"Because the only thing that you would die of would be rascality."
"A thousand thanks, cousin."
"I do not deserve them. Go on."
"Well, then, as to what I was going to tell you.... Do you know I have so much on my mind that I don't know where to begin! I suffer from the same thing that troubles orators."
"Then rest a few minutes.... Would you like a glass of water?"
"There is no need; like the ten commandments, it all reduces itself to two truths,—loving you above all things, and blowing my brains out if you don't love me."
"Are you sure that they are true?"
"Perfectly sure."
"Stuff and nonsense! Then I have made a mistake in this too!" said the girl, sighing with graceful irony.
"Cousin, cousin! what a wretched opinion you have of me. If you realized what this heart of mine suffers, and how completely ensnared it is in your net!"