Victor, therefore, waited first for the arrival of Clotilda;--ah! he would have done it even without reference to the blind youth.--Must he not see once more his good mother, hear once more the voice of his never-to-be-forgotten beloved?--For the rest, I cannot disguise the fact, that not merely the salvation of Flamin, but a real disgust at life, guided his hand in his death-sentence. The verdict of murderous disgust had, for its grounds of decision, the sunset of Emanuel,--Victor's oft-recurring night-thoughts upon this our lucubration of life,--his entire revolution of his social relations,--the corresponding past or future example of his Lordship,--his panting for a deed full of energy,--and, most of all, the death-chill about his forlorn and naked bosom, which once was covered by so many warm hearts. One can do without love and friendship only so long as one has not yet enjoyed them;--but to lose them, and that without hope, _this_ one cannot do without dying. Upon his conscience he played off the optical deception and stage-trick of asking it whether he might not draw his friend out of the water at the hazard of his life; whether he might not leap from the plank, which could hold only one, into the waves, in order to make his death the purchase-money of another's life.--Two singular ideas sweetened for him his deadly purpose more than all. The first was, that on his death-day (after the disclosure to the Prince) he could repair to Flamin's prison, and grasp his hand, and boldly say: "Come out,--to-day I die for thee, that I may prove to thee that Clotilda was thy sister, and I thy friend.--I quench the black word, which can only be forgiven on the death-day, with my innocent blood, and death folds me again to thy arms.---O, I do it gladly, so that I may only love thee once more right heartily, and say to thee, My good, precious, never-to-be-forgotten youthful friend!"--Then would he fall upon his neck with a thousand tears, and forgive him all; for _in the neighborhood of death, and after a great deed_, man can and may forgive man everything, everything.