"Do you mean to say that you refuse?" the Princess asked, between
scorn and anger. "Are you so little one of us that you suppose this to
be a question of inclination?"
Malipieri looked up again.
"I wish it were. I love your daughter with all my heart and soul. I
did, before I saved her life last night."
The Princess's anger gave way to stupefaction.
"Well--but then? I do not understand. There is something else?"
"Yes, there is something else. I have kept the secret a long time, and
it is not all my own."
"I have a right to know it," the Princess answered firmly, and bending
her brows.
"I never expected to tell it to any one," Malipieri said, in a low
voice, and evidently struggling with himself. "I see that I shall have
to trust you."
"You must," insisted the Princess. "My daughter has a right to know,
as well as I; and you say that you love her."
"I am married."
"Good heavens!"
She sank back in her chair, overwhelmed with surprise at the simple
statement, which, after all, need not have astonished her so much, as
she reflected a moment later. She had never heard of Malipieri until
that day, and since he had never told any one of his marriage, it was
impossible that her daughter should have known of it. She was
tolerably sure that the latter's adventure would not be known, but she
had formed the determination to take advantage of it in order to
secure Malipieri for Sabina, and had been so perfectly sure of the
result that she fell from the clouds on learning that he had a wife
already.
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