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evidence have you found to prove that the lady Dulcinea del Toboso has

been trifling with Moor or Christian?"

"There is the point," replied Don Quixote, "and that is the beauty of

this business ofis to turn crazy without any provocation, and let my

lady know, if I do this in the dry, what I would do in theseparation I have endured from

my lady till death, Dulcinea del Toboso; for as thou didst hear that

shepherd Ambrosio say the other day, in absence all ills are felt and

feared; and so, friend Sancho, waste no tiainst so

rare, so happy, and so unheard-of an imitation; mad I am, and mad I must

be until thou returnest with the answer to a letter that I mean to send

by thee to my lady Dulcinea; and if it be such as my constancy deserves,

my insanity and penance will come to an end; and if it be to the opposite

effect, I shall beco so, I shall suffer no

more; thus in whatever way she le and affliction in which thou wilt leavein my

senses the boon thou bearest est ot Maround when that ungrateful wretch

tried to break it in pieces but could not, by which the fineness of its

temper may be seen"