"I am a seducer——"
"No: a vile seducer!"
"A vile seducer—and I repent. Now give me water!"
"Not yet. Confess that you are a ruthless murderer, and that you repent!"
"No—never!" said Dunstable, writhing with the pangs of an intolerable thirst. "Water—give me water!"
"You implore in vain, unless you obey me. Confess——"
"I do—I do!" exclaimed the miserable nobleman. "I confess that I am—I cannot say it!"
"Then die of thirst!" returned Lydia, ferociously.
"No: do not leave me thus! Give me water—only one drop! I confess that I murdered your brother in a duel—and I deeply repent that deed! Now give me to drink!"
"First swear that you will not complain to a living soul of my treatment towards you this night," said Lydia, holding a glass of lemonade at a short distance from his lips.