“Forgive me, señora,” I answered, “if what necessity forces from me should seem harsh and ungrateful: to encourage you in an error, which, however it may flatter myself, must prove to you the source of disappointment, would make me appear criminal in every eye. Honour obliges me to inform you that you have mistaken for the solicitude of love what was only the attention of friendship. The latter sentiment is that which I wished to excite in your bosom: to entertain a warmer, respect for you forbids me, and gratitude for the Baron’s generous treatment. Perhaps these reasons would not be sufficient to shield me from your attractions, were it not that my affections are already bestowed upon another. You have charms, señora, which might captivate the most insensible; no heart unoccupied could resist them. Happy is it for me that mine is no longer in my possession; or I should have to reproach myself forever with having violated the laws of hospitality. Recollect yourself, noble lady; recollect what is owed by you to honour, by me to the Baron, and replace by esteem and friendship those sentiments which I never can return.”