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+Project Gutenberg's A Conspiracy of the Carbonari, by Louise Mühlbach
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: A Conspiracy of the Carbonari
+
+Author: Louise Mühlbach
+
+Translator: Mary J. Safford
+
+Release Date: July 30, 2005 [EBook #16396]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A CONSPIRACY OF THE CARBONARI ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by Bethanne M. Simms, Josephine Paolucci and the
+Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+A CONSPIRACY OF THE CARBONARI
+
+BY
+
+LOUISE MÜHLBACH,
+
+_Author of "Berlin and Sans Souci," "Frederick the Great and His Family,"
+etc., etc._
+
+TRANSLATED BY
+
+MARY J. SAFFORD.
+
+F. TENNYSON NEELY,
+114 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK.
+1896.
+
+
+COPYRIGHT, 1896
+
+BY F. TENNYSON NEELY
+
+Transcriber's note: Minor typos in text corrected,
+and footnotes moved to end of text.
+
+
+
+
+A CONSPIRACY OF THE CARBONARI.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER I.
+
+AFTER ESSLINGEN.
+
+
+It was the evening of the 22d of May, 1809, the fatal day inscribed in
+blood-stained letters upon the pages of history, the day which brought to
+Napoleon the first dimming of his star of good fortune, to Germany, and
+especially to Austria, the first ray of dawn after the long and gloomy
+night.
+
+After so many victories and triumphs; after the battles of Tilsit,
+Austerlitz, and Jena, the humiliation of all Germany, the triumphal days
+of Erfurt, when the great imperial actor saw before him a whole "parterre
+of kings;" after a career of victory which endured ten years, Napoleon on
+the 22d of May, 1809, had sustained his first defeat, lost his first
+battle. True, he had made this victory cost dearly enough. There had been
+two days of blood and carnage ere the conflict was decided, but now, at the
+close of these two terrible days, the fact could no longer be denied: the
+Austrians, under the command of the Archduke Charles, had vanquished the
+French at Aspern, though they were led by Napoleon himself.
+
+Terrible indeed had been those two days of the battle of Aspern or
+Esslingen. The infuriated foes hurled death to and fro from the mouths of
+more than four hundred cannon. The earth shook with the thunder of their
+artillery, the stamping of their steeds; the air resounded with the shouts
+of the combatants, who assailed each other with the fury of rage and hate,
+fearing not death, but defeat; scorning life if it must be owed to the
+conqueror's mercy, neither giving nor taking quarter, and in dying, praying
+not for their own souls, but for the defeat and humiliation of the enemy!
+
+Never since those years of battle between France and Austria has the
+fighting been characterized by such animosity, such fierce fury on both
+sides. Austria was struggling to avenge Austerlitz, France not to permit
+the renown of that day to be darkened.
+
+"We will conquer or die!" was the shout with which the Austrians, for the
+twenty-first time, had begun the battle against the enemy, who pressed
+forward across three bridges from the island of Lobau in the middle of the
+Danube, and whom the Austrians hated doubly that day, because another
+painful wound had been dealt by the occupation of their capital--beautiful,
+beloved Vienna--the expulsion of the emperor and his family, and the
+possession of the German city.
+
+Thus conquest to the Austrians meant also the release of Vienna from the
+mastery of the foe, the opening the way to his capital to the Emperor
+Francis, who had fled to Hungary.
+
+If the French were vanquished, it meant the confession to the world that
+the star of Napoleon's good fortune was paling; that he, too, was merely a
+mortal who must bow to the will of a higher power; it meant destroying the
+faith of the proud, victorious French army in its own invincibility.
+
+These were the reasons which rendered the battle so furious, so
+bloodthirsty on both sides; which led the combatants to rend each other
+with actual pleasure, with exulting rage. Each yawning wound was hailed
+with a shout of joy by the person who inflicted it; each man who fell dying
+heard, instead of the gentle lament of pity, the sigh of sympathy, the
+jeering laugh, the glad, victorious shout of the pitiless foe.
+
+Then Austrian generals, eagerly encouraging their men by their own example
+of bravery, pressed forward at the head of their troops. The Archduke
+Charles, though ill and suffering, had himself lifted upon his horse, and,
+in the enthusiasm of the struggle, so completely forgot his sickness that
+he grasped the standard of a wavering battalion, dashed forward with it,
+and thereby induced the soldiers to rush once more, with eager shouts of
+joy, upon the foe.
+
+More than ten times the village of Aspern was taken by the French, more
+than ten times it was recaptured by the Austrians; every step forward was
+marked by both sides with heaps of corpses, rivers of blood. Every foot of
+ground, every position conquered, however small, was the scene of furious
+strife. For the church in Aspern, the churchyard, single houses, nay, even
+single trees, bore evidence of the furious assault of the enemies upon each
+other; whole battalions went with exulting shouts to death.
+
+On account of this intense animosity on both sides, this mutual desire for
+battle thus stimulated to the highest pitch, the victory on the first day
+remained undecided and the gathering darkness found the foes almost in the
+same position which they had occupied at the beginning of the conflict. The
+Austrians were still in dense masses on the shore of the Danube; the French
+still occupied the island of Lobau, and their three bridges conveyed them
+across to the left bank of the Danube to meet the enemy.
+
+But the second day, after the most terrible butchery, the most desperate
+struggle, was to see the victory determined.
+
+It belonged to the Austrians, to the Archduke Charles. He had decided it by
+a terrible expedient--the order to let burning vessels drift down the
+Danube against the bridges which connected the island of Lobau with the
+left shore. The wind and the foaming waves of the river seemed on this day
+to be allies of the Austrians; the wind swept the ships directly upon the
+bridges, densely crowded with dead bodies, wounded men, soldiers, horses,
+and artillery; the quivering tongues of flame seized the piles and blazed
+brightly up till everything upon them plunged in terrible, inextricable
+confusion down to the surging watery grave below.
