"Who want proof?" Delmar angrily exclaimed. "Did I come here to lay any claim to the wretched inheritance which that woman, whom I will not call mother, left her son? You know well enough that I am too rich now. Or can you suppose that I aspire to the honour of the name of von Heydeck? I love the name for your sake, Leo; you have ennobled it, and it is that borne by your cousin, else I should hate it. Proofs! If I possessed proofs clear as sunlight that this castle belonged to me, and that I had a legal right to the name of Heydeck, I would consign them to the flames, that no one upon earth might know that I had a right to be considered your uncle's son." "Why then, Paul, should the thought of Hilda bring you such misery? If you never lay claim to the right which the law would perhaps accord you, she is not your sister. As you yourself said, no drop of her father's blood flows in your veins." "Are you so sure of that,--sure that I am not your uncle's son, whom a freak of nature stamped with a resemblance to his mother's friend. Count Menotti? In that case Hilda would really be my sister. I grow giddy at the horrid thought, and yet I must learn to grasp it. I should despise myself if, in view of such a possibility, I ever dared approach Hilda with other than a brother's love. Shall I poison her young life? If she should love me and become my wife, as I, fool that I was, ventured to dream a few hours ago, and should then, by any chance, learn that the law makes her father, mine, how horrible would be her fate! No, Leo; I will never sacrifice her happiness to my insane passion! She shall never suspect it. I will be all to her--faithful friend, true counsellor--that a brother may; but she never shall hear from my lips one syllable betokening a warmer feeling than the love of a brother." "I know you will remain steadfast in this resolution, Paul. I shall not gainsay it by a single word. Only let me pray you to act calmly and without passion. You have no right to take my conjecture for reality without further confirmation; the facts upon which it is founded may perhaps bear a different interpretation. You must not allow the happiness of your life to be destroyed by an ill-founded suspicion." "What would you have me do?" "Investigate the truth concerning your birth. First spare no pains to discover, here in Tausens, whether my uncle's son did not really die here years ago; your wealth will help you to do this. I will do all that I can to assist you, not only here, but also in Germany, where you must search out the former home of Herr Delmar, and succeed, if possible, in establishing proof that you really are his son, and that a chance resemblance has thus befooled us all. You must not lose courage, Paul; you have a sacred duty to fulfil, both to yourself and to Hilda."