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here, for you belong to your country and your king. Still I am ready to sacrifice the dearest wishes of my heart; when I am satisfied that God hath chosen you for my girl, I will not stand in the way of your happiness. In your country there are excellent people, whom I love and respect, and who will no doubt be kind to Mimili. I will visit you there; you shall come hither, and bring my grandchildren along with you; and thus our parting will not be so painful as it would otherwise prove. And when I am no more, and you are grown older, and your strength declines, so that you can no longer be useful to your country, then you and Mimili may settle here with your family, and calmly await your last hour, because I should not like my Alps to be transferred to strangers; and it is much better, I should think, to die in one of our peaceful dales than in a great city. This, sir, is what I have already been thinking; only I am not sure that you are the man whom God has destined for my girl. Mimili has never seen any one but you. Perhaps it is on this account that she loves you. Go, therefore, in peace. There are in our canton and in those adjoining to it many young men of respectable families, to one or the other of whom I could have no objection as a suitor for the maiden. I will consult my old neighbour on the matter; Mimili shall have opportunities of seeing