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placed the weapon's point against her bosom.
"Father, I will never quit these walls alive."
"Hold! hold, Matilda! what would you do?"
"You are determined, so am I: the moment that you leave me, I plunge this steel in my heart."
"Holy St. Francis! Matilda, have you your senses? Do you know the consequences of your action? that suicide is the greatest of crimes? that you destroy your soul? that you lose your claim to salvation? that you prepare for yourself everlasting torments?"
"I care not, I care not," she replied passionately: "either your hand guides me to paradise, or my own dooms me to perdition. Speak to me, Ambrosio! Tell me that you will conceal my story; that I shall remain your friend and your companion, or this poniard drinks my blood."
As she uttered these last words, she liftedher