+
+At the awful spectacle the whole French army uttered cries of anguish, the
+Austrians shouts of joy.
+
+Vainly did Napoleon himself ride through the ranks, calling in the beloved
+voice that usually kindled enthusiasm so promptly: "I myself ordered the
+destruction of the bridges, that you might have no choice between glorious
+victory or inevitable destruction."
+
+For the first time his soldiers doubted the truth of his words and did not
+answer with the exultant cheer, "_Vive l' Empereur_."
+
+But they fought on bravely, furiously, desperately! And Napoleon, with his
+pallid iron countenance, remained with his troops, to watch everything,
+direct every movement, encourage his men, and give the necessary orders.
+His generals and aids surrounded him, listening respectfully though with
+gloomy faces to every word which fell, weighty and momentous as a sentence
+of death, from the white, compressed lips. But a higher power than Napoleon
+was sending its decrees of death even into the group of generals gathered
+around the master of the world; cannon balls had no reverence for the
+Cæsar's presence; they tore from his side his dearest friend, his faithful
+follower, Marshal Lannes; they killed Generals St. Hilaire, Albuquerque and
+d'Espagne, the leaders of his brave troops, the curassiers, three thousand
+of whom remained that day on the battlefield; they wounded Marshal Massena,
+Marshal Bessières, and six other valiant generals.
+
+When evening came the battle was decided. Archduke Charles was the victor;
+the French army was forced back to the island of Lobau, whose bridges had
+been severed by the burning ships; the triumphant Austrians were encamped
+around Esslingen and Aspern, whose unknown names have been illumined since
+that day with eternal renown.
+
+The island of Lobau presented a terrible chaos of troops, horses, wounded
+men, artillery, corpses and luggage; the wounded and dying wailed and
+moaned, the uninjured fairly shrieked and roared with fury. And, as if
+Nature wished to add her bold alarum to the mournful dirge of men, the
+storm-lashed waves of the Danube thundered around the island, dashed their
+foam-crested surges on the shore, and, in many places, created crimson
+lakes where, instead of boats, blood-stained bodies floated with yawning
+wounds. It seemed as if the Styx had flowed to Lobau to spare the ferryman
+Charon the arduous task of conveying so many corpses to the nether world,
+and for the purpose transformed itself into a single vast funeral barge.
+
+Napoleon, the victor of so many battles, the man before whom all Europe
+trembled, all the kings of the world bowed in reverence and admiration; he
+who, with a wave of his hand, had overturned and founded dynasties, was now
+forced to witness all this--compelled to suffer and endure like any
+ordinary mortal!
+
+He sat on a log near the shore, both elbows propped on his knees, and his
+pale iron face supported by his small white hands, glittering with
+diamonds, gazing at the roaring waves of the Danube and the throng of human
+beings who surrounded him.
+
+Behind him, in gloomy silence, stood his generals--he did not notice them.
+His soldiers marched before him--he did not heed them. But they saw him,
+and turned from him to the mountains of corpses, to the moaning wounded
+men, the pools of blood which everywhere surrounded them, then gazed once
+more at him whom they were wont to hail exultingly as their hero, their
+earthly god, and whom to-day, for the first time, they execrated; whom in
+the fury of their grief they even ventured to accuse and to scorn.
+
+But he did not hear. He heard naught save the voices in his own breast, to
+whose gloomy words the wails and groans of the wounded formed a horrible
+chorus.
+
+Suddenly he rose slowly, and turning toward Marshal Bessières, who, with
+his wounded arm in a sling, stood nearest to him, Napoleon pointed to the
+river.
+
+"To Ebersdorf!" he said, in his firm, imperious voice. "You will accompany
+me, marshal. You too, gentlemen," he added, turning to the captured
+Austrian General Weber, and the Russian General Czernitschef, who had
+arrived at Napoleon's headquarters the day before the battle on a special
+mission from the Czar Alexander, and been a very inopportune witness of his
+defeat.
+
+The two generals bowed silently and followed the emperor, who went hastily
+down to the shore. A boat with four oarsmen lay waiting for him, and his
+two valets, Constant and Roustan, stood beside the skiff to help the
+emperor enter.
+
+He thrust back their hands with a swift gesture of repulse, and stepped
+slowly and proudly down into the swaying, rocking boat which was to bear
+the Cæsar and his first misfortune to his headquarters, Castle Ebersdorf.
+He darted a long angry glance at the foaming waves roaring around the
+skiff, a glance before which the bravest of his marshals would have
+trembled, but which the insensible waters, tossing and surging below,
+swallowed as they had swallowed that day so many of his soldiers. Then,
+sinking slowly down upon the seat which Roustan had prepared for him of
+cushions and coverlets, he again propped his arms on his knees, rested his
+face in his hands, and gazed into vacancy. The companions whom he had
+ordered to attend him, and his two valets followed, and the boat put off
+from the shore, and danced, whirling hither and thither, over the
+foam-crested waves.
+
+But amid the roar of the river, the plash of the dipping oars, was heard
+the piteous wailing of the wounded, the loud oaths and jeers of the
+soldiers who had rushed down to the shore, and, with clenched fists, hurled
+execrations after the emperor, accusing him, with angry scorn, of perfidy
+because he left them in this hour of misfortune.
+
+Napoleon did not hear the infuriated shouts of his soldiery; he was
+listening to the tempest, the waves, and the menacing voices in his own
+breast.
+
+Once only he raised himself from his bowed posture and again darted an
+angry glance at the foaming water as if he wished to lash the hated element
+with the look, as Xerxes had done with iron chains.
+
+"The Danube, with its furious surges, and the storm with its mad power,
+have conquered me," he cried in a loud, angry voice. "Ay, all Nature must
+rise in rebellion and wrath to wrest a victory from me. Nature, not
+Archduke Charles, has vanquished me!"
