"Ay; but think of the cursed _esclandre_--first the duel, then the expulsion, then my disappearance for two months ... My mother was in bad health at the time, too; and I, her favorite son--I--in short, the anxiety was too much for her. She--she died before I had been six weeks in the regiment. There! we won't talk of it. It's the one subject that ..." His voice faltered, and he broke off abruptly. "I wish you were going with me to Berlin," said he, after a long silence which I had not attempted to interrupt. "I wish with all my heart that I were!" "And yet," he added, "I am glad on--on her account, that you remain in Paris. You will call upon her sometimes, Arbuthnot?" "If Madame De Cour.... I mean, if Mrs. Dalrymple will permit me." An involuntary smile flitted across his lips--the first I had seen there all the day. "She will be glad--grateful. She knows that I value you, and she has proof that I trust you. You are the only possessor of our secret." "It is as safe with me," I said, "as if I were dead, and in my grave." "I know it, old fellow. Well--you will see her sometimes. You will write to me, and tell me how she is looking. If--if she were to fall ill, you would not conceal it from me? and in case of any emergency--any annoyance arising from De Caylus ..." "Were she my own sister," I said, earnestly, "she would not find me readier to assist or defend her. Of this, Dalrymple, be assured." "Thank you," he said, and stretched up his hand to me. "I do believe you are true--though there are few men, and still fewer women, of whom I should like to say as much. By the way, Arbuthnot, beware of that little flirt, Madame de Marignan. She has charming eyes, but no more heart than a vampire. Besides, an entanglement with a married woman!... _cela ne se peut pas, mon cher_. You are too young to venture on such dangerous ground, and too inexperienced." I smiled--perhaps somewhat bitterly--for the wound was still fresh, and I could not help wincing when any hand came near it. "You are right," I replied. "Madame de Marignan is a dangerous woman; but dangerous for me no longer. However, I have paid rather dearly for my safety." And with this, I told him the whole story from beginning to end, confessing all my follies without reservation. Surprised, amused, sometimes unable to repress a smile, sometimes genuinely compassionate, he heard my narrative through, accompanying it from time to time with muttered comments and ejaculations, none of which were very flattering to Madame de Marignan. When I had done, he sprang to his feet, laid his hand heavily upon my shoulder, and said:--