The General hid his face in his hands, with an expression of despair impossible to render.
"Oh! It is too much at once," he exclaimed.
"That is not all," the Colonel continued, sharply.
"What have you to tell me more terrible than what you have just said?"
"A thing that will make you leap with rage and blush with shame, General."
The old soldier laid his hand on his heart, as if wishful to arrest its hurried beating, and then said to the Colonel, in a tone of supreme resignation—
"Speak, my friend; I am ready to hear all."
The Colonel remained silent for some minutes; the despair of the brave old soldier made him shiver.
"General," he said, "perhaps it would be better to defer till tomorrow what I have to say to you; you appear fatigued, and a few hours, more or less, are not of much consequence."
"Colonel Melendez," the General said, giving the young officer a searching glance, "under present circumstances a minute is worth an age. I order you to speak."