"No; you are right, and I take shame to myself that I have deserved the reproof. Tell me briefly and without circumlocution what you desire of me, and you shall be safe from my contempt for the next few minutes, but take care not to cross my path again; my promise holds good only for this interview. What do you want? Answer me at once and to the point." "I wish to implore you not to let my betrothed know of the means by which you forced me to make the declaration to Herr Leo von Heydeck which drove me from the army. Have compassion upon me, Herr Delmar!" "Do you deserve compassion?" "If I sinned my punishment has been great. I never injured you, and yet you have been the one to give the deathblow to my honour. Do you wish to rob me of my last hope in life? You have terribly avenged the insult to your friend. I cannot resent your doing so, but I implore you not to drive me to despair. Do not take from me the last thing left to me in life,--the love of my betrothed!" "Be honest, Herr von Bertram. If you really wish me to spare you, answer me frankly. Is it really the love of the fair Eva which you prize so highly? Is it not her millions which are so dear to you?" "I give you my word of honour, Herr Delmar----" "Let your honour alone if you wish me to believe you. I want a frank answer." "I assure you that I love my betrothed from the depths of my soul. It is this love that drove me to the course that ruined me. I hoped by a duel with Herr von Heydeck to win Fräulein Schommer's gratitude and affection." "You knew that Leo was principled against duelling." "I was convinced that he would prove false to his principles. You may judge of the sincerity of my love for Eva by my submission to her wishes. Without your intervention I should have offered an apology to Herr von Heydeck, the same in substance with the one you insisted upon, although couched in language less humiliating to me. Fräulein Schommer required this of me when she consented to our betrothal." "Really? That then was no empty subterfuge of yours. Fräulein Schommer required that you should make an apology?" "She did. Only upon this condition would she yield an assent to my suit." "Strange! I had not credited the young lady with such delicacy of feeling. This information so exalts her in my opinion that I doubt whether I have a right to conceal from her what manner of man he is to whom she has entrusted her future happiness." "You will not use my frankness against me? You will not ruin me because, in accordance with your wish, I have told you the entire truth? You could not take so mean an advantage of me, Herr Delmar? On that terrible day you gave me hopes that you would spare me if I complied with your demand. I did comply, to the annihilation of my future career. Will you take the last thing that I possess from me, when you promised to spare me?" "I expressly told you that I would promise you nothing." "But you justified me in hoping."