"Wolff, you must believe me! I can’t begin life again without you—I can’t! You must not leave me—you cannot leave me lonely!" He smiled. "Don’t you see that it is for the best, my darling? It was not your fault. The sea between is so broad and strong——" He broke off suddenly, and a curious, unsteady light flickered into his glazed eyes. "Don’t let her know it is anything—serious," he whispered. "She will be frightened—and she must not be frightened. She has gone, you say? With Arnold? That is a lie. I knew she was going—I sent her. Her mother is ill. The papers——? Oh, my God! my God!" She clasped him tighter in her arms. The frightful outbreak of delirium—frightful because of its extraordinary yet heart-broken quietness—shook her to the soul. She looked about her, and in an instant Hildegarde was at her side. "Nora is here," she said. "She will never leave you again. She has brought the papers. They are safe—the papers are safe." She repeated the words over and over again, as though she were striving to break through the cloud in which his mind was shrouded. He thrust her from him, dragging himself upright in a stiff attitude of salute. "Herr General, I am responsible—alone responsible. No one else is to blame. The papers?—I can tell you nothing but that I am responsible. Tell him, Seleneck! Tell him I boasted about them and was careless—anything! Swear—give me your word of honour! I am dying—what does it matter? No, no; you are not to send for her. She is to be happy—and free—among her own people. You must not blame her. It was too hard. We—must forgive each other. Oh, Nora! Nora! "I am here, Wolff, my darling, my husband! I have come back—I will atone to you with my whole life. You don’t know how I love you—more than people, more than country, more than the whole world! I have learnt just in the last hours that there is no one else who matters to me but you, and you alone. I will make you happy—so happy, my dearest!" In that moment she remembered the power that had been given her, and her voice rang with the exultation of victory. He heard it, and the painful excitement died out of his eyes. The mist of dreams shifted, and he picked up the thread as though the short burst of delirium had never been. "Nora, why do you look at me like that? What is it you are trying to say to me? There is something new in your face. Nora, help me! I am groping in the dark——" She held him closer to her, and it seemed to her that the threatening hand of Fate sank, and that Death drew back as from a greater power. "I am happy, Wolff—happier than I have ever been. I know that our happiness has begun at last." "It is too late—too late, Nora!" "Not if you live, my darling. And you will live, because you will not leave me comfortless—because there is another to come who will need you——"