She shuddered, rose, and went to the door. There she saw her brother sitting at the writing-desk. The open case of pistols was on the table behind him, and before him lay a letter which he was folding to put into an envelope, while the bitter smile had not yet faded from his face. A fearful thought flashed upon the girl's mind. With a timid glance at the open case, she hurried across the room and laid her hand upon her brother's shoulder.
"For heaven's sake, Hugo, tell me what you are going to do!" He shook off her hand.
"Go!" he said. "It is the only means of salvation!"
"Would you add suicide to all the other misfortunes overwhelming us?"
Again there came the laugh, the echo of which had roused her from sleep.
"On the contrary," he said, "there will be joy throughout the family, and you will shortly have an opportunity to figure as a bridesmaid."
"Oh, Hugo, how can you think of such things?"
"These are just the things that I must think about, or we should soon cease to have need for thought of any kind. But you know nothing of it. Go to your father, and leave the rest to me."
Adela fixed her eyes on a white sheet of paper, edged with black, that lay on the writing-desk, and on which she read the words, "My dear Councillor, I am a man of few words, and therefore frankly ask of you the hand of----"
Hugo seized the paper and tore it in pieces.