(It was an unheard of case. To think that a pretty woman should become the trumpet of her own notoriety!)
"But, my dear comrade, on my word of honour ..."
"Here we have nothing to do with words of honour. You were in love with her once, and I need have no further fear of any one who used to love Bessy. Jupiter was the chief of the gods, and had the loveliest of women for his wife, yet he didn't keep the ten commandments. 'Twill be better to pour pure wine into our glasses, I think."
"But, I repeat, I don't want to pour any wine at all into my glass."
"Stuff and nonsense! We know all about that. Bessy makes a fool of every man, and showers contempt on her worshippers. Of you alone does she always speak with rapture. Whenever your name is mentioned she sighs deeply, and says, 'Ah, and I might have been his, too!'"
"That proves all the more that our relations have been purely Platonic."
"Very good indeed! What I like about you best of all is the serious face with which you are always able to defend your point of view. Another man in your place would rejoice at his good fortune; you nobly deny yourself. You will compromise nobody. You have that advantage over all my other good friends. I would rather entrust her to you than to anybody."
"But why not rather trust her to herself? Foster within her the sentiment of fidelity. Write to her every day from the camp."
"Nay, my friend, a letter won't do. I can't be always scribbling and raving to her. Bessy is not one of the romantic sort. You know all her various temperaments."
"Indeed, I know nothing of the sort."