I am his wife, I say, and he does not think so, nor has he the
least idea of what I really am.
FROS. Go on, I give it up, and will not say any thing more, so much
every word amazes me. I cannot comprehend anything of these riddles.
ASC. I shall explain if you will but hear me. Valere who admired my
sister, seemed to me a lover worthy of being listened to; I could not
bear to see his addresses slighted without feeling a certain interest in
him. I wished that Lucile should take pleasure in his conversation, I
blamed her severity, and blamed it so effectually, that I myself,
without being able to help it, became affected with that passion which
she could not entertain. He was talking to her, and persuaded me; I
suffered myself to be overcome by the very sighs he breathed; and the
love, rejected by the object of his flame, entered, like a conqueror,
into my heart, which was wounded by an arrow, not aimed at it, and paid
another's debt with heavy interest. At last, my dear, the love I felt
for him forced me to declare myself, but under a borrowed name. One
night I spoke to him, disguising my voice as if it were Lucile's, and
this too amiable lover thought she returned his love; I managed the
conversation so well that he never found out the deception.
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