Answer me not, make no opposition, be my good, dutiful daughter, let
thy loving father care for thee, and dry thy tears. Promise me to give
thy hand to Mr. Rascal. Say, wilt thou promise me this?"
She answered with a faint voice--"I have no will, no wish further upon
earth. Happen with me what my father will."
At this moment Mr. Rascal was announced, and stepped impudently into
the circle. Mina lay in a swoon. My detested companion glanced angrily
at me, and whispered in hurried words--"And that can you endure? What
then flows instead of blood in your veins?" He scratched with a
hasty movement a slight wound in my hand, blood flowed, and he
continued--"Actually red blood!--So sign then!" I had the parchment
and the pen in my hand.
CHAPTER VII
My wish, dear Chamisso, is merely to submit myself to thy judgment,
not to endeavor to bias it. I have long passed the severest sentence
on myself, for I have nourished the tormenting worm in my heart. It
hovered during this solemn moment of my life incessantly before my
soul, and I could only lift my eyes to it with a doubting glance, with
humility and contrition. Dear friend, he who in levity only sets his
foot out of the right road, is unawares conducted into other paths,
which draw him downward and ever downward; he then sees in vain the
guiding stars glitter in heaven; there remains to him no choice;
he must descend unpausingly the declivity and become a voluntary
sacrifice to Nemesis.
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