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 TRANSFORMING
CONVERSATIONAL AI

EXPLORING THE POWER OF LARGE

LANGUAGE MODELS IN INTERACTIVE
CONVERSATIONAL AGENTS

Michael McTear
Marina Ashurkina
Transforming Conversational AI: Exploring the Power of Large Language
Models in Interactive Conversational Agents
Michael McTear Marina Ashurkina
Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK London, UK

ISBN-13 (pbk): 979-8-8688-0109-9 ISBN-13 (electronic): 979-8-8688-0110-5

https://doi.org/10.1007/979-8-8688-0110-5

Copyright © 2024 by Michael McTear, Marina Ashurkina

This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or
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Contents
About the Authors v
About the Technical Reviewer vii
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction xi

Chapter 1: A New Era in Conversational AI 1

Chapter 2: Designing Conversational Systems 17
Chapter 3: The Rise of Neural Conversational Systems 43
Chapter 4: Large Language Models 61
Chapter 5: Introduction to Prompt Engineering 85
Chapter 6: Advanced Prompt Engineering 115
Chapter 7: Conversational AI Platforms 145
Chapter 8: Evaluation Metrics 169
Chapter 9: AI Safety and Ethics 189
Chapter 10: Final Words 203
Appendix A 219

Index 223
About the Authors
Michael McTear is an emeritus professor of
Ulster University who has worked in spoken dia-
logue technologies and conversational AI for
more than 20 years. He is the author of several
books, including Spoken Dialogue Technology
(Springer, 2004), The Conversational Interface
(Springer, 2016), and Conversational AI (Springer,
2020). Currently Michael is involved in several
research and development projects investigating
the use of conversational agents in socially rele-
vant projects such as mental health monitoring
and home monitoring of older adults. Michael’s
main motivation for writing this book is to bring new developments in con-
versational AI to the attention of conversation designers and other profes-
sionals in a clear and accessible manner.

Marina Ashurkina studied linguistics and

translation studies. She has over eight years of
experience working with dialogue systems,
including working in the company api.ai before it
was acquired by Google and became Dialogflow.
Also she had her own consultancy Cherry.ai
helping companies build smart assistants and
worked on building a multilingual voice assistant
platform for Huawei. In 2020, Marina created
and lectured on a conversation design course to
60 students with a focus on building skills for
smart speakers. She was also a Product Manager
in Generative Assistants Inc., a US-based startup striving to streamline the
creation of generative AI assistants. Besides that, Marina is a certified Project
Manager Professional, Scrum Master, and Product Owner, which helps her to
set up and drive complex Conversational AI projects.
About the Technical
Reviewer
Tom Taulli (@ttaulli) is an advisor and board
member of various AI companies. He is also the
author of books like Generative AI: How ChatGPT
and Other AI Tools Will Revolutionize Business and
Artificial Intelligence Basics: A Non-Technical
Introduction.
Acknowledgments
In writing this book, we have been guided by an efficient and supportive team
from Apress, including Shobana Srinivasan (Production Editor), Tom Taulli
(Technical Reviewer), Jim Markham (Development Editor), Gryffin Winkler
(Editorial Project Manager), and Linthaa Muralidharan, (Production Supervisor).
Thank you for all your constructive comments and guidance that have helped
us improve our book.
We received useful feedback and suggestions from several friends and col-
leagues, including Mikhail Burtsev (Landau AI Fellow at London Institute for
Mathematical Sciences) and Muskaan Singh (Ulster University) for helpful
comments on Chapters 3 and 4 and Arseny Fitilbam (founder and CTO of
JIQ.ai) for providing anonymized examples of conversations and statistical
data for Chapter 8.
Writing a book requires a lot of time and effort, and during the months of
drafting, editing, and rewriting chapters, we have been encouraged by our
partners who have been patient and supportive during the long hours in which
we were working on the book. Michael would like to thank and acknowledge
the support of his wife Sandra; Marina is grateful for the support and encour-
agement she received from her husband Adam.
Introduction
We were motivated to write this book by the launch in November 2022 of
ChatGPT and by the ensuing excitement and disruption across the world of
Conversational AI. The book is written for a broad audience who are already
working, starting to work, or simply interested in Conversational AI. This will
include conversation designers, for whom these new technologies are bring-
ing challenges as well as new opportunities; product owners, project manag-
ers, software developers, and data scientists who wish to learn about these
new methods and technologies; and final year undergraduates and graduates
of computer science who are keen to learn about Conversational AI. The
book will also be of interest to professionals involved in content generation
and discovery across diverse fields, including marketing, law, medicine, and
education, as well as members of the general public eager to find out more
about this revolutionary new technology.
In writing this book, we have been guided by two primary objectives. Firstly,
we want to provide a practical guide for those who wish to explore
Conversational AI and its associated technologies. A focal point of the book
is the intricate art of prompt engineering. We illustrate with detailed exam-
ples the role of Prompt Engineers, nowadays much sought after specialists
who can skillfully develop and optimize prompts to enhance the performance
of systems powered by LLMs.
Our second aim is to enable you to understand and appreciate the complexi-
ties of the technologies of Conversational AI in a relatively non-technical way.
Modern Conversational and Generative AI differ considerably from technolo-
gies that most readers will have encountered previously, and so we believe
strongly that it is important to have a basic understanding and appreciation of
how these new systems work. Also, given the controversies that surround the
whole area of modern AI, we feel that it is important to consider risks and
various ethical considerations that have featured prominently in media
discussions.
Conversational AI is a dynamic and rapidly evolving field, with new advance-
ments being reported almost weekly. Our aim in this book is to provide a
comprehensive overview of the core concepts and principles of conversa-
tional AI, equipping you with a solid understanding of this ground-breaking
technology.
xii Introduction

In our final chapter, we will delve into the latest developments in conversa-
tional AI, highlighting the most significant breakthroughs and emerging trends
up to the time of publication. To ensure you stay at the forefront of this excit-
ing field, we encourage you to explore the list of resources provided, which
will guide you to continue learning and staying informed about future
advancements.

