"I! Listen, M. le Comte. Had I believed you capable of using violence toward my mistress, I would have killed you long ago with my own hand. If, on the contrary, I could have believed that she would love you, I think I should have killed her. Now, M. le Comte, I have said what I wished to say; do not seek to make me say more, for, on my honor—and although not a nobleman, my honor is worth something—I have told you all I can."
Henri rose.
"I thank you," said he, "for having had compassion on my misfortunes; now I have decided."
"Then you will be calmer for the future. M. le Comte, you will go away, and leave us to ourselves?"
"Yes, be easy; I will go away, and forever."
"You mean to die?"
"Why not? I cannot live without her."
"M. le Comte, believe me, it is bad to die by your own hand."
"Therefore I shall not choose that death; but there is, for a young man like me, a death which has always been reckoned the best—that received in defending your king and country."
"If you suffer beyond your strength, if you owe nothing to those who survive you, if death on the field of battle is offered to you, die, M. le Comte; I should have done so long ago, had I not been condemned to live."