e glow. But wait! that will pass away
and you will soon be disenchanted. Hush! do not answer; do not try to
contradict me; lovers' reasons have no convincing power. We will leave
everything to time and say no more about it. Let us rather talk about the
great affair, which you just mentioned, and which certainly might greatly
promote our prosperity. Then you really believe in a conspiracy?"

"I do. I know some of the accomplices and shall succeed in discovering
others. But I repeat, I will do nothing in regard to this matter until you
have granted my condition."

"Are you serious, Leonore?" he asked sorrowfully. "You would leave me, your
father? You wish to abandon the task which we imposed upon ourselves? For
you know that we had set ourselves the purpose of becoming rich in order to
trample under our feet those who scorned and ill-treated us when we were
poor. But there is still much to be done ere we attain our goal. It is true
that I am well paid; for I am always paid for my life, which is risked in
every one of my enterprises. You, too, are well paid; for a magnificently
furnished home with a monthly income of six thousand francs is a liberal
compensation. But my proud, aristocratic Leonore knows little about
economy, and she has arranged her housekeeping on so regal a scale that I
shall scarcely succeed in putting a trifle aside for her every month.
Besides, consider that the engagement is liable to be cancelled at any
moment, and that the least error, the most trivial suspicion of your
trustworthiness will suffice to hurl you back into oblivion. No, Leonore, I
must not enter into your ecstasy, and I will not. You must remain with me;
you must fulfill the vow you made and, holding my hand, pursue the path
into which despair and contempt for mankind has led us."

"And if I will not?" she asked, sitting erect, and, for the first time
during this whole conversation, permitting the passionate agitation of her
soul to be mirrored in her face. "If I will not? If I have resolved to fly
from this life of shameful splendor, gilded falsehood, whitewashed crime?"

"Then I shall hold you in it by force," he cried, grasping her arm
violently. "And do you know how? I will inform the man you love who you
are, and, believe me, he will turn from you with contempt and loathing; he
will not follow you into the paradise of solitude into which you would
fain escape with him. Listen, Leonore, and weigh my words. We have gone too
far f