Overview of the Book

There are ten chapters in the book. Here is a brief summary of what we cover
in each chapter.
Chapter 1, “A New Era in Conversational AI,” introduces groundbreaking
developments in Conversational AI since the launch of ChatGPT in November
2022. Key terms in Conversational AI are explained along with illustrative
examples of interactions with ChatGPT and similar chatbots and an overview
of how AI-powered chatbots are revolutionizing diverse application areas,
transforming the way we interact with technology.
Chapter 2, “Designing Conversational Systems,” reviews current approaches
to conversation design and assesses the impact of recent developments,
showing how Large Language Models can be leveraged to help designers
brainstorm user intents, system responses, and conversation flows. The chap-
ter also describes what is involved in leading a Conversational AI project,
outlining the roles and responsibilities within a cross-functional team to
ensure successful project execution.
Chapter 3, “The Rise of Neural Conversational Systems,” introduces the
encoder–decoder architecture which provides a foundation for neural con-
versational systems. We explore transformers and the attention mechanism
which have become state-of-the-art and revolutionized the field of
Conversational AI. We conclude by outlining the advantages and disadvan-
tages of the neural conversational approach compared to the traditional rule-
based approach described in Chapter 2.
Chapter 4, “Large Language Models,” introduces Large Language Models
(LLMs) and explains how they have transformed Conversational AI. We delve
into the intricate mechanisms of LLMs and explore their fundamental differ-
ences from traditional search engines, how they can be augmented with
external knowledge, and what is involved in fine-tuning. We also address the
challenges and limitations of LLMs.
Chapter 5, “Introduction to Prompt Engineering,” introduces the essential
terminology and concepts central to prompt engineering. It explores web
interfaces for famous LLMs and examines different use cases. The chapter
demonstrates practical examples of crafting effective prompts, common
design techniques, and patterns. It also presents actionable examples for
 Introduction xiii

Conversation Designers, illustrating methods to significantly reduce the time

and effort required to develop intent-based virtual agents through prompt
engineering. This chapter will help readers learn how to craft prompts for
many scenarios. Moreover, this chapter lays the foundation for the advanced
prompt engineering topics in Chapter 6.
Chapter 6, “Advanced Prompt Engineering,” offers an extensive overview of
advanced tools and examples to develop prompt engineering skills further. It
is written for those who want to go beyond basic LLM interfaces and acquire
hands-on experience configuring and setting up the optimal combination of
LLM parameters, chaining prompts, and creating LLM applications. This chap-
ter covers system prompts and prompt settings, playgrounds, and APIs and
discusses prompt hacking. It also reviews several sophisticated prompt pat-
terns with reasoning elements, such as Chain-of-Thought, ReAct, and
Self-Consistency.
Chapter 7, “Conversational AI Platforms,” reviews the transformation of con-
versational AI platforms from traditional to hybrid and ultimately to new LLM-
based platforms. This chapter lists the most important components of classic
platforms and how they are influenced by the rise of LLMs. Generative AI
features become a new norm in hybrid platforms to automate the process of
creating conversational systems and to enrich the end-user experience with
live text generation and dynamic reasoning inside the application.
Chapter 8, “Evaluation Metrics,” explores various approaches for the evalua-
tion of conversational systems. We begin by examining metrics employed in
the assessment of traditional intent-based conversation systems. Next we
provide a comprehensive overview of different frameworks for evaluating
LLMs. Following this, we discuss the essential product metrics for evaluating
conversational systems as a whole. Finally, we introduce the innovative con-
cept of employing LLMs as a tool for assessing the quality of conversations.
Chapter 9, “AI Safety and Ethics,” delves into ethical considerations, including
the handling of bias, toxic content, misinformation, privacy, and data protec-
tion. We examine how these critical issues are currently being tackled through
regulatory measures and the establishment of standards aimed at fostering
trustworthy and responsible AI.
Chapter 10, “Final Words,” reviews recent advancements in Conversational
AI and the role of LLMs. We also explore the exciting possibilities that lie
ahead in this rapidly evolving and captivating field.
The Appendix contains a list of LLM-powered chatbots that you can use to
test the examples in the book.
The Notebook is a web-based resource accessible through https://github.
com/Apress/Transforming-Conversational-AI to copy and paste the
examples of prompts provided in the book.
 CHAPTER

A New Era in
Conversational
AI
On November 30, 2022, OpenAI, a prominent US company with headquarters
in San Francisco, released a publicly available version of a chatbot called
ChatGPT that transformed the world of Conversational Artificial Intelligence
(AI) and ignited what has come to be known as “The Conversational AI Arms
Race.” Within just five days of its launch, ChatGPT had acquired a million
users, and within two months, it was estimated to have 100 million active
users. In February 2023, Microsoft, having invested heavily in OpenAI, launched
a version of its Bing search engine powered by the technology behind
ChatGPT. Google responded in March 2023 by releasing its own AI-powered
chatbot called Bard. Others followed, including Anthropic, funded initially by
Google and subsequently by Amazon, with a chatbot called Claude, as well as
major Chinese tech firms, such as Baidu and Alibaba.
Approximately a year after the launch of ChatGPT, on November 6, 2023,
OpenAI unveiled a host of enhancements, innovative products, and tools at

© Michael McTear, Marina Ashurkina 2024

M. McTear and M. Ashurkina, Transforming Conversational AI,
https://doi.org/10.1007/979-8-8688-0110-5_1
2 Chapter 1 | A New Era in Conversational AI

its inaugural developer conference, OpenAI DevDay.1 These developments

are likely to provide new opportunities for those involved in the creation of
AI applications. At the same time, they present formidable challenges for
competitor companies and we can expect another upsurge of activity as the
industry responds to and addresses these challenges.
So what is this all about and why does it matter? Our aim in this chapter is to
introduce you to the world of ChatGPT and similar chatbots. We will begin
by defining some of the commonly used terms in this area of Artificial
Intelligence, such as Conversational AI, Generative AI, and Large Language
Models. Following this, we will introduce some examples of how you can
engage in natural and meaningful dialogues with ChatGPT and other chatbots.
More detailed examples and explanations of how they work and how they can
be used will be provided in later chapters. Next we will examine some areas
in which these chatbots are being used, looking at the benefits as well as some
of the concerns around their use. The chapter concludes with a list of useful
resources for you to consult if you wish to delve further into this fascinating field.
By the end of the chapter, you will have gained a good understanding of the
main concepts in the fields of Conversational and Generative AI, insights into
the diverse types of applications leveraging these technologies, and an
awareness of how these applications are likely to impinge on many aspects of
our daily lives.

