"Spare her? Then why will you torment the girl for weeks, perhaps months, with uncertainty as to her future, and anxiety about you? You intend to _spare_ her by giving her the poison by drops, and, after you have attracted to yourself all the womanly anxiety and tenderness she is capable of, you will give her the boundless humiliation of hearing that her _fiance_, whom she imagines in the depths of need and despair, is the chosen spouse of the rich Countess Arnau, is about to make one of the most brilliant matches in the country. Rather an odd way of sparing her!" Eugen looked at him in great astonishment. "Why, Hermann, what has taken you today? You have quite altered your views!" "My views have nothing to do with it, the question is, whether you were in earnest in what you said." The young man was silent. "You really mean it, then?" continued the Count, adding energetically. "Well, I must say I should not have expected it of you!" "I cannot understand," began Eugen, irritated at his friend's scornful tone, "how you can judge my intentions so severely. Was it not you who urged me against this match from the first, and continually drove me to break it off, and almost forced me to make a declaration to Antonie? I, at least, have suffered in the conflict, but you are one of those ice-natures who stride on, indifferent to the joy or sorrow of others, not troubling whether hearts are broken or not. You know you have openly confessed to these unscrupulous principles, how is it, then, that you have changed all at once, and argue just the opposite, and condemn me because I follow your example?" Hermann was silent a moment--did his conscience convict him? There was truth enough in what he said, and this was proved, since, for once, Count Arnau was in want of an answer, but in a moment he replied with perfect calmness-- "You are mistaken! I _was_ averse to this match, and am still, because I see no good for your future in it. That you must break off this match I still think, but our opinions differ as to the way in which it is to be done. I _am_ regardless, unscrupulous, when an important end to be gained is at stake, there you are right, and I suppose in this case, I should actually have broken the girl's heart; but to invent excuses in order to hide what she must discover eventually, pretend I was the victim of a cruel fate, and thus knit a tissue of falsehoods of all kinds about the matter--that Eugen, I would not do, for to tell you the truth, I think such a proceeding pretty cowardly." "Hermann!" burst out Eugen. "Don't be absurdly sensitive," said the Count, authoritatively, "it is out of place here. I have told you my opinion frankly, now do what you like. By-the-by, I think the storm is coming on, I must go back to the Castle. I suppose you are on the way to the village, adieu!"