"What would you do, Capitola?" asked Clara, raising her tearful eyes
to the last speaker.
"Marry Mr. Craven Le Noir and thank him, too!" said Cap. Then,
suddenly changing her tone, she exclaimed:
"I wish--oh! how I wish it was only me in your place--that it was
only me they were trying to marry against my will!"
"What would you do?" asked Clara, earnestly.
"What would I do? Oh! wouldn't I make them know the difference
between their Sovereign Lady and Sam the Lackey? If I had been in
your place and that dastard Le Noir had said to me what he said to
you, I do believe I should have stricken him down with the lightning
of my eyes! But what shall you do, my poor Clara?"
"Alas! alas! see here! this is my last resort!" replied the unhappy
girl, showing the little pen-knife.
"Put it away from you! put it away from you!" exclaimed Capitola
earnestly; "suicide is never, never, never justifiable! God is the
Lord of life and death! He is the only judge whether a mortal's
sorrows are to be relieved by death, and when He does not Himself
release you, He means that you shall live and endure! That proves
that suicide is never right, let the Roman pagans have said and done
what they pleased. So no more of that! There are enough other ways
of escape for you!"
"Ah! what are they? You would give me life by teaching me how to
escape!" said Clara, fervently.
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