Renée looked across the water.
“Friend, if my father knew you were asking me!”
“I will speak to him.”
“Useless.”
“He is generous, he loves you.”
“He cannot break an engagement binding his honour.”
“Would you, Renée, would you—it must be said—consent to have it known to him—I beg for more than life—that your are not averse... that you support me?”
His failing breath softened the bluntness.
She replied, “I would not have him ever break an engagement binding his honour.”
“You stretch the point of honour.”