"How can you say that? Are you serious?"
"As serious as it is possible to be."
"And you go away at once?"
"No; after I have joined the corps."
M. Ulrich lifted his hands:
"But you are mad. It will be the most difficult and most dangerous thing to do. You are mad!"
He began to walk up and down the room—from the window to the wall. His emotion found vent in emphatic gestures, but he took care to speak gently for fear of being heard by the people of the house.
"Why after? For, after all, that is the first thing that comes into my mind in face of such an idea, and why?"
"I had intended to go away before joining the regiment," said the young man quietly. "But mamma guessed at something. She made me swear that I would join. So I shall join. Do not try to dissuade me. It is unreasonable, but I promised."
M. Ulrich shrugged his shoulders.