"Then I may rely on your honour?"
"You may indeed, sir. But that I see how right and reasonable your fiat is; how essential for Lucy's sake, I could hardly have complied with it; for to part with her will be rending myself from every joy of life. I give you my sacred word of honour that I will not henceforth attempt to hold communication of any kind with her: I will not meet her if I can avoid it. That I should live to say this calmly!" added Karl to himself.
"I expected no less from you, Mr. Andinnian," spoke the Colonel, stiffly but courteously. "I am bound to say that you have met this most lamentable affair in a proper spirit. I see I may rely upon you."
"You may rely upon me as you would rely upon yourself," said the
young officer earnestly. "Should the time ever come that my fortunes ascend--it seems next door to an impossibility now, but such things have been heard of--and Lucy be still free----"
"That could make no alteration: want of fortune is not the only bar," haughtily interrupted Colonel Cleeve. "The present is enough for us, Mr. Andinnian: let us leave the future."
"True. The present is greatly enough; and I beg your pardon, Colonel Cleeve. I will keep my word both in the spirit and the letter. And now, I would make one request to you, sir--that you will allow me to see Lucy for an instant before we finally part."
"That you may gain some foolish promise from her?--of waiting, or something of that kind!" was the angry rejoinder.
"I told you that you might rely upon me," replied Karl with sad emphasis. "Colonel Cleeve, don't you see what a bitter blow this is to me?" he burst forth, with an emotion he had not betrayed throughout the interview. "It may be bitter to Lucy also. Let us say a word of good-bye to each other for the last time."
Colonel Cleeve hardly knew what to do. He did not like to say No; he did not like to say Yes. That it was bitter to one, he saw; that it might be bitter to the other, he quite believed: and he had a soft place in his heart.
"I will trust you in this as I trust you in the other, Mr. Andinnian. It must be good-bye, only, you understand: and a brief one."