My brother must die. Oh, fatal hour in which he
ever saw the beauty of that face!"
"Tell me what the one thing is, Adelaide. If it is possible, I will do
it."
"I dare not mention it. It is useless to name it. Men like my brother
throw their genius, their life and love, under the feet of girls like
you; but they meet with no return."
"Tell me what it is," repeated the other, her generous heart touched by
the thought of receiving so much and giving so little.
"If you would but consent to see him--I know you will not, but it is the
only means of saving him--if you expressed but the faintest shadow of a
wish, he would stay; I know he would."
Marion hesitated.
"How can I interfere?" she said. "How can I express any such wish to
him?"
"I knew you would not. That is why I did not care to tell you my
trouble. Why should you--so rich, so happy, so beautiful--why should you
interest yourself in the fate of people like us? My brother is a genius,
not a lord."
"I wish," cried the girl, impatiently, "that you would not be always
talking to me about my riches. I cannot help them. You make me wretched.
It is not because I am rich that I hesitate--how absurd you are,
Adelaide!--but because your brother is a stranger to me, and I have no
right to interfere in his life."
"Is that all? I fancied you considered him so far beneath you. Genius
is Godlike, but it is not money. Ah, Marion, if that be all, save him!
Save him! He is all I have in the world! He is so young, so sensitive,
so clever, so proud, you could influence him with half a word.
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