"I swear it!" said she.
"Swear to me to discover them to no human eye, to betray their
possession to no human ear! Swear it to me by the memory of your mother,
who now looks down from heaven upon you and receives your oath!"
"Then she is dead?" said the young maiden, sadly drooping her head upon
her breast.
"You have not yet sworn!" said he.
The young maiden raised her head, and, turning her eyes toward heaven as
if in the hope of encountering the tender maternal glance, she solemnly
said: "By the sacred memory of my mother I swear to discover these
papers to no human eye, to betray their existence to no human ear, but
to hold them sacred as my most precious and mysterious treasure!"
"Swear, further," said Count Paulo, "that whenever a danger may threaten
you, you will sooner forget all other things than these papers, that
they should be the first which you will endeavor to save. Yes, swear to
me that you will ever bear them upon your heart and never permit them to
be separated from you!"
"I swear it!" said Natalie. "I will defend the possession of these
papers, if necessary, with my life!"
"And thereby will you defend your honor," said Paulo, "for your honor
rests in these papers. Yet ask me not what they contain. You must not
yet know; there is danger in knowing their contents! But when a whole
year has passed without my return or your hearing from me, and if in
this whole year no messenger comes to you from me, then, Natalie, then
open these letters; you will then possess my testament, and you will
consider it a sacred duty to execute it!"
Natalie, sobbing, said: "Ah, why did not that dagger pierce my heart
yesterday? I should then have died while I was yet happy?"
"You will yet do so!" said Count Paulo, with a slight tincture of
bitterness; "Carlo and your future yet remain to you!"
She looked at him with a clear, bright glance, but without answering.
She had again become an enigma to herself. Now, when her friend, when
Paulo, was about to leave her, it seemed to her she had done wrong to
love another, even for a moment, better than him, her benefactor and
protector; indeed, as if she in fact loved no one so well as him, as
if she could resign and leave all others to insure Paulo's permanent
presence!
But she was suddenly startled, and a glowing flush overspread her
cheeks. She had, quite accidentally, glanced through the window into
the garden, and had there discovered Carlo, as with slow and hesitating
steps he descended the alley leading to the villa.
Count Paulo had followed her glance, and, as he now observed the singer,
he said: "He shall henceforth be your protector! Promise me to love him
as a brother. Will you?"