“After this discovery--I felt I had broken with everything in life. As I sinned--I became reckless.”
The sick boy sank back, breathing hard and gazed absently into space. His friend rose to soothe his agitation, but was arrested by an imperious motion of the feeble hand.
“Let me conclude, General. After this blow--I chose to show that I cared not for one woman’s treachery--and tried to prove this by publicly making love to other women. And when one morning my valet reported your arrival in the town, I felt that I dared not see you, that I must flee! That day I joined the troupe of ‘Le Ballet Occidental,’ which was to leave for Naples. I joined the company as the admirer of Mademoiselle Genée, and I followed this troupe to Alexandria and Cairo, thence to Bombay and Calcutta--and finally to Madras.
“On the way to the French settlement at Pondisherry I became very ill and they thought it best to take me off the train and put me in charge of the hospital. And the first night I could bear it no longer--they wouldn’t give me morphine to ease my pain--and I ran away--and--here I am. During all these latter weeks I always felt and sometimes knew that you, my dear Count, were near me--but fate was against you, my would-be saviour--against you and with me--the lost one--and so here I am!”
The last words came almost in a whisper. The Count sat still, his forehead damp with cold perspiration. The young man had spoken like a judge pronouncing his own doom!
He could not move, he could not speak. His lips were parched, his mind numb. He gazed at the ashen face of the boy, at the crimson lips of the smiling, bonny face--God, what should he do?
“And now, General, the last stage has been reached,” said the youth recovering his voice. “All there is left to do is for me to ask your forgiveness, the pardon of his Majesty, my uncle, for all the unhappiness caused by me. You have in the vaults of the Credit Lyonnaise at Nice my formal renunciation of all claims to the succession and all family rights. There never was a marriage between Madelain and me--the proofs are with the Austrian Legation at Rome. Madelain was paid and all my dancer and actor friends are settled with. Come, General, be brave, be strong! Forget me--and if you can--forgive me. You in your wisdom will find a way to alter the succession, perhaps my little sister can secure the dynasty. Come, be cheerful, and do not grieve. It is but a worthless life that is about to pass out--I have lived my life--and lost. May God forgive me!”