You can joke about it. You never knew what it was to have your father
and the man you loved oppose each other as enemies.
ADELAIDE.
Do you think so! Well, I once had a good friend who had foolishly
given her heart to a handsome, high-spirited boy. She was a mere child
and it was a very touching relationship: knightly devotion on his part
and tender sighings on hers. Then the young heroine had the misfortune
to become very jealous, and so far forgot poetry and deportment as to
give her heart's chosen knight a box on the ear. It was only a little
box, but it had fateful consequences. The young lady's father had seen
it and demanded an explanation. Then the young knight acted like a
perfect hero. He took all the blame upon himself and told the alarmed
father that he had asked the young lady to kiss him--poor fellow, he
never had the courage for such a thing!--and the blow had been her
answer. A stern man was the father; he treated the lad very harshly.
The hero was sent away from his family and his home, and the heroine
sat lonely in her donjon-tower and mourned her lost one.
IDA.
She ought to have told her father the truth.
ADELAIDE.
Oh, she did. But her confession made matters only worse. Years have
gone by since then, and the knight and his lady are now old people and
have become quite sensible.
IDA (_smiling_).
And, because they are sensible, do they not love each other any
longer?
ADELAIDE.
How the man feels about it, dear child, I cannot tell you exactly.
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