With these words Paul left the inn, leaving Bertram to follow him, and rightly suspecting what the ex-lieutenant (he had been forced to leave his regiment) had to say.
Bertram walked at his side for some time without speaking. He had been debating with himself for the last hour as to how he should approach his detested enemy, how induce him to be silent. He had prepared himself for this interview with the greatest care, and yet, now that he found himself confronted with Delmar's mocking smile, he forgot all the fine phrases he had made ready, and did not know how to begin.
"Well?" Delmar asked, when the two men had walked for some distance without one word from Bertram. "You are silent? If you have anything to say to me, I advise you to do so quickly, or you may lose the opportunity."
"I will not detain you long, Herr Delmar," Bertram humbly replied. "Have patience for a few minutes. As unhappy chance will have it we meet thus unexpectedly in this retired spot."
"Chance! and you call it unhappy? Then it was not a desire for my amiable society which attracted you hither? Herr von Bertram, it wounds me to be thus undeceived."
"You sneer, Herr Delmar, and I cannot answer you, for I am powerless against you. Is it honourable thus to triumph over the defenceless?"
"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!"