"Strange and sublime man! do you not hate him?"
"I cannot do so."
"You will not interfere with his happiness?"
"I toil ardently to secure it, and there is nothing strange or sublime in this. You will ere long smile at the praises you give me."
"What! do you not even suffer?"
"I am the happiest of men."
"Then you either love her little or love her much. Such heroism is not in human nature. It is almost monstrous, and I cannot admire what I cannot comprehend. Listen, count. You laugh at me and I am very simple. I have guessed all, though. You love another woman, and thank Providence for having delivered you from all obligation to Consuelo, by making her unfaithful."
"I must than, open my heart, baron, to you, for you force me to do so. Listen: this is my story—a whole romance. But it is cold here, and this brush fire is insufficient to warm these old walls, which, I am afraid, remind you of those of Glatz. It has become clear, and we can find our way to the castle. Since you go at dawn, I will not detain you up longer. As we walk I will tell you a strange story."
The two friends resumed their hats, after having shaken off the rain. Trampling on the brands, to put them out, they left the tower arm in arm. Their voices soon became lost in the distance, and the echoes of the old mansion soon ceased to repeat the feeble noise of their steps on the damp grass of the court.
[13]"Faire la veillée des armes." The watch of a knight's armor on the night before he was dubbed.