+
+The waves roared and danced recklessly on, wholly unmindful of the
+emperor's wrathful exclamation; they sang and thundered a poem of their
+might, jeering him: "Beware of offending us, for we can avenge ourselves;
+we hold your fate in our power. Beware of offending us, for we are bearing
+you on our backs in a fragile boat, and the Cæsar and his empire weigh no
+more than the lightest fisherman with his nets. Beware of offending us, for
+you are nothing but an ordinary man; mortal as the poorest beggar, and, if
+we choose, we will drag you down to our cold, damp grave. Beware of
+offending us!" Did he understand the song of the mocking waves? Was that
+why so deep a frown of wrath rested on his brow?
+
+He again sank into his gloomy reverie, which no one ventured to
+disturb--no one save the jeering surges.
+
+Yet he seemed to think that some one addressed him, that some one whom he
+must answer had spoken.
+
+"Why, yes," he cried, shrugging his shoulders, "yes, it is true, I have
+lost a battle! But when one has gained forty victories, it really is not
+anything extraordinary if he _loses_ one engagement."[A]
+
+No one ventured to answer this exclamation. The emperor did not seem to
+expect it; perhaps he did not even know that any one had heard what he
+answered the menacing voice in his own soul.
+
+Now the boat touched the shore, where carriages were ready to convey the
+emperor and his suite to Ebersdorf.
+
+His whole staff, all his marshals and generals, were waiting for him before
+the door of the castle. With bared heads, in stiff military attitude, they
+received their lord and master, the august emperor, expecting a gracious
+greeting. But he passed on without looking at them, without even saluting
+them by a wave of his hand. They looked after him with wondering, angry
+eyes, and, like the glittering tail of a comet, followed him into the
+castle, up the steps, and into the hall.
+
+But as they entered the reception-room where he usually talked with them,
+Napoleon had already vanished in his private office, whose door swiftly
+closed behind him.
+
+The marshals and generals, aids and staff officers, still waited. The
+emperor would surely return, they thought. He still had to give them his
+commands for the next day, his orders concerning what was to be done on the
+island of Lobau, what provision should be made for the care of the wounded,
+the sustenance of the uninjured, the rescue of the remains of his army.
+
+But they waited in vain; Napoleon did not return to them, gave them no
+orders. After half an hour's futile expectation, Roustan glided through the
+little door of the private room into the hall, and, with a very important
+air, whispered to the listening officers that the emperor had gone to bed
+immediately, and had scarcely touched the pillows ere he sunk into a deep
+sleep.
+
+Yes, the Emperor Napoleon was sleeping, and his generals glided on tiptoe
+out of the hall and discussed outside the measures which they must now
+adopt on their own account to rescue the luckless fragment of the army from
+the island of Lobau, and make arrangements for building new bridges.
+
+Yes, the Emperor Napoleon was sleeping! He slept all through the night,
+through the broad light of the next day--slept when his whole staff had
+gone to Lobau--slept when bodies of his infuriated guards rushed into the
+castle and, unheeding the emperor's presence, plundered the cellars and
+storerooms[B]--slept when, in the afternoon of that day, his marshals and
+generals returned to Castle Ebersdorf, in order at last to receive the
+emperor's commands.
+
+They would not, could not believe that the commander-in-chief was still
+sleeping It seemed perfectly impossible that he, the illustrious
+strong-brained Cæsar, could permit himself to be subjugated by the common
+petty need of human nature in these hours when every second's delay might
+decide the destiny of many thousands. This sleep could be no natural one;
+perhaps the emperor, exhausted by fatigue and mental excitement, had fallen
+into a stupor; perhaps he was sleeping never to wake again. They must see
+him, they must convince themselves. They called Roustan and asked him to
+take them to the emperor's couch.
+
+He did not refuse, he only entreated them to step lightly, to hold their
+breath, in order not to wake the emperor; then gliding before them to the
+room, he drew back the _portières_ of the chamber. The officers followed,
+stealing along on tiptoe, and gazed curiously, anxiously, into the quiet,
+curtained room. Yes, there on the low camp-bed, lay the emperor. He had not
+even undressed, but lay as if on parade in full uniform, with his military
+cloak flung lightly across his feet. He had sunk down in this attitude
+twenty-two hours before, and still lay motionless and rigid.
+
+But he was sleeping! It was not stupor, it was not death, it was only sleep
+which held him captive. His breath came slowly, regularly; his face was
+slightly flushed, his eyes were calmly closed. The emperor was sleeping!
+His generals need feel no anxiety; they might return to the drawing-room
+with relieved hearts. They did so, stealing noiselessly again through the
+private office into the hall, whose door had been left ajar that the noise
+might not rouse the sleeper.
+
+Yet, once within the hall, they looked at each other with wondering eyes,
+astonished faces.
+
+He was really asleep; he could sleep.
+
+He was untroubled, free from care. Yet if the Archduke Charles desired it,
+the whole army was lost. He need only remain encamped with his troops on
+the bank of the Danube to expose the entire force to hunger, to
+destruction.
+
+As they talked angrily, with gloomy faces, they again gazed at each other
+with questioning eyes, and looked watchfully around the drawing-room. No
+one was present except the group of marshals, generals and colonels. No
+one could overhear them, no one could see how one, Colonel Oudet, raised
+his right hand and made a few strange, mysterious gestures in the air.
+
+Instantly every head bowed reverently, every voice whispered a single word:
+"Master."
+
+"My brothers," replied Colonel Oudet in a low tone, "important things are
+being planned, and we must be ready to see them appear in tangible form at
+any moment."
+
+"We are prepared," murmured all who were present. "We await the commands of
+our master."
