"
"My dearest, I only meant--"
"--Even then, it will probably take quite a while to kill off all the
Northmen."
"Niafer, will you let me explain--"
"--Besides, you are miles away from Poictesme. You could not even manage
to get there this afternoon."
Manuel put his hand over her mouth. "Niafer, when I spoke of subjugating
Poictesme this afternoon I was attempting a mild joke. I will never any
more attempt light irony in your presence, for I perceive that you do
not appreciate my humor. Meanwhile I repeat to you, No, no, a thousand
times, no! To be called Count of Poictesme sounds well, it strokes the
hearing: but I will not be set to root and vegetate in a few hundred
spadefuls of dirt. No, for I have but one lifetime here, and in that
lifetime I mean to see this world and all the ends of this world, that I
may judge them. And I," he concluded, decisively, "am Manuel, who follow
after my own thinking and my own desire."
Niafer began to weep. "I simply cannot bear to think of what people will
say of you."
"Come, come, my dear," says Manuel, "this is preposterous."
Niafer wept.
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