'Otto,' said Gotthold, after one of these seasons of quiet, 'I do
not ask you to forgive me. Were the parts reversed, I could not
forgive you.'
'Well,' said Otto, 'it is a phrase we use. I do forgive you, but
your words and your suspicions rankle; and not yours alone. It is
idle, Colonel Gordon, in view of the order you are carrying out, to
conceal from you the dissensions of my family; they have gone so far
that they are now public property. Well, gentlemen, can I forgive
my wife? I can, of course, and do; but in what sense? I would
certainly not stoop to any revenge; as certainly I could not think
of her but as one changed beyond my recognition.'
'Allow me,' returned the Colonel. 'You will permit me to hope that
I am addressing Christians? We are all conscious, I trust, that we
are miserable sinners.'
'I disown the consciousness,' said Gotthold. 'Warmed with this good
fluid, I deny your thesis.'
'How, sir? You never did anything wrong? and I heard you asking
pardon but this moment, not of your God, sir, but of a common
fellow-worm!' the Colonel cried.
'I own you have me; you are expert in argument, Heir Oberst,' said
the Doctor.
'Begad, sir, I am proud to hear you say so,' said the Colonel. 'I
was well grounded indeed at Aberdeen. And as for this matter of
forgiveness, it comes, sir, of loose views and (what is if anything
more dangerous) a regular life.
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