My
horse was led up, she mounted behind me, and we rode away.
"After we had gone a little distance I said to her, 'So, my Carmen, you
are quite ready to follow me, isn't that so?'
"She answered, 'Yes, I'll follow you, even to death--but I won't live
with you any more.'
"We had reached a lonely gorge. I stopped my horse.
"'Is this the place?' she said.
"And with a spring she reached the ground. She took off her mantilla and
threw it at her feet, and stood motionless, with one hand on her hip,
looking at me steadily.
"'You mean to kill me, I see that well,' said she. 'It is fate. But
you'll never make me give in.'
"I said to her: 'Be rational, I implore you; listen to me. All the
past is forgotten. Yet you know it is you who have been my ruin--it is
because of you that I am a robber and a murderer. Carmen, my Carmen, let
me save you, and save myself with you.'
"'Jose,' she answered, 'what you ask is impossible. I don't love you
any more. You love me still, and that is why you want to kill me. If
I liked, I might tell you some other lie, but I don't choose to give
myself the trouble. Everything is over between us two. You are my _rom_,
and you have the right to kill your _romi_, but Carmen will always be
free.
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