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Count Paulo still stood behind her, pale and silent A painfully ironic

sht: "I caiven me the answer before I had ti to ask!"

The young hts

Count Paulo laid his hand lightly upon her shoulder She was startled,

and involuntarily cried, "Carlo!"

"No, Paulo!" said he, with a melancholy sh a friend who is about to leave you!"

"You leave me?" she anxiously exclaimed

"That means only outwardly, only with my body, never with my soul," said

he, deeply moved "That, Natalie, will remain with you eternally, that

will never leave you--do you hear, never! Always re child, my sweet blossom! Never entertain a doubt of me; and if

my voice does not reach you, if you receive no news of me, then think

not, 'Paulo has abandoned me!' no; then think only, 'Paulo is dead, but

h was for

her hands "What am I, what shall I

do, without you? You have been my protector and my reliance, my teacher