Believe me, but yesterday your
family was a proud vessel, whose helm was in your hands; to-day it is
a drifting wreck, without either sail or pilot--left to be handled
by cabinboys, as friend Marcasse says. Well, my poor mariner, do not
persist in drowning yourself; I am throwing you a rope; take it--a day
more, and it may be too late. Remember that if the law gets hold of you,
the man who is trying to save you to-day, to-morrow will be obliged to
appear against you and condemn you. Do not compel me to do a thing the
very thought of which brings tears to my eyes. Bernard, you have been
loved, my lad; even to-day you may live on the past."
I burst into tears, and the sergeant, who returned at this moment, began
to weep also; he implored me to go back to Roche-Mauprat; but I soon
recovered and, thrusting them both away, said:
"I know that both of you are excellent men, and both most generous; you
must have some love for me too, since, though you believe me blackened
with a hideous crime, you can still think of saving my life. But have no
fears on my account, good friends; I am innocent of this crime, and my
one wish is that the matter may be fully investigated, so that I may be
acquitted--yes, this is inevitable, I owe it to my family to live until
my honour has been freed from stain. Then, if I am condemned to see my
cousin die, as I have no one in the world to love but her, I will blow
my brains out.
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