"
"But if you should fall?"
"Ah! I had not thought of that," murmured the count, turning pale.
"That would be certainly a most unhappy accident. We will not tempt
fate with this trial, but seek another way out of our difficulty.
Ah, I know one already. You must elope with me."
She said, with a sad smile, "The arm of the king extends far and
wide, and my husband would follow us with his vengeance to the end
of the world."
"But what shall we do?" cried the count, despairingly; "we love each
other; separated, we must be consumed with grief and sorrow. Ah! ah!
shall I really suffer the fate of Petrarch, and pass my life in an
eternal dirge? Is there no way to prevent this?"
Madame von Brandt placed her hand with a slight but tender pressure
on his. "There is one way," she whispered, "a way to reassure, not
only my husband, but the whole world, which will cast a veil over
our love, and protect us from the wickedness and calumny of man."
"Show me this way," he exclaimed, "and if it should cost half of my
fortune I would walk in it, if I could hope to gain your love."
She bent her head nearer to him, and, with a most fascinating and
tender glance, whispered, "You must marry, count."
He withdrew a step, and uttered a cry of horror.
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