And anew he commenced his
love-plainings, described to her the torments and fierce joys of
an unreturned love, which is yet too strong and overpowering to be
suppressed. And Natalie listened to him with a dreamy thoughtfulness.
His words sounded in her ears like a wonderful song from a strange,
distant world which she knew not, but the description of which filled
her heart with a sweet longing, and she could have wept, without knowing
whether it was for sorrow or joy.
"Thus, Natalie," at length said Carlo, entirely exhausted and pale with
emotion--"thus I love you. You must sometime have learned it, and
have known that even angels cannot mingle with mortals unloved and
unpunished. I should finally have been compelled to tell you that you
might torture no longer, in cruel ignorance; that you, learning to
understand your own heart, might tell me whether I have to hope, or only
to fear!"
"Poor Carlo!" murmured Natalie. "You love me, but I do not love you!
This has even now become clear to me; and while you have so glowingly
described the passion, I have for the first time comprehended that I yet
know nothing of that love, and that I can never learn it of you! This is
a misfortune, Carlo, but as we cannot change, we must submit to it.
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