+
+"I have nothing more to say, except that you are to hold yourselves ready;
+for the great hour of vengeance and deliverance is approaching. The great
+Society of the Carbonari, whose devoted members you are--"
+
+"Whose great and venerated head you are," replied General Massena, with a
+low bow.
+
+"The Society of the Carbonari," Colonel Oudet continued, without heeding
+Massena's words, "the Society of the Carbonari watches its faithless
+member, the renegade son of the Revolution, the Emperor Napoleon, and will
+soon have an opportunity to avenge his perfidy. Keep your hands on your
+swords and be watchful; strive to spread the spirit of our order more and
+more through the army; initiate more and more soldiers into our league as
+brothers; be mindful of the great object: we will free France from the
+Cæsarism forced upon her. Look around you in your circles and seek the
+hand which will be ready to make the renegade son of the society vanish
+from the world."
+
+"He is the scourge of our native land," said one of the generals. "His
+restless ambition constantly plunges us into new wars, rouses the hatred of
+all Europe against France, and this hatred will one day burst into bright
+flames and plunge France into destruction."
+
+"He is destroying the prosperity of the country for generations," said
+another; he is robbing wives of their husbands, fathers of their sons,
+labor of sturdy arms. The fields lie untilled, the workshops are deserted,
+trade is prostrate, and all this to gratify a single man's desire for war."
+
+"Therefore it is necessary to make this one man harmless," said a third.
+"If no hand is found to slay him, there are arms strong enough to seize
+him, bind him, and deliver him to those whose prison doors are always open
+to receive the hated foe who blockades their harbors denies their goods
+admittance to France and all the countries he has conquered and everywhere
+confronts them as their bitter enemy."
+
+"Yes, England is ready and watchful," whispered another. "She promises
+those who have the courage to dare the great deed, a brilliant reward; she
+offers a million florins and perpetual concealment of their names, as soon
+as the Emperor Napoleon is delivered to her."
+
+"Then let us seek men who are bold, ambitious, resolute, and money-loving
+enough to venture such a deed," said Colonel Oudet. "Form connections with
+those who hate him; be cautious, deliberate and beware of traitors."
+
+"We will be cautious and deliberate," they all replied submissively; "we
+will beware of traitors."
+
+"But while determining to free France from the ambitious conqueror who is
+leading her to destruction," said Colonel Oudet, "we must consider what is
+to be done when the great work is accomplished, when the tyrant is removed.
+It is evident to you all that the present condition of affairs ought not to
+last. France now depends upon a single life; a single person forms her
+dynasty, and when he sinks into the grave, France will be exposed to
+caprice, to chance; every door to intrigue will be opened. We must secure
+France from every peril. We have now seen, for the first time, that the
+proud emperor is only a mere mortal. Had the bullet which wounded his foot
+at Regensburg struck his head, France would probably be, at the present
+moment, in the midst of civil war, and the Legitimists, the Republicans,
+and the adherents of Napoleon would dispute the victory with each other. We
+must try to avert the most terrible of all misfortunes, civil war; the
+emperor is not merely mortal; we do not merely have to consider his death,
+but we must also know what is to happen in case our plan succeeds and he is
+placed in captivity. We must have ready the successor, the successor who
+will at once render the Republic and the return of the Bourbons alike
+impossible. Do any of you know a successor thus qualified?"
+
+"I know one," replied General Marmont.
+
+"And I! And I! And I!"
+
+"General Marmont," said Oudet, "you spoke first. Will you tell us the name
+of the person who seems to you worthy to be Napoleon's successor?"
+
+"I do not venture to speak until the head of the Carbonari has named the
+man whom _he_ has chosen."
+
+"Then you did not hear me request you to speak," said Oudet, in a tone of
+stern rebuke. "Speak, Marmont, but it will be better to exercise caution
+and not let the walls themselves hear what we determine. So form a circle
+around me, and let one after another put his lips to my ear and whisper the
+name of him who should be Napoleon's successor."
+
+Marshals and generals obeyed the command and formed a close circle around
+Oudet, whose tall, slender figure towered above them all, and whose
+handsome pale face, with its enthusiastic blue eyes, formed a strange
+contrast to the grave, defiant countenances which encircled him.
+
+"Marmont, do you begin!" said Oudet, in his gentle, solemn tones.
+
+The general bent close to Oudet and whispered something into his ear, then
+he stepped back and made way for another, who was followed by a third, and
+a fourth.
+
+"My brothers," said Oudet, after all had spoken, "my brothers, I see with
+pleasure that the same spirit, the same conviction rules among you. You
+have all uttered the same name; you have all said that Eugene Beauharnais,
+the Viceroy of Italy, would be the fitting and desired successor of
+Napoleon. I rejoice in this unanimity, and, in my position as one of the
+heads of the great society, I give your choice my approval. The invisible
+ones--the heads who are above us all, and from whom I, like the other three
+chiefs of the league, receive my orders--the invisible ones have also
+chosen Eugene Beauharnais for the future emperor of France. Thereby the
+succession would be secured, and as soon as, by the emperor's death or
+imprisonment, the throne of France is free, we will summon Eugene de
+Beauharnais to be emperor of the French. May God grant His blessing upon
+our work and permit us soon to find the hands we need to rid France of her
+tyrant."
+
+At that moment the door opening into the emperor's study, which had
+remained ajar, was flung open and Napoleon stood on the threshold. His
+iron face, which his officers had just seen in the repose of sleep, was now
+again instinct with power and energy; his large eyes were fixed upon his
+generals with an expression of strange anger, and seemed striving to read
+the very depths of their hearts; his thin lips were firmly compressed as if
+to force back an outburst of indignation which the gloomy frown on his brow
+nevertheless revealed.
+
+But the wrathful, threatening expression soon vanished from the emperor's
+countenance, and his features resumed their cold, impenetrable expression.
