hopes, its own desires.  Woe to him who, either by circumstances or by his own infatuation, is induced to grasp at anything before him or behind him.  We have done a foolish thing.  Are we to abide by it all our lives?  Are we, from some respect of prudence, to refuse to ourselves what the customs of the age do not forbid?  In how many matters do men recall their intentions and their actions; and shall it not be allowed to them here, here, where the question is not of this thing or of that, but of everything; not of our single condition of life, but of the whole complex life itself?”

Again the Major powerfully and impressively urged on Edward to consider what he owed to his wife, what was due to his family, to the world, and to his own position; but he could not succeed in producing the slightest impression.

“All these questions, my friend,” he returned, “I have considered already again and again.  They have passed before me in the storm of battle, when the earth was shaking with the thunder of the cannon, with the balls singing and whistling around me, with my comrades falling right and left, my horse shot under me, my hat pierced with bullets.  They have floated before me by the still watch-fire under the starry vault of the sky.  I have thought them all through, felt them all through.  I have weighed them, and I have satisfied myself about them again and again, and now forever.  At such moments why should I not acknowledge it to you?  You too were in my thoughts, you too belonged to my circle; as, indeed, you and I have long belonged to each other.  If I have ever been in your debt I am now in a position to repay it with interest; if you have been in mine you have now the means to make it good to me.  I know that you love Charlotte, and she deserves it.  I know that you are not indifferent to her, and why should she not feel your worth?  Take her at my hand and give Ottilie to me, and we shall be the happiest beings upon the earth.”

“If you choose to assign me so high a character,” replied the Major, “it is the more reason for me to be firm and prudent.  Whatever there may be in this proposal to make it attractive to me, instead of simplifying the problem, it only increases the difficulty of it.  The question is now of me as well as of you.  The fortunes, the good name, the honor of two men, hitherto unsullied with a breath, will be exposed to hazard by so strange a proceeding, to call it by no harsher name, and we shall appear before the world in a highly questionable light.”

“Our very characters being what they are,” replied Edward, “give us a right to take this single liberty.  A man who has borne himself honorably through a whole life, makes an action honorable which might appear ambiguous in others.  As concerns myself, after these last trials which I have taken upon myself, after the difficult and dangerous actions which I have accomplished for others, I feel entitled now to do something for myself.  For you and Charlotte, that part of the business may, if you like it, be given up; but neither you nor any one shall keep me from doing what I have determined.  If I may look for help and furtherance, I shall be ready to do everything which can be wished; but if I am to be left to myself, or if obstacles are to be thrown in my way, some extremity or other is sure to follow.”