I love you madly. I
should have gone had Adam died; all the more must I go because he
lives. A man does not tear his friend from the arms of death to
betray him. Besides, my going is my punishment for the thought
that came to me that I would let him die, when the doctors said
that his life depended on his nursing.
"Adieu, madame; in leaving Paris I lose all, but you lose nothing
now in my being no longer near you.
"Your devoted
"Thaddeus Paz."
"If my poor Adam says he has lost a friend, what have I lost?" thought
Clementine, sinking into a chair with her eyes fixed on the carpet.
The following letter Constantin had orders to give privately to the
count:--
"My dear Adam,--Malaga has told me all. In the name of all your
future happiness, never let a word escape you to Clementine about
your visits to that girl; let her think that Malaga has cost me a
hundred thousand francs. I know Clementine's character; she will
never forgive you either your losses at cards or your visits to
Malaga.
"I am not going to Khiva, but to the Caucasus. I have the spleen;
and at the pace at which I mean to go I shall be either Prince Paz
in three years, or dead. Good-by; though I have taken sixty-
thousand francs from Nucingen, our accounts are even.
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