+
+He moved swiftly forward several steps and greeted with a hasty nod the
+officers who had all bowed respectfully before him, and stood motionless in
+absolute silence.
+
+"General Bertrand," said the emperor, in his sonorous, musical voice, "you
+will proceed at once to the island of Lobau to make preparations for the
+great bridge-building which must be commenced at once and completed within
+a week. The restoration and strengthening of the bridges which connect the
+island of Lobau and the other little islands with the right bank of the
+Danube is our principal task for the moment. Be mindful of that, general,
+and act accordingly. General Massena, you will undertake with me the
+principal direction of this bridge-building, and accompany me daily to the
+island of Lobau. Bertrand will direct the building of the four firm bridges
+which will connect Lobau with the shore of the Danube. We will select the
+places for six bridges of boats which must also be thrown across. To
+prevent interruption, the Austrians must be occupied, and Generals Fouchet
+and Roguet will therefore post batteries of fifty cannon and bomb-proof
+storehouses for ammunition, in order not only to keep the enemy from the
+left bank, but also to drive him out of all the islands in the Danube. You
+will all take care to execute my orders with the utmost rapidity and
+punctiliousness. The Austrians disputed the victory with us at Esslingen;
+in their arrogance they will perhaps even go so far as to assert that
+_they_ obtained it; so I will give them a battle in which the victory will
+be on my side so undoubtedly that the Austrians must bow without resistance
+beneath its heavy, imperious hand. The bridge-building is the first and
+most necessary condition of this conquest. It must be carried on swiftly,
+cautiously, secretly--the enemy must not suspect where the bridges will be
+erected; all the portions of the structures must be made on the island of
+Lobau, then the bridges must appear out of nothingness, like a miracle
+before the astonished eyes of the foe. These bridges, gentlemen, will be
+the road for us all to gain new laurels, win fresh victories, and surround
+the immortal fame of our eagles with new glory. I went to Germany to
+chastise and force into submission and obedience the insolent German
+princes who wished to oppose me. I know that they are conspiring, that
+their treacherous designs are directed toward robbing France of her
+sovereign, who was summoned to his authority by the will of the French
+nation. But they, like all who venture to rebel against me, must learn
+that God has placed in my hand the sword of retribution and of vengeance,
+and that it will crush those who blasphemously seek to conspire against me
+and dispute my power. Austria has done this, Prussia would fain attempt it,
+but I will deter Prussia by chastising Austria. To work, gentlemen! In six
+weeks, at latest, we must give Austria a decisive battle which will make it
+depend solely on my will whether I permit the house of Hapsburg to reign
+longer or bury it in the nonentity of inglorious oblivion!"
+
+After the emperor, standing among his silent generals, had spoken in a
+voice which rose louder and louder till it finally echoed like menacing
+thunder through the hall, he nodded a farewell, by a haughty bend of the
+head, and returned to his office, whose door he now not merely left ajar,
+but closed with a loud bang.
+
+With his hands behind his back, an angry expression upon his face, and a
+frowning brow, the emperor paced up and down his room, absorbed in gloomy
+thought. Sometimes a flash of indignation illumined his face, and he raised
+his arm with a threatening gesture, as if, like a second Jupiter, to hurl
+back into the depths the Titans who dared to rise to his throne.
+
+"To appoint a successor," he muttered in a fierce, threatening tone, "they
+dare to think, to busy themselves with that. The ingrates! It is I who gave
+them fame, honor, titles, wealth; they are already cogitating about my
+death--my successor! It is a conspiracy which extends throughout the whole
+army. I know it. I was warned in Spain against the plots of the Carbonari,
+and the caution has been repeated here. And I must keep silence. I cannot
+punish the traitors, for that would consign the majority of my generals to
+the ax of the executioner. But I will give them all a warning example. I
+will intimidate them, let them have an intimation that I am aware of their
+treacherous plans."
+
+He sank down into the armchair which stood before his writing-desk, took a
+pen-knife and began to mark and cut the arm of the chair with as much zeal
+and perseverance as if the object in view was to accomplish some useful and
+urgent task. Then, when the floor was covered with tiny chips, and the
+black, delicately carved wood of the old-fashioned armchair was marked
+with white streaks and spots, the emperor hurled the knife down and rose
+hastily from his seat.
+
+"This Colonel Oudet must die," he said, each word falling slowly and
+impressively from his lips. "I cannot crush all the limbs, but I will make
+the head fall, and that will paralyze them. Yes, this Colonel Oudet must
+die!"
+
+Then, as if the sentence of death which he had just uttered had relieved
+his soul of an oppressive burden, and lightened his heart, the gloomy
+expression vanished from his face, which was now almost brightened by a ray
+of joy.
+
+Seizing the silver hand-bell, he rang it violently twice. Instantly the
+door leading into his sleeping-room opened and Roustan, gliding in, stood
+humbly and silently awaiting the emperor's orders.
+
+Napoleon, with a slight nod, beckoned to him to approach, and when
+Roustan, like a tiger-cat, noiselessly reached his side with two swift
+bounds, the emperor gazed with a long, searching look into the crafty,
+smiling face of his Mameluke.
+
+"So you listened to the conversation between the generals?" asked the
+emperor.
+
+"I don't know, sire," said Roustan, shaking his head eagerly. "I probably
+did not understand everything, for they spoke in low tones, and sometimes I
+lost the connection. But I heard them talking about my illustrious emperor
+and master, so, as your majesty meanwhile had awaked, I thought it
+advisable to inform you that the generals were having a conversation in the
+drawing-room, because your majesty might perhaps desire to take part in
+it."
+
+"You did right, Roustan," said the emperor, with the pleasant smile that
+won every heart; "yes, you did right, and I will reward you for it. You can
+go to Bourrienne and have him pay you a hundred gold pieces."
