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<h2> LVI. MME. GASTON TO THE COMTESSE DE L'ESTORADE </h2>
<p>Ah! my dear friend, what can I say in answer except the cruel <i>"It is
too late"</i> of that fool Lafayette to his royal master? Oh! my life,
my sweet life, what physician will give it back to me. My own hand has
dealt the deathblow. Alas! have I not been a mere will-o'-the-wisp,
whose twinkling spark was fated to perish before it reached a flame? My
eyes rain torrents of tears—and yet they must not fall when I am with
him. I fly to him, and he seeks me. My despair is all within. This
torture Dante forgot to place in his <i>Inferno.</i> Come to see me die!</p>
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