Ferdinand (aside) I must put an end to this. (Aloud) Listen to me, Gertrude.  When first we met it was youth alone united us in love.  I then yielded, you may say, to an impulse of that egotism which lies at the bottom of every man’s heart, though he knows it not, concealed under the flowers of youthful passion.  There is so much turbulence in our sentiments at twenty-two!  The infatuation which may seize us then, permits us not to reflect either upon life as it really is, or upon the seriousness of its issues—­

Gertrude (aside)
How calmly he reasons upon it all!  Ah!  It is infamous!

Ferdinand And at that time I loved you freely, with entire devotion; but afterwards—­afterwards, life changed its aspect for both of us.  If you ask why I remained under a roof which I should never have approached, it is because I chose in Pauline the only women with whom it was possible for me to end my days.  Come, Gertrude, do not break yourself to pieces against the barrier raised by heaven.  Do not torture two beings who ask you to yield to them happiness, and who will ever love you dearly.

Gertrude Ah, I see!  You are the martyr—­and I—­I am the executioner!  Would not I have been your wife to-day, if I had not set your happiness above the satisfaction of my love?

Ferdinand
Very well!  Do the same thing to-day, by giving me my liberty.

Gertrude
You mean the liberty of loving some one else.  That is not the way you
spoke twelve years ago.  Now it will cost my life.

Ferdinand
It is only in romance that people die of love.  In real life they seek
consolation.

Gertrude Do not you men die for your outraged honor, for a word, for a gesture?  Well, there are women who die for their love, that is, when their love is a treasure which has become their all, which is their very life!  And I am one of those women.  Since you have been under this roof, Ferdinand, I have feared a catastrophe every moment.  Yes.  And I always carry about me something which will enable me to quit this life, the very moment that misfortune falls on us.  See! (She shows him a phial.) Now you know that life that I have lived!

Ferdinand
Ah! you weep!

Gertrude I swore that I would keep back these tears, but they are strangling me!  For you—­While you speak to me with that cold politeness which is your last insult,—­your last insult to a love which you repudiate!—­you show not the least sympathy towards me!  You would like to see me dead, for then you would be unhampered by me.  But, Ferdinand, you do not know me!  I am willing to confess everything to the General, whom I would not deceive.  This lying fills me with disgust!  I shall take my child, I shall come to your house, we will flee together.  But no more of Pauline!

Ferdinand
If you did this, I would kill myself.

Gertrude
And I, too, would kill myself!  Then we should be united in death, and
you would never be hers!