+
+"Oh, sire," cried Roustan, "then I shall be very happy, for I shall have a
+hundred portraits of my worshiped emperor."
+
+"Which you will doubtless scatter to the four winds quickly enough, you
+spendthrift," exclaimed Napoleon. "But listen, you rogue: besides my
+hundred gold portraits, I'll give you a bit of advice which is worth more
+than the gold coins. Forget everything that you have heard to-day, beware
+of treasuring in your memory even a single word of the generals, or
+recollecting that you have called my attention to it."
+
+"Sire," replied Roustan, with an expression of astonishment, "Sire, I
+really do not know what your majesty is talking about, and what I could
+have said or heard. I only know that my gracious emperor and master has
+given me a hundred gold napoleons, and present happiness has so overpowered
+me, so bewildered my senses that I have lost my memory."
+
+The emperor laughed, and as a special proof of his favor pinched the
+Mameluke's ear so hard that the latter with difficulty concealed his
+suffering under a smile of delight.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER II.
+
+LEONORE DE SIMONIE.
+
+
+Napoleon's word was fulfilled! Scarcely two months had passed when he
+avenged the battle of Aspern on Austria, and twined fresh laurels of
+victory around his brow. On the 6th of July a conflict occurred which
+completed Austria's misfortunes and wrested from her all the advantages
+which the victory of Aspern had scarcely won.
+
+The fight of Wagram gave Austria completely into the hands of the victor,
+made Napoleon again master of the German empire, compelled the Emperor
+Francis and his whole family to seek refuge in Hungary, and yielded Vienna
+and its environs to the conqueror's will. The French imperial army, amid
+the clash of military music, again entered Vienna, whose inhabitants were
+forced to bow their heads to necessity in gloomy silence, and submit to
+receiving and entertaining their victorious foes as guests in their homes.
+The Emperor Napoleon selected Schönbrunn for his residence, and seemed
+inclined to rest comfortably there after the fresh victory won at Wagram.
+It had indeed been a victory, but it had cost great and bloody sacrifices.
+Thrice a hundred thousand men had confronted each other on this memorable
+6th of July, 1809; eight hundred cannon had shaken the earth all day
+incessantly with their terrible thunder, and the course of their balls was
+marked on both sides with heaps of corpses. Both armies had fought with
+tremendous fury and animosity, for the Austrians wished to add fresh
+laurels to the fame just won at Aspern, the French to regain what the days
+of Esslingen at least rendered doubtful: the infallibility of success, the
+conviction that victory would ever be associated with their banners.
+
+It was the fury of the conflict which made the victory uncertain. The
+Austrians showed themselves heroes on the day of Wagram, and for a long
+time it seemed as if victory would fall to them. But Napoleon, who seemed
+to be indefatigable and tireless, who all day long did not leave his horse,
+directing and planning everything himself, perceived in time the danger of
+his troops and brought speedy and effective reinforcements to the already
+yielding left wing of the army. But more than twenty thousand men on both
+sides had fallen victims on this terrible field. Though Napoleon, in his
+bulletins of victory, exultingly announced to the world another magnificent
+triumph, France did not join enthusiastically as usual in the rejoicing of
+the commander-in-chief, for she had been obliged to pay for the new laurels
+with the corpses of too many thousands of her sons, and the pæans of
+victory were drowned by the sighs and lamentations of so many thousand
+orphaned children, widowed wives, and betrothed maidens.
+
+Napoleon seemed to pay little heed to this; he was enjoying at Schönbrunn
+his victory and his triumph; he gathered his brilliant staff around him,
+gave superb entertainments, and by parades and reviews lured the Viennese
+to Schönbrunn to witness the brilliant spectacle.
+
+In Vienna, also, the conquerors arranged magnificent festivals, seeking to
+win the favor of the conquered people by the amusements offered them. The
+French governor-general of Vienna, Count Andreossy, zealously endeavored to
+collect around him the remains of the Austrian aristocracy, attract the
+society of the capital by elegant dinners, balls, and receptions, and since
+the armistice of Znaim, which occurred soon after the battle of Wagram had
+put an end to hostilities the Viennese appeared disposed to accept the
+truce and attend the brilliant entertainments and pleasant amusements
+offered by Count Andreossy.
+
+The latter was not the only person who opened his drawing-rooms to the
+Viennese; others soon followed; fashionable Parisian society seemed for
+the time to have transferred its gay circle from Paris to Vienna; to make
+in the German imperial capital propaganda for the gay, intellectual, and
+brilliant circle of the imperial capital of France.
+
+Beautiful women, distinguished by illustrious names, by wealth and charm,
+suddenly appeared in Vienna, opened their drawing-rooms, and seemed to make
+it their object to reconcile the hostile elements of French and German
+society, smooth away contrasts and bring them together.
+
+Among these ladies whom the victory brought to Vienna, the beautiful Madame
+de Simonie was conspicuous as a brilliant and unusual person. She was
+young, lovely, endowed with rare intellectual gifts, understood how to do
+the honors of her drawing-room with the most subtle tact, and was better
+suited than any one to act as mediator between the Viennese and the French,
+since she herself belonged to both nations. A German by birth, she had
+married a Frenchman, lived several years in Paris with her husband, one of
+the richest bankers in the capital, and now, being widowed, had come to
+Vienna in order, as she said, to divert the minds of her countrymen from
+the great grief which the loss of their beloved capital caused them.
+
+Beautiful Leonore de Simonie certainly appeared to be thoroughly in earnest
+in her purpose to divert their minds from their great grief. Every evening
+her drawing-rooms were thrown open for the reception of guests; every
+evening all the generals, French courtiers, and people who belonged to
+good society in France were present; every evening more and more Germans
+and Viennese went to Madame de Simonie's, until it seemed as if she
+afforded Viennese and Parisian society a place of meeting where, forgetting
+mutual aversion and hatred, they associated in love and harmony.
