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MARIA FELICIA

the rest were sentenced to life imprisonment, or some other punishments were inflicted upon them. Before the execution they all recanted and expressed their penitence, except one woman—Ludmila Boura; she would not recall her heresies; she died obstinately adhering to her faith. She was beheaded and thrown into a funeral pile.”

“Enough!” exclaimed the harper, pushing aside the plate of victuals untouched, and jumping up flushed with excitement. “Do not continue; I cannot hear such terrible things. What heretics they must have been, if people who themselves are filled with heresies felt it their duty to punish them so cruelly! But who knows whether the condemned were not less guilty than their judges!”

The young man’s passion and excitement frightened the stewardess.

“I’ll say no more about it,” she said, in a soothing tone. “I did not think that you were as excitable as a woman. But this I must tell you yet: That Ludmila Boura was born in Hlohov. She was the daughter of a