"Thirteen!—alas! that fatal number still pursues me!" Turning toward them with resignation, he replied:
"Very well; I will fight with you—one and all."
That same day the duel took place, and Simon was brought home with his arm pierced by a sword-thrust, while he kept murmuring all the time: "Alas! alas! thirteen!" That was all that was lacking to render Ernestina's love more romantic and devoted. She seemed to feel Simon's wound in her own arm while it enhanced his value in her heart.
Her first impulse was to rush to his bedside and minister to his wants herself, and repeat her vows of eternal love, and swear to end her existence at his side if he were to die, so that their corpses might be united in death. But she was obliged to observe the conventionalities of a society too commonplace to appreciate the sublimity of her sacrifice; therefore she had to remain at home.
However, he was rapidly getting healed so she decided to live for him, as it was no longer necessary for her to die for him, and avenge herself on his cowardly enemies by marrying him at once. Matrimony did not seem to her to be a romantic finale. However, the circumstances which attended it made it somewhat more interesting; therefore she determined to take this final step. So she attired herself in a fitting garb, arranged her tresses carelessly, and proceeded to her father's room.
"You are not tyrannical, father," said Ernestina.