+
+To be a visitor at Madame de Simonie's therefore soon became a synonym of
+aristocracy in the new fashionable society of Vienna, which was composed of
+so many different elements. The foreigners who had come to the Austrian
+capital, attracted by the renown of the French emperor, or led by
+selfishness, strove with special earnestness to obtain the _entrée_ to
+Madame de Simonie's drawing-room, for there they were sure of meeting those
+whose acquaintance was profitable; by whose meditation they might hope to
+obtain access to the presence of the French emperor.
+
+The day before Baroness Leonore had given a brilliant entertainment. Until
+a late hour of the night all the windows of the story which she occupied in
+one of the palaces on the Graben were brightly lighted; the curious,
+characterless poor people had gathered in the street to watch the carriages
+roll up and away, and gaze at the windows whence the candles blazing in the
+chandeliers shone down upon them, and behind whose panes they saw in swift
+alternation so many gold-embroidered uniforms, so many showy ball dresses.
+
+As has been said, it was a brilliant entertainment and the Baroness de
+Simonie might well be content with it; for though the hostess she had also
+been its queen. Every one, French as well as Austrians, Russians and
+Italians, Hungarians and Poles, had offered her enthusiastic homage; had
+expressed in glowing encomiums their greatful thanks for the magnificent
+festival she had given.
+
+She had been radiant, too, in grace and beauty yesterday evening. The
+gayest jests were throned upon her scarlet lips, the proudest light had
+sparkled in her large black eyes, the most radiant roses of youth had
+bloomed on her delicate cheeks, and the long black tresses which, with
+wonderful luxuriance, encircled her high white brow, had been to many the
+Armida nets in which their hearts were prisoned.
+
+But to-day, on the morning after this festival, all that was left of the
+brilliant queen of the ball was a pale, exhausted young woman, who lay on
+the divan with a sorrowful expression in her eyes, while ever and anon deep
+sighs of pain escaped from her breast.
+
+She was in her boudoir, whose equipments displayed French luxury and taste.
+Everything about her bore the appearance of wealth, happiness, and
+pleasure, yet her face was sad--yet Leonore de Simonie sighed--yet her lips
+sometimes murmured words of lamentation, satiety, even bitter suffering.
+But suddenly a ray of delight flitted over her face; a happy smile
+brightened her pale features; and this was when, among the many letters the
+servant had just brought to her, she discovered the little note which she
+had just read and then, with passionate impetuosity, pressed to her lips.
+
+"He will come, oh, he will come; he will be with me in an hour!" she
+whispered, again glancing over the note with beaming, happy eyes, and then
+thrusting it into her bosom.
+
+"This is mine," she said softly; "my property; no one shall dispute it with
+me, and--"
+
+A tremor ran through every limb, a burning blush crimsoned her cheeks, then
+yielded to a deep pallor--she had heard steps approaching in the
+drawing-room outside, recognized the voice which called her name.
+
+"He is coming!" she murmured. "It is he! My executioner is approaching to
+begin the tortures of the rack afresh."
+
+At that moment the door which led into the apartment really did open, and a
+little gentleman, daintily and fashionably attired, entered.
+
+"May I venture to pay my respects to Baroness de Simonie?" he asked,
+pausing at the door and bowing low, with a smiling face.
+
+Leonore did not answer. She lay motionless on the divan, her beautiful
+figure outstretched at full length, her face calm and indifferent, her
+large eyes uplifted with a dreamy expression to the ceiling.
+
+"Madame la Baronne does not seem to have heard me," said the gentleman,
+shrugging his shoulders. "I ventured to ask the question whether I could
+pay my respects to you."
+
+Still she did not move, did not turn her eyes toward him, but said in a
+loud, distinct voice: "You see. We are alone! What is the use of playing
+this farce?"
+
+"Well," he cried, laughing, "your answer shows that we are really alone and
+need no mask. Good-day, then, Leonore, or rather good-morning, for, as I
+see, you are still in your dressing-gown and probably have just risen from
+your couch."
+
+"It was four o'clock in the morning when the guests departed and I could go
+to rest," she said, still retaining her recumbent attitude.
+
+"It is true, the entertainment lasted a very long time," he cried, dropping
+unceremoniously into the armchair which stood beside the divan. "Moreover,
+it is true that you were an admirable hostess and understood how to do the
+honors of your house most perfectly. The gentlemen were all completely
+bewitched by you, and, in my character of your uncle and social guide, I
+received more clasps of the hand and embraces than ever before in my whole
+life."
+
+"I can imagine how much it amused you," she said coldly and indifferently.
+
+"Yes," he cried, laughing, "I admit that it amused me, especially when I
+thought what horror and amazement would fill these haughty aristocrats who
+yesterday offered me their friendship, if they knew who and what we both
+really were."
+
+"I wish they did know," she said quietly.
+
+"Heaven forbid!" he cried, starting up. "What put such a mad, preposterous
+wish into your head?"
+
+"I am bored," she replied. "I am weary of perpetually playing a farce."
+
+"But how are we playing a farce?" he asked in astonishment. "We are trying
+to make our fortune, or as the French more correctly express it, _Nous
+corrigous notre fortune_. Why do you call it playing a farce?"
+
+"Because we pretend to be what we are not, honest aristocrats."
+
+"My dear, you are combining what is rarely put together in life; for you
+see aristocratic people are rarely honest, and honest folk are seldom
+aristocrats."
+
+"But we are neither," she said quietly.
+
+"The more renown for us that we appear to be both," he cried, laughing,
+"and that no one suspects us. My dear Leonore seems to have an attack of
+melancholy to-day, which I have never witnessed in her before, and which
+renders me suspicious."
