our families. I am ready to do my part; but it would be
unreasonable to expect that it can be so active or so large a part
as your own. It will not be for you to let it be supposed that you
are ready and willing to offer your hand to the Contessa Violante
Marliani, trusting to my refusal to accept it in the teeth of the
wishes of my family. It is your duty to say openly and plainly that
you cannot make the marriage proposed to you. If I were in your
place--if I might venture to suggest, what I would myself counsel--I
should add, as a reason--an additional reason--that I had given my
heart elsewhere."
"But, Signora, you forget that the marriage between us was proposed
before I ever saw or heard of Paolina," said Ludovico, with a
naivete that should certainly have satisfied his companion that he
was no longer attempting to shape his discourse according to the
rules of conventional gallantry.
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