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say to thee what I cannot. Perhaps . . . some time. . . . Forgive me, but thou breakest my heart!. . . . Not because I care less for thee as my friend. . . . no, above all else, not that reason! We stay together, Oswald!. . . We shall always be what we have become to each other! Oh, we cannot change, not through all our lives! Not in death, not in anything! Oh, Oswald! that thou couldst think, for an instant, that I—I—would dream of turning away from thee. . .suffer a break for us two. . .because thou art made in thy nature as God makes mankind—as each and all, or not as each and all! We are what we are! . . . This terrible life of ours . . . this existence that men insist on believing is almost all to be understood nowadays—probed through and through—decided! . . . but that ever was and will be just mystery, all!. . . . . . Friendship between us? Oh, whether we are near or far! Forever! Forever, Oswald! . . . Here, take my hand! As long as I live. . . and beyond then! Yes, by God above us, by God in us!. . . Only, only, for the sake of the bond between us from this night, promise