+
+"Suspicious?" she asked, and, for the first time, turned her head slightly,
+fixing her eyes with a questioning glance upon the old man who sat beside
+her, nodding and smiling. "Suspicious! I don't know what you mean."
+
+"Well, I really did not intend to say anything definite," he replied,
+smiling. "I only meant that it is strange to see you suddenly so depressed
+by your position, which hitherto so greatly amused you. And, because this
+seemed strange, I sought--searching you know is a trait of human nature--I
+sought the cause of this new mood."
+
+"Do you think you have found it?" she asked carelessly.
+
+"Perhaps so," he said, smiling. "The most clever and experienced woman may
+be deluded by love, and suffer her reason to be clouded by sweet, alluring
+visions."
+
+"You mean that I have done so?"
+
+"Yes, that is what I mean; but it gives me no further anxiety, for I have
+confidence that your reason will soon conquer your heart. So I do not
+grudge you the rare satisfaction of enjoying the bliss of being loved. Only
+I warn you not to take the matter seriously and strive to make the dream a
+reality."
+
+"And if that should happen, what would you do?"
+
+"I would be inexorable," he answered sternly. "I would tell who and what
+you are."
+
+She lay motionless; her face still retained its calm, indifferent
+expression, only for a moment an angry flash darted from her eyes at the
+old gentleman, but she lowered her lids over them, as if they must not
+betray the secrets of her soul.
+
+A pause followed, interrupted only by the slow, regular ticking of the
+great Rococo clock which stood on the marble mantelpiece.
+
+"You will not find it necessary to make such disclosures," Leonore said at
+last, slowly and wearily, "for you are perfectly right, I shall never grant
+love the mastery over my future. I know who I am, and that says everything.
+It will never be requisite to communicate it to others."
+
+"I am sure of it," he said kindly. "And now, my dear Leonore, let us say
+nothing about our private affairs and pass on to business."
+
+"Yes, let us do so," she answered quietly. "I am waiting for your
+questions."
+
+"Then first: what did Count Andreossy want, when he begged for an interview
+so urgently yesterday evening?"
+
+"You were listening?" she asked calmly.
+
+"I heard it. I would gladly have listened to your conversation, but you
+were malicious enough to grant him the interview in the little corner
+drawing-room, which has but a single entrance. So it was impossible to
+enter it unnoticed. Well, what did the count want?"
+
+"He wanted to tell me that he loved me unutterably. He wanted to implore
+the favor of accepting from him the _coupé_ with the two dapple-grays, in
+which he drove me yesterday, and which I had praised."
+
+"I hope that you granted the favor."
+
+"I did. The equipage will be sent to-day."
+
+"The dapple-grays are remarkably beautiful," said the old gentleman,
+rubbing his hands contentedly. "They are worth at least a thousand florins,
+and the _coupé_ is a model of elegance and beauty. The count received it
+from Paris a fortnight ago. But how did you repay Andreossy for his regal
+gift?"
+
+"I told him that I detested him, and that he need never hope for my love."
+
+"Yet you accepted his gift?" he asked, smiling.
+
+"Yes. I accepted it because he entreated it as the first and greatest
+favor, and because, after the deep sorrow I had caused him, I could not
+help granting so small a boon."
+
+"Magnificent!" he cried, laughing; "you talk like a reigning queen,
+accepting gifts from her vassal. Then the count loves you passionately,
+does he not?"
+
+"He loves nothing except himself and his ambition. He would like to obtain
+the title of prince from Napoleon."
+
+"And he believes that you could aid him?"
+
+"Indirectly, yes. If I help him to discover an affair which is of great
+importance to the emperor, and for whose disclosure he could not fail to
+reward Count Andreossy."
+
+"What kind of an affair?"
+
+"A conspiracy," she said quietly.
+
+"A conspiracy? Against whom?"
+
+"Against the Emperor Napoleon. Andreossy naturally believes me to be an
+enthusiastic admirer of his emperor, and therefore he imparted to me his
+fears and conjectures. The point in question is a widespread conspiracy,
+which is said to exist in the French army and have assistants among the
+Austrians."
+
+"And _you_? Do you believe in this conspiracy?"
+
+"I am on the track and perhaps shall soon be able to give the particulars.
+Only it requires time and great caution and secrecy. Let me say no more
+now, but I promise that I will be active and watchful. Only I make one
+condition."
+
+"What is that?"
+
+"If I succeed in discovering this conspiracy, delivering the leaders into
+your hands, giving the emperor undeniable proofs of the existence of this
+plot, perhaps even saving his life by the disclosure; if I succeed, as I
+said, in doing all this, then you will release me and permit me to leave
+Vienna."
+
+"To go where?"
+
+"Wherever I wish, only alone, only not--"
+
+"Only not with you, you wanted to say," he added, completing the sentence.
+"My child, you see that I was right in remarking that a change had taken
+place in you. Formerly you were glad to be with me; you never felt a wish
+to leave me; formerly it was your ardent desire to occupy a brilliant
+position in society, to be rich, aristocratic, brilliant, influential; and
+now, when you have attained all this, now you are still unsatisfied, now
+you long to resign all this again. But you will reflect, Leonore; you will
+listen to reason. You will consider what we have suffered from the
+pettiness, the pitifulness, the arrogance, and the selfishness of men. You
+will remember how often you vowed, with angry tears, to avenge yourself
+some day for all that we have suffered. Remember, child, remember! Have you
+forgotten how we starved and pined, when your mother died, because we were
+so poor that, in her illness, we could not give her the necessary nursing,
+could not pay a doctor. Have you forgotten how we both knelt beside her
+corpse and, with tears of grief and anger, swore to avenge the death of the
+poor sufferer upon cruel men, base society?"
+
+"I know it, father, yes, I know it," she answered, panting for breath, as
+she slowly raised her hands and pressed them on her bosom as if to force
+down the anguish within. "Ah, yes, I shall never forget it