"I!" cried the young man, starting with rage.
"You!" coolly answered the diplomatist "It was then a question of arresting you; the order was already signed when, not wishing you to be shot, I intervened in the discussion."
"I thank you for it."
"You know how much I love you. I warmly took up your defence, until—forced into my last retrenchments, and seeing that your destruction was resolved upon—I found no other expedient to make your innocence apparent to all, than to propose you as an emissary to General San Martin, asserting that you would be happy to give this pledge of your devotion to the revolution."
"But it is a horrible murder!" cried the young man, with despair; "I am in a fix!"
"Alas; yes, you see me afflicted at it—hanged by the Spaniards, if they take you—but they will not take you—or shot by the Buenos Aireans, if you refuse to serve them as an emissary."
"It is frightful," said the young man, utterly cast down; "never did an honest man find himself in so cruel an alternative."
"On which do you decide?"
"Have I the choice?"
"Why, look—reflect."