Understanding Key Terms in Conversational AI

Before we go any further, it will be useful to explain some of the terms that
we will be using throughout this book.
Conversational AI is a fairly recent term that describes an area of Natural
Language Processing (NLP) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) concerned with
developing systems that can process human language and interact with humans
in a natural way that mimics human conversation. These systems are known
by various names, including conversational agents or assistants,
chatbots, and digital personal assistants. The term (spoken) dialogue
system is used widely in academic and industrial research laboratories, while
in commercial applications such as automated customer service, they are
known as voice user interfaces. Embodied Conversational Agents
(ECAs) are another type of application that features computer-generated
animated characters and social robots that can display emotions, gestures,
and facial expressions. In some cases, they can also recognize and interpret
these cues when displayed by the humans they interact with, thus providing a
more human-like and engaging form of interaction. Recently, Meta has been

1
https://devday.openai.com/
 Transforming Conversational AI 3

developing Conversational AI characters with unique interests and personalities

(see further Chapter 10).2
Natural Language Processing (NLP) is a branch of Artificial Intelligence
that is concerned with giving computers the ability to process, understand,
and generate natural language. NLP has its roots in the 1950s with early
attempts at machine translation, and has passed through several stages:

• Symbolic NLP (from the 1950s to early 1990s): in which

hand-crafted rules were developed to understand and
generate natural language texts
• Statistical NLP (from the 1990s to 2010s): in which
machine learning algorithms were used in tasks such as
classifying texts and user inputs
• Neural NLP (from around 2010 to the present): in which
deep learning methods have been applied to NLP tasks

NLP can be broken down into Natural Language Understanding (NLU)

and Natural Language Generation (NLG). Interactive NLP systems, such
as Dialogue Systems, also include a Dialogue Management (DM)
component that processes inputs and determines the system’s actions and
responses. Voice-based (or spoken) dialogue systems also include an
Automated Speech Recognition (ASR) component that converts
spoken input into text and a Text-to-Speech (TTS) component that
converts text output to speech.

■■ Note Recently, the term NLU has come to be used to describe chatbots and conversational
systems that have been developed using traditional technologies involving intents, entities, and
pre-defined system responses and conversational flows, as described in Chapter 2, as opposed to
systems developed using neural technologies, as described in Chapters 3 and 4.

Generative AI is a new and rapidly emerging area of AI that is concerned

with generating new data. This data can be in the form of textual content,
such as responses to prompts, summarizations, and text transformations,
such as translation to different formats or different languages. More recently,
Generative AI is being used to generate images, 3D models, videos, and music.
Generative AI leverages the capabilities of Large Language Models (LLMs) to
create this new content and has a wide range of potential applications in fields
such as art, music, gaming, entertainment, and scientific research. In the

2
https://about.fb.com/news/2023/09/introducing-ai-powered-assistants-
characters-and-creative-tools/
4 Chapter 1 | A New Era in Conversational AI

commercial arena, Generative AI is being deployed to enhance productivity in

repetitive tasks such as the creation of marketing content, legal documents,
and more.
Large Language Models (or LLMs) represent a breakthrough in recent
AI. Large Language Models can understand and generate human-like language
and are used to perform many tasks in NLP, including translation, summarization,
question-answering, and content generation. We provide a fairly non-technical
overview of LLMs, how they are trained, and how they are used, in Chapter 4.
AI-powered chatbots. This term refers to chatbots and conversational
agents that make use of new technologies such as Large Language Models in
contrast to earlier systems based on hand-crafted rules. We show examples
of several AI-powered chatbots in the book. As well as ChatGPT, we also
provide examples generated by Google’s Bard, Anthropic’s Claude, and others.

■■ Note For many of these systems, there are free as well as subscription-based versions. You
can find a list of these in the Appendix.

ChatGPT is a conversational interface to various LLMs developed by

OpenAI. The interface allows users to insert a prompt to which ChatGPT
generates a response, or more precisely, a completion, as the prompt provides
a completion to the words of the user’s input. The latest version of ChatGPT
can also generate images from textual prompts and search the Internet, and
there are also speech-to-text and text-to-speech capabilities. We describe
how the completion is generated in more detail in Chapter 3, while the
creation of effective prompts to ensure useful output is explained with
multiple examples in Chapters 5 and 6.
GPT. The GPT in ChatGPT refers to the Generative Pre-trained
Transformer Architecture that is the basis for AI-powered chatbots. The
Transformer architecture is described in Chapter 3, while Chapter 4 provides
an overview of pre-trained (or foundational) Large Language Models that
make use of the architecture.

■■ Note The term GPT is now being used to refer to applications in which ChatGPT can be
customized by anyone wishing to develop chatbots for their own specific purposes using non-
coding methods. It is planned to create a GPT Store where these GPTs can be stored and made
accessible.3

3
https://openai.com/blog/introducing-gpts
 Transforming Conversational AI 5

Interacting with ChatGPT

and Similar Chatbots
While the underlying technologies powering ChatGPT and similar AI-powered
chatbots have been in existence for several years, it wasn’t until its launch in
November 2022 that ChatGPT became the fastest-growing computing
technology in history. This was largely due to its simple user-friendly chat
interface that allowed anyone with Internet access to engage in open-ended
conversations on any topic with an AI entity that could provide detailed
answers to questions, execute tasks such as document summarization,
generation of emails and other content, language translation, computer code
production, and much more. Figure 1-1 depicts the intuitive ChatGPT chat
interface.

Figure 1-1. The ChatGPT chat interface4

In addition to offering interaction tips and a disclaimer about potential errors,

users are presented with a message box for entering textual prompts. The
latest version, ChatGPT-4, expands the input options to include images as
well as documents. Similarly, other advanced chatbots, such as Anthropic’s
Claude, also accept documents as input.

