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CHAP. V.
Prepare, to hear
A story that shall turn thee into stone.
Could there be hewn a monstrous gap in Nature,
A flaw made through the centre by some god,
Thro' which the groans of ghosts might strike thine ear,
They would not wound thee as this story will.
"Do not be too much shocked, my love (cried St. Julian) on finding that I deviated from truth, which in the course of this narrative you must discover; that deviation was occasioned by tenderness for you; for I was well convinced of the misery you would feel if I confessed the involuntary suspicions you
