Terror, rather than indignation, filled the breast of Amalia. "Oh,
heavens!" she exclaimed, "what madness could prompt you thus to expose
your own life and my reputation? Haste, fly from this spot, which you
have profaned; and know, that if my heart recoils at your death (and
here she gave a deep sigh,) yet at my cry those would appear who would
not suffer your insult to pass unpunished," so saying, she pointed
imperiously to the door.
Alvise listened to her as if he had been struck down by lightning.
"Then let me die!" he exclaimed, "for without you life is odious to
me. You are just taking the first steps in this vale of tears; one
day, however, your heart also will know the emotions of love, and
then, then think of the unhappy Alvise; how great must have been his
pangs, and how ardent his desire to terminate them!"
He now made an effort to go away; but Amalia held him, while she said,
"Alas! I seek not thy death: live, but forget me from this fatal
moment." "To forget thee is impossible; to love thee is death: thy
compassion would sweeten the last moments of my existence!" "Alvise!"
exclaimed Amalia, weeping, "live, if only for my sake!" "Do you
comprehend the force of these words?"
She trembled at the question; but the idea of her lover dying in
despair overcame all her scruples.
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