4
https://chat.openai.com/
6 Chapter 1 | A New Era in Conversational AI

What differentiates a chat interface from a simple request to an LLM is the

feature of keeping the entire conversational context. The user can freely
switch from one topic to another, and the bot will retain and remember all
the information to support the conversation as a human would. This makes
the conversation genuinely remarkable. It’s possible due to the large context
window. At the time of writing this book, Claude 2.1 (Anthropic) has an
industry-leading context window of 200K tokens, which was released on
November 21st.5 It can remember and track text as large as 150,000 words
or 500 pages.
We will introduce the concepts of tokens, context window, prompt
parameters, and techniques for prompt engineering in Chapters 5 and 6. You
can copy the provided prompt examples from the notebook and try them out
in different chat interfaces. Chapters 6 and 7 will introduce playgrounds and
Conversational AI platforms where you can build your own LLM application
similar to ChatGPT. This section offers a few examples to illustrate the power
and versatility of this ground-breaking technology.
We have used search engines such as Google to access information for several
decades already. That’s why when we interact with ChatGPT or similar chat
interfaces, we unconsciously use them as search engines. We need to start
thinking differently about them. To get a better result, we need to improve
our query. Instead of asking a simple question, we can provide context, ask
them to follow instructions, and give detailed descriptions of what we need.
We can ask the LLM to take on a specific role, such as a teacher, lawyer,
financial advisor, detective, and many more.
Let’s provide a simple example of how a differently formulated query can
improve the conversation with ChatGPT. If we want to learn about the history
of the UK’s landmark the London Tower Bridge, instead of just asking, “How
was London Tower Bridge built?” we can provide a detailed prompt, as shown
in Figure 1-2.

5
www.anthropic.com/index/claude-2-1
 Transforming Conversational AI 7

Figure 1-2. Interacting with ChatGPT is different from interacting with a search engine.
Prompt engineering techniques make the generated text unique and creative

Using different techniques for constructing prompts, we can create better

experiences and generate unique text. Prompt engineering is as much a
technical task as it is creative.
OpenAI models have a knowledge cut-off; if used as-is, they can’t provide real-
time information. GPT-4, OpenAI’s most recent model, has world knowledge
up to April 2023. To solve this issue, OpenAI first introduced ChatGPT
plugins, which were able to make requests to third-party applications to get
relevant data. In November 2023, OpenAI rolled out GPTs, custom versions
of ChatGPT, which can be connected to the real world via a function called
‘actions’. Microsoft took an early stance on the issue of knowledge cut-off
with Bing by integrating search, browsing, and chat into a unified experience
in February 2023. Google also integrated search into its conversational
interface in Bard. We will talk about GPTs in Chapter 10 of this book.
Throughout this book, we will provide numerous examples of how to interact
with ChatGPT and similar chat interfaces. For a list of the most prominent
AI-powered conversational systems, refer to the Appendix.

 sing AI-Powered Chatbots: Examples

U
of Some Relevant Application Areas
Chatbots have been used for a number of years in many diverse application
areas, including customer service, education, healthcare, and as social
companions. Traditionally, these applications were developed using
conventional design and development methods, as detailed in Chapter 2.
Now the field of Conversational AI has been revolutionized by the emergence
8 Chapter 1 | A New Era in Conversational AI

of Large Language Models (LLMs) and deep neural network architectures.

While these advancements have opened up exciting new possibilities, they
have also presented a unique set of challenges. In this section, we delve into
some key application areas where these emerging and innovative technologies
are making a significant impact.

Customer Service
Customer service is one of the most popular use cases for Conversational
AI. According to Gartner, Inc., chatbots will become a primary customer
service channel for roughly a quarter of organizations by 2027.6 Businesses
were eager to automate customer service long before Generative AI. They
used more conventional technology and deployed it to multiple channels such
as the web, phone, emails, and messengers.
Generative AI uncovers new opportunities for customer support. With its
ever-growing context window size, it can remember the entire conversation
history with a specific customer across multiple channels and provide better
customer support. Customer support agents can benefit from using live AI
assistants which can create drafts and suggestions during live calls with
customers. LLM-powered conversational agents sound more fluent and
human-like. Customer service can benefit from using Generative AI for
summarizing customers’ cases, identifying the sentiment of the conversation,
and gaining insights from data. Also, automated internal employee support is
a growing business case as a large amount of the company’s data can be used
as a knowledge base for conversational agents.
However, implementing Generative AI in customer-facing applications may
come with risks. Traditional tools which used machine learning classifiers to
identify pre-defined intents and follow specific scenarios offered more control
over the technology. LLMs come with incredible opportunities as well as
certain risks, such as hallucinations, where the LLM fabricates information,
bias, privacy, latency, copyright, and other issues which we aim to address
comprehensively in this book.
With the right approach and required skills within the team, it’s possible to
bring Generative AI to customer support. Let’s take as an example South
Korea’s leading mobile operator KT, which has trained its own LLM in the
Korean language. GiGA Genie has become the most popular AI voice assistant
in South Korea and has had conversations with over 8 million customers as of

6
www.gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2022-07-27-gartner-predicts-
chatbots-will-become-a-primary-customer-service-channel-within-
five-years
 Transforming Conversational AI 9

September 2022. By leveraging LLMs, the company has achieved significant

quality improvements, better language understanding, and more human-
sounding sentences.7

Education
Shortly after the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022, concerns were
voiced in educational circles warning of the dangers arising from the potential
misuse of this new technology. There was a fear that students would be able
to have essays generated by ChatGPT that would be indistinguishable from
their own work, making the detection of plagiarism almost impossible.
Furthermore, given the propensity for LLMs to output inaccurate information,
students could be fed content that they would be unable to critically evaluate.
These are legitimate concerns that warrant careful consideration. However, it
is important to recognize that alongside these challenges, the emergence of
new technologies like ChatGPT brings forth many exciting opportunities for
students as well as educators. Embracing these technologies responsibly can
empower students to explore innovative learning methodologies, while
educators can foster a dynamic and enriched learning environment, tailoring
their approaches to cater to individual needs and inspiring a new era of
educational excellence.
LLMs provide a versatile learning tool for pupils and students at all levels of
education, from elementary school through to university and beyond, in tasks
such as writing essays, translating texts, summarizing documents, and
generating computer code. The challenge is to treat this generated content
not as a final product but as an initial suggestion that can be refined based on
specific criteria. Assessment of the student’s work should extend beyond the
text output produced by the LLM to a focus on how the student iteratively
refined and re-designed prompts to the LLM throughout the learning process.
In this way, the LLM becomes a facilitator in the content production process.
LLMs also have the potential to serve as tools for improving the student’s
writing skills and critical thinking abilities, while also supporting other tasks
such as the development of reading comprehension or the learning of foreign
languages. Each student can work individually with their own chat-based LLM
interface, thus benefiting from a personalized learning experience in which
they receive individualized constructive feedback.
There are also many benefits for teachers. For example, LLMs can be used to
produce lesson plans or to brainstorm the topics to be covered in a lecture.
These outputs could be tailored to cater to different levels of student

