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Argeleafa gazed at Ędegard for many moments before she spoke, but she felt the tears of last night rising to her eyes again. She could not understand Ędegard's ill-treatment of the poor boy, so in love with Bellyn. Could she marry a man who would not assist others in gaining the longing of their hearts? Would she be left without help at times, when she most desired it?
'Ędegard,' she said at last, the tears forced down but the bitterness of them lingering in her voice, 'what you say is foolish. How can you call this boy guilty, this boy who has done nothing? Why does the guilt pass on to him?'
'The guilt was his ancestors' and it has been passed on to him, Leafa, the same way the glory of our country will be passed on to every child.'
'How can you hold him guilty?' she said again. 'Did you feel no compassion for him when he stood before you, begging you to teach him to speak so he could attempt to gain the love of his life? Did you not love me, Ędegard, when you sat by the fire each night and gazed at me, and at last when you knelt before me and asked me to wed you? Can you feel no sympathy for the boy? If you, Ędegard, sat unable to speak and there was only one to teach you, one who held a grudge against your race though you yourself had done nothing wrong, and because of it this one would not render you a simple service of teaching you to speak so you could have me, would you not weep for that? You say it is unjust!' Her tears overtook her and she dropped her head, brushing at her eyes to fight them away, and then she said again, 'How could you be so cruel to him?'
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