‘What shall I say of Mazeppa,’ I asked my Vera, ‘that shall end my record both kindly and yet consistently?’ For it was Vera who bade me write the tale of our friendship and rivalry, our hatred and our reconciliation.
‘I would have you write,’ she laughed, ‘that Mazeppa was very plausible, yet very transparent; hated by most men, adored by many women; that he was brave and also cowardly; impassioned and fascinating, yet mean and repulsive; he was half man and half devil. The Tsar Peter is also both devil and man, but he is great. Mazeppa was only great while men did not discern how small he was. Say,’ Vera ended, ‘as you are fond of saying, that “he was a fox.”’
THE END
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