7
https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/kt-large-language-models/
10 Chapter 1 | A New Era in Conversational AI

proficiency, creating personalized lesson plans that align with individual

learning needs.
LLMs can also be beneficial in semi-automated grading processes where the
teacher can input the student’s work into the LLM and obtain a concise
summary highlighting the strengths and weaknesses of the work. LLMs can
also be used as a powerful tool for plagiarism detection.
Balancing the concerns mentioned earlier with the potential benefits requires
a concerted effort to establish robust guidelines, ethical frameworks, and
educational practices that harness the transformative power of ChatGPT
while mitigating its risks.
For more detailed discussion of the benefits as well as the challenges of LLMs
in education, you can check out the following papers: “Practical and Ethical
Challenges of Large Language Models in Education: A systematic review”8 and
“ChatGPT for Good? On Opportunities and Challenges of Large Language
Models for Education.”9

Healthcare
Healthcare is a domain where LLMs have demonstrated enormous potential,
but also where there are significant concerns. ChatGPT, for instance, has
proved capable of passing medical exams (e.g., the U.S. Medical Licensing
Exam), and there are already several specialized LLMs tailored for medical
applications, including BERT for Biomedical Text Mining (BioBERT),
ClinicalBERT, GatorTron, Med-PALM, and many more. At the same time, the
critical nature of healthcare requires careful consideration of issues related to
misinformation, bias, potential breaches of patient privacy, and others.
In this section, we will look at how LLMs can enhance the work and educational
experience of healthcare professionals and medical students. Additionally, we
explore the positive impact LLMs can have on the lives of patients. Following
this, we will outline some of the challenges associated with the use of LLMs
in healthcare and propose some solutions to mitigate these concerns.
LLMs can alleviate the burdens faced by healthcare professionals in various
time-consuming and repetitive tasks. For example, LLMs can drastically reduce
the time and effort required for creating summaries of medical interviews
with patients, composing standardized reports and discharge summaries, and
even translating documents into other languages.

8
https://bera-journals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/
bjet.13370#:~:text=Large%20language%20models%20have%20been,question%20
generation%20and%20essay%20scoring
9
www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1041608023000195
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Los cien mil hijos
de San Luis
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this ebook or online at
www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you will
have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
using this eBook.

Title: Los cien mil hijos de San Luis

Author: Benito Pérez Galdós

Release date: September 11, 2023 [eBook #71614]

Most recently updated: November 5, 2023

Language: Spanish

Original publication: Madrid: Obras de Pérez Galdós, 1904

Credits: Ramón Pajares Box. (This file was produced from images
generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian
Libraries.)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOS CIEN MIL

HIJOS DE SAN LUIS ***
Índice: I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX, X, XI, XII, XIII, XIV, XV, XVI, XVII,
XVIII, XIX, XX, XXI, XXII, XXIII, XXIV, XXV, XXVI, XXVII, XXVIII, XXIX, XXX,
XXXI, XXXII, XXXIII, XXXIV, XXXV, XXXVI.

Nota de transcripción

Los errores de imprenta han sido corregidos.

La ortografía del texto original ha sido modernizada de acuerdo con las normas
publicadas en 2010 por la Real Academia Española.
Las rayas intrapárrafos han sido espaciadas según los modernos usos
ortotipográficos.
Las notas a pie de página han sido renumeradas y colocadas al final del párrafo en
que se las llama.
 EPISODIOS NACIONALES

LOS CIEN MIL HIJOS DE SAN LUIS

 Es propiedad. Queda hecho el depósito
que marca la ley. Serán furtivos los
ejemplares que no lleven el sello del autor
 B. PÉREZ GALDÓS
EPISODIOS NACIONALES
SEGUNDA SERIE

LOS CIEN MIL HIJOS

DE

SAN LUIS

33.000

MA DRID
O B RAS DE P É RE Z G AL DÓ S
132, Hortaleza
1904
EST. TIP. DE LA VIUDA E HIJOS DE TELLO
IMPRESOR DE CÁMARA DE S. M.
C. de San Francisco, 4.
 LOS CIEN MIL HIJOS
DE SAN LUIS

Para la composición de este libro cuenta el autor con materiales

muy preciosos. Además de las noticias verbales, que casi son e
principal fundamento de la presente obra, posee un manuscrito que le
ayudará admirablemente en la narración de la parte o tratado que lleva
por título Los cien mil hijos de San Luis. El tal manuscrito es hechura
de una señora, por cuya razón bien se comprende que será dos veces
interesante, y lo sería más aún si estuviese completo. ¡Lástima grande
que la negligencia de los primeros poseedores de él dejara perder una
de las partes más curiosas y necesarias que lo componen! Solo dos
fragmentos sin enlace entre sí llegaron a nuestras manos. Las
laboriosas indagaciones para allegar lo que falta han sido inútiles, lo
que en verdad es muy lamentable, porque nos veremos obligados a
llenar con relatos de nuestra propia cosecha el gran vacío que entre
ambas piezas del manuscrito femenil resulta.
Este tiene la forma de Memorias. Su primer fragmento lleva po
epígrafe De Madrid a Urgel, y empieza así:
 I

En Bayona, donde busqué refugio tranquilo al separarme de m

esposo, conocí al general Eguía.[1] Iba a visitarme con frecuencia, y
como era tan indiscreto y vanidoso, me revelaba sus planes de
conspiración, regocijándose en mi sorpresa y riendo conmigo del gran
chubasco que amenazaba a los francmasones. Por él supe en e
verano del 21 que Su Majestad, nuestro católico rey don Fernando
(que Dios guarde), anhelando deshacerse de los revolucionarios po
cualquier medio y a toda costa, tenía dos comisionados en Francia, los
cuales eran:
[1] Puede verse el retrato de este personaje en las Memorias de un
Cortesano de 1815.

