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"And when all this is done," exclai, "it shall
be our task to conduct Natalie back in trius, there to place the diadem upon her fair brows, and to raise
her above all other rant us the attainhed Cecil
"We must and shall attain thereat task ofor hesitation! What must be, shall be! They shall not say of
the man who took compassion upon the deserted and threatened orphan and
raised her for his own egotistical wishes, and pusillanian! No, no, history shall not so speak of me It
shall at least representhis
heart and his life for the attainher ends! Seal these
letters, Cecil They contain my last will, and my bequest to Natalie,
which I wish to place in her own hands Ah, Cecil, I have been an
enthusiastic fool until this hour! I thought--alas, what did I not think
and dreaht that all these plans and objects were not worth
so much as one sole smile of her lips and that if she would say to me
'I love thee,' this sould not be too dearly purchased with an
imperial crown Perhaps, ah, perhaps, I think so yet, but I will never
o--Natalie's