Would you still love me if I were to deceive you and wed another?"
"Yes, I would love you even then, Anicza,--and my love for you would
make me shoot you through the heart."
How the girl laughed when he said this!
"Wait a bit," said she, "and you will see that it will all come to pass.
I shall grow sick and ugly. I shall become a poor beggar. They will send
me to prison and make a slave of me. I shall deceive you and wed
another. Then we shall see whether you will love me; then we shall see
whether you will kill me."
Anicza thought all this so amusing that she laughed aloud. The noise
brought old Onucz into the room. His daughter turned towards him
smilingly. "Isn't it true, father, that three suitors are courting me?"
she asked. "I was asking Fatia Negra which of the three I should take."
Old Onucz scratched his nose pretty hard at this question. He would have
liked to have said: "whichever you like, as long as it is the right
one!" but he was afraid of offending Fatia Negra.
"Well, Domnule," said he at last, "truth is truth, after all. I'm
getting an old man now, and what's the good of my scraping together and
piling up all these ducats if nothing comes of it all? I have indeed an
only daughter, a pretty girl and a good girl, too, but what's the use of
that? You are not her husband. If I only knew of some corner of the
world quite out of your reach, I would gather together all my
belongings, seek it out and settle down there; but it would be of no
avail, you would always find me out and befool my girl again, so I have
to stay where I am.
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