1.º El mismo general don Francisco Eguía, cuya alta misión era
promover desde la frontera el levantamiento de partidas realistas.
2.º Don José Morejón, oficial de la secretaría de la Guerra, y
después Secretario reservado de Su Majestad con ejercicio de
decretos, el cual tenía el encargo de gestionar en París con e
gobierno francés los medios de arrancar a España el cauterio de la
Constitución gaditana, sustituyéndole con una cataplasma anodina
hecha en la misma farmacia de donde salió la Carta de Luis XVIII.
Alababa yo estas cosas por no reñir con el anciano general, que era
muy galante y atento conmigo; pero en mi interior deploraba, como
amante muy fiel del régimen absoluto, que cosas tan graves se
emprendieran por la mediación de personas de tan dudoso valer. No
conocía yo en aquellos tiempos a Morejón; pero mis noticias eran que
no había sido inventor de la pólvora. En cuanto a Eguía, debo deci
con mi franqueza habitual que era uno de los hombres más pobres de
ingenio que en mi vida he visto.
 Aún gastaba la coleta que le hizo tan famoso en 1814, y con la
coleta el mismo humor atrabiliario, despótico, voluble y regañón. Pero
en Bayona no infundía miedo como en Madrid, y de él se reían todos
No es exagerado cuanto se ha dicho de la astuta pastelera que llegó a
dominarle. Yo la conocí, y puedo atestiguar que el agente de nuestro
egregio soberano comprometía lamentablemente su dignidad y aun la
dignidad de la corona, poniendo en manos de aquella infame muje
negocios tan delicados. Asistía la tal a las conferencias, administraba
gran parte de los fondos, se entendía directamente con los partidarios
que un día y otro pasaban la frontera, y parecía en todo ser ella misma
la organizadora del levantamiento y el principal apoderado de nuestro
querido rey.
Después de esto he pasado temporaditas en Bayona, y he visto la
vergonzosa conducta de algunos españoles que sin cesar conspiran
en aquel pueblo, verdadera antesala de nuestras revoluciones; pero
nunca he visto degradación y torpeza semejantes a las del tiempo de
Eguía. Yo escribía entonces a don Víctor Sáez, residente en Madrid, y
le decía: «Felicite usted a los francmasones, porque mientras la
salvación de Su Majestad siga confiada a las manos que por aqu
tocan el pandero, ellos están de enhorabuena.»
En el invierno del mismo año se realizaron las predicciones que yo
por no poder darle consejos, había hecho al mismo Eguía, y fue que
habiendo convocado de orden del rey a otros personajes absolutistas
para trabajar en comunidad, se desavinieron de tal modo, que aquello
más que junta parecía la dispersión de las gentes. Cada cual pensaba
de distinto modo, y ninguno cedía en su terca opinión. A esta variedad
en los pareceres y terquedad para sostenerlos llamo yo enjaezar los
entendimientos a la calesera, es decir, a la española. El marqués de
Mataflorida[2] proponía el establecimiento del absolutismo puro
Balmaseda, comisionado por el gobierno francés para tratar este
asunto, también estaba por lo despótico, aunque no en grado tan
furioso; Morejón se abrazaba a la Carta francesa; Eguía sostenía e
veto absoluto y las dos Cámaras, a pesar de no saber lo que eran una
cosa y otra, y Saldaña, nombrado como una especie de quinto en
discordia, no se resolvía ni por la tiranía entera ni por la tiranía a media
miel.
 [2] Conocido por don Buenaventura en las Memorias de un cortesano
y en La segunda casaca.

Entre tanto, el gobierno francés concedió a Eguía algunos millones

de los cuales podría dar cuenta si viviese la hermosa pastelera. Dios
me perdone el mal juicio; pero casi podría jurar que de aquel dinero
solo algunas sumas insignificantes pasaron a manos de los pobres
guerrilleros, tan bravos como desinteresados, que desnudos
descalzos y hambrientos, levantaban el glorioso estandarte de la fe y
de la monarquía en las montañas de Navarra o de Cataluña.
Las bajezas, la ineptitud y el despilfarro de los comisionados
secretos de Su Majestad no cesaron hasta que apareció en Bayona
también con poderes reales, el gran pájaro de cuenta llamado don
Antonio Ugarte, a quien no vacilo en designar como el hombre más
listo de su época.
Yo le había tratado en Madrid el año 19. Él me estimaba en gran
manera, y, como Eguía, me visitaba a menudo, pero sin revelarme sus
planes. Desde que se encargó de manejar la conspiración, seguíala yo
con marcado interés, segura de su éxito, aunque sin sospechar que le
prestaría mi concurso activo en término muy breve. Un día Ugarte me
dijo:
—No se encuentra un solo hombre que sirva para asuntos
delicados. Todos son indiscretos, soplones y venales. ¿Ve usted lo que
trabajo aquí por orden de Su Majestad? Pues es nada en comparación
de lo que me dan que hacer las intrigas y torpezas de mis propios
colegas de conspiración. No me fío de ninguno, y en el día de hoy
teniendo que enviar un mensaje muy importante, estoy como
Diógenes, buscando un hombre sin poder encontrarlo.
—Pues busque usted bien, señor don Antonio —le respondí—, y
quizás encuentre una mujer.
Ugarte no daba crédito a mi determinación; pero tanto le encarec
mis deseos de ser útil a la causa del rey y de la religión, que al fin
convino en fiarme sus secretos.
—Efectivamente, Jenara —me dijo—: una dama podrá desempeña
mejor que cualquier hombre tan delicado encargo, si reúne a la belleza
y gallarda compostura de su persona un valor a toda prueba.
En seguida me reveló que en Madrid se preparaba un esfuerzo
político, es decir, un pronunciamiento, en el cual tomaría parte la
Guardia real con toda la tropa de línea que se pudiese comprometer
pero añadió que desconfiaba del éxito si no se hacían con mucho
pulso los trabajos, tratando de combinar el movimiento cortesano con
una ruidosa algarada de las partidas del norte. Discurriendo sobre este
negocio, me mostró su grandísima perspicacia y colosal ingenio para
conspirar, y después me instruyó prolijamente de lo que yo debía
hacer en Madrid, del arte con que debía tratar a cada una de las
personas para quienes llevaba delicados mensajes, con otras muchas
particularidades que no son de este momento. Casi toda mi comisión
era enteramente confidencial y personal, quiero decir que e
conspirador me entregó muy poco papel escrito; pero, en cambio, me
repitió varias veces sus instrucciones para que, reteniéndolas en la
memoria, obrase con desembarazo y seguridad en las difíciles
ocasiones que me aguardaban.
Partí para Madrid en febrero del 22.
 II

Con entusiasmo y placer emprendí estos manejos: con entusiasmo

porque adoraba en aquellos días la causa de la Iglesia y el trono; con
placer, porque la ociosidad entristecía mis días en Bayona. La soledad
de mi existencia me abrumaba tanto como el peso de las desgracias
que a otros afligen y que yo aún no conocía. Separándome de m
esposo, cuyo salvaje carácter y feroz suspicacia me hubieran quitado
la vida, adquirí libertad suma y un sosiego que, después de saboreado
por algún tiempo, llegó a ser para mí algo fastidioso. Poseía bienes de
fortuna suficientes para no inquietarme de las materialidades de la
vida: de modo que mi ociosidad era absoluta. Me refiero a la holganza
del espíritu, que es la más penosa, pues la de las manos, yo, que no
carezco de habilidades, jamás la he conocido.
A estos motivos de tristeza debo añadir el gran vacío de mi corazón
que estaba ha tiempo como casa deshabitada, lleno tan solo de
sombras y ecos. Después de la muerte de mi abuelo, ningún afecto de
familia podía interesarme, pues los Baraonas que subsistían, o eran
muy lejanos parientes, o no me querían bien. De mi infelicísimo
casamiento solo saqué amarguras y pesadumbres; y para que todo
fuese maldito en aquella unión, no tuve hijos. Sin duda Dios no quería
que en el mundo quedase memoria de tan grande error.
Fácilmente se comprenderá que en tal situación de espíritu me
gustaría lanzarme a esas ocupaciones febriles que han sido siempre e
principal goce de mi vida. Ninguna cosa llana y natural ha cautivado
jamás mi corazón, ni me embelesó, como a otros, lo que llaman dulce
corriente de la vida. Antes bien, yo la quiero tortuosa y rápida; que me
ofrezca sorpresas a cada instante y aun peligros; que se interne po
pasos misteriosos, después de los cuales deslumbre más la claridad
del día; que caiga como el Piedra en cataratas llenas de ruido y
colores, o se oculte como el Guadiana, sin que nadie sepa dónde ha
ido.
Yo sentía además en mi alma la atracción de la corte, no pudiendo
descifrar claramente cuál objeto o persona me llamaban en ella, n
explicarme las anticipadas emociones que por el camino sentía m
corazón, como el derrochador que principia a gastar su fortuna antes
de heredada. Mi fantasía enviaba delante de sí, en el camino de
Madrid, maravillosos sueños e infinitos goces del alma, peligros
vencidos y amables ideales realizados. Caminando de este modo y
con los fines que llevaba, iba yo por mi propio y verdadero camino.
Desde que llegué me puse en comunicación con los personajes
para quienes llevaba cartas o recados verbales. Tuve noticias de la
rebelión de los Guardias que se preparaba; hice lo que Ugarte me
había mandado en sus minuciosas instrucciones, y hallé ocasión de
advertir el mucho atolondramiento y ningún concierto con que eran
llevados en Madrid los arduos trámites de la conspiración.
Lo mejor y más importante de mi comisión estaba en Palacio, a
donde me llevó don Víctor Sáez, confesor de Su Majestad. Muchos
deseos tenía yo de ver de cerca y conocer por mí misma al rey de
España y toda su real familia, y entonces quedó satisfecho mi anhelo
Hice un rápido estudio de todos los habitantes de Palacio
particularmente de las mujeres: la reina Amalia, doña Francisca
esposa de don Carlos, y doña Carlota, del infante don Francisco. La
segunda me pareció desde luego mujer a propósito para revolver toda
la corte. De los hombres, don Carlos me pareció muy sesudo, dotado
de cierto fondo de honradez preciosísima, con lo cual compensaba su
escasez de luces, y a Fernando le diputé por muy astuto y conocedo
de los hombres, apto para engañarles a todos, si bien privado del valo
necesario para sacar partido de las flaquezas ajenas. La reina pasaba
su vida rezando y desmayándose; pero la varonil doña Francisca de
Braganza ponía su alma entera en las cosas políticas, y llena de
ambición, trataba de ser el brazo derecho de la corte. Doña Carlota
por entonces embarazada del que luego fue rey consorte, tampoco se
dormía en esto.
Los palaciegos, tan aborrecidos de la muchedumbre constitucional
Infantado, Montijo, Sarriá y demás aristócratas, no servían en realidad
de gran cosa. Sus planes, faltos de seso y travesura, tenían por objeto
algo en que se destacase con preferencia la personalidad de ellos
mismos. Ninguno valía para maldita la cosa, y así nada se habría
perdido con quitarles toda participación en la conjura. Los individuos
de la Congregación Apostólica, que era una especie de masonería
absolutista, tampoco hacían nada de provecho, como no fuera allega
plebe y disponer de la gente fanática para un momento propicio. En los
jefes de la Guardia había más presunción que verdadera aptitud para
un golpe difícil, y el clero se precipitaba gritando en los púlpitos
cuando la situación requería prudencia y habilidad sumas. Los
liberales masones o comuneros vendidos al absolutismo, y que a
pronunciar sus discursos violentos se entusiasmaban por cuenta de
este, estaban muy mal dirigidos, porque con su exageración ponían
diariamente en guardia a los constitucionales de buena fe. He
examinado uno por uno los elementos que formaban la conspiración
absolutista del año 22, para que cuando la refiera se explique en cierto
modo el lamentable aborto y total ruina de ella.

Nota del autor. A continuación refiere la señora los sucesos del 7

de julio. Aunque su narración es superior a la nuestra, por la graciosa
sencillez y verdad con que toda ella está hecha, la suprimimos, pues
no conviene repetir, aun mejorándolo, lo que ya apareció en otro
volumen.
 III

Después de los aciagos días de julio, mi situación, que hasta

entonces había sido franca y segura, fue comprometidísima. No es
fácil dar una idea de la presteza con que se ocultaron todos aquellos
hombres que pocos días antes conspiraban descaradamente
Desaparecieron como caterva de menudos ratoncillos, cuando los
sorprende en sus audaces rapiñas el hombre sin poder perseguirlos, n
aun conocer los agujeros por donde se han metido. A mí me
maravillaba que don Víctor Sáez, hombre de una obesidad respetable
pudiera estar escondido sin que al punto se descubriese su guarida
Los palaciegos se filtraron también, y los que no estaban claramente
comprometidos, como por ejemplo, Pipaón, dieron vivas a la
Constitución vencedora, uniéndose a los liberales.
Tuve además la desgracia de perder varios papeles en casa de un
pobre maestro de escuela donde nos reuníamos, y esto me causó
gran zozobra; pero al fin los encontré, no sin trabajo, exponiéndome a
los mayores peligros. La seguridad de mi persona corrió también no
poco riesgo, y en los días 9 y 10 de julio no tuve un instante de respiro
pues por milagro no me arrastraron a la cárcel los milicianos borrachos
de vino y de patriotería. Gracias a Dios, vino en mi amparo un joven
paisano y antiguo amigo mío, el cual en otras ocasiones había ejercido
en mi vida influencia muy decisiva, semejante a la de las estrellas en la
antigua cábala de los astrólogos.
Pasados los primeros días, pude introducirme en Palacio, a pesa
de la formidable y espesa muralla liberalesca que lo defendía
Encontré a Su Majestad lleno de consternación y amargura
principalmente por verse obligado a poner semblante lisonjero a sus
enemigos y aun a darles abrazos, lo cual era muy del gusto de ellos
en su mayoría gente inocentona y crédula. No me agradaba ver en
nuestro soberano tan menguado corazón; pero si en él concordara e
valor con las travesuras y agudezas del entendimiento, ningún tirano
antiguo ni moderno le habría igualado. Su desaliento y desesperación
no le impidieron que se enamorase de mí, porque en todas las
ocasiones de su vida, bajo las distintas máscaras que se quitaba y se
ponía, aparecía siempre el sátiro.
Temerosa de ciertas brutalidades, quise huir. Brindéme entonces a
desempeñar una comisión difícil para lo cual Fernando no se fiaba de
ningún mensajero; y aunque él no quiso que yo me encargase de ella
porque no me alejara de la corte, tanto insté y con tales muestras de
verdad prometí volver, que se me dieron los pasaportes.
El mes anterior había salido para Francia don José Villar Frontín
uno de los intrigantes más sutiles del año 14, aunque, como salido de
la academia del cuarto del infante don Antonio, no era hombre de gran
iniciativa, sino muy plegadizo y servicial en bajas urdimbres. Llevaba
órdenes para que el marqués de Mataflorida formase una regencia
absolutista en cualquier punto de la frontera conquistado por los
guerrilleros. Estas instrucciones eran conformes al plan del gobierno
francés, que deseaba la introducción de la Carta en España y un
absolutismo templado; pero Fernando, que hacía tantos papeles a la
vez, deseaba que sus comisionados, afectando amor a la Carta
trabajasen por el absolutismo limpio. Esto exigía frecuentes
rectificaciones en los despachos que se enviaban y avisos
contradictorios, trabajo no escaso para quien había de ocultar de sus
ministros todos estos y aun otros inverosímiles líos.
Yo me comprometí a hacer entender a Mataflorida y a Ugarte lo que
se quería, transmitiéndole verbalmente algunas preciosas ideas de
monarca, que no podían fiarse al papel, ni a signo ni cifra alguna. Ya
por aquellos días se supo que la Seo de Urgel había sido ganada a
gobierno por el bravo Trapense, y se esperaba que en la agreste plaza
se constituyera la salvadora regencia. A la Seo, pues, debía yo
dirigirme.
La partida y el viaje no eran problemas fáciles. Esto me preocupó
durante algunos días, y traté de sobornar, para que me acompañase
al amigo de quien antes he hablado. A él no le faltaban en verdad
ganas de ir conmigo al extremo del mundo; pero le contenía el amo
de su madre anciana. No poco luché para decidirle, empleando
razonamientos y seducciones diversas; mas a pesar de la propensión
de su carácter a ciertas locuras y del considerable dominio que yo
empezaba a ejercer sobre él, se resistía tenazmente, alegando
motivos poderosos, cuya fuerza no me era desconocida. Al fin, tanto
pudo una mujer llorando, que él abandonó todo, su madre y su casa
aunque por poco tiempo, con la sana intención de volver cuando me
dejase en paraje donde no existiese peligro alguno. El infeliz
presagiaba sin duda su desdichada suerte en aquella expedición
porque luchó grandemente consigo mismo para decidirse, y hasta
última hora estuvo vacilante.
Aquel hombre había sido enemigo mío, o más propiamente, de m
esposo. Desde la niñez nos conocimos; fue mi novio en la edad en que
se tiene novio. Sucesos lamentables que me afligen al venir a la
memoria, caprichos y vanidades mías me separaron de él, yo creí que
para siempre; pero Dios lo dispuso de otro modo. Durante algún
tiempo estuve creyendo que le odiaba; pero el sentimiento que llenaba
mi alma era, más que rencor, una antipatía arbitraria y voluntariosa
Por causa de ella siempre le tenía en la memoria y en el pensamiento
Circunstancias funestas le pusieron en contacto conmigo diferentes
veces, y siempre que ocurría algo grave en la vida de él o en la mía
tropezábamos providencialmente el uno con el otro, como si el alma de
cada cual, viéndose en peligro, pidiese auxilio a su compañera.
En mí se verificó una crisis singular. Por razones que no son de este
sitio, llegué a aborrecer todo lo que mi esposo amaba y amar todo lo
que él aborrecía. Al mismo tiempo, mi antiguo novio mostraba hacia m
sentimientos tan vivos de menosprecio y desdén, que esto inclinó m
corazón a estimarle. Yo soy así, y me parece que no soy el único
ejemplar. Desde la ocasión en que le arranqué de las furibundas
manos de mi marido, no debí de ser tampoco para él muy aborrecible.
Cuando nos encontramos en Madrid, y desde que hablamos
caímos en la cuenta de que ambos estábamos muy solos. Y si había
semejanza en nuestra soledad, no era menor la de nuestros
caracteres, principal origen quizás de aquella. Hicimos propósito de
echar a la espalda aquel trágico aborrecimiento que antes nos
teníamos, el cual se fundaba en veleidades y caprichosas
monomanías del espíritu, y no tardamos mucho tiempo en conseguirlo
Ambos reconocimos las grandes y ya irremediables equivocaciones de
nuestra primera juventud, y nos maravillábamos de ver tan
extraordinaria fraternidad en nuestras almas. ¡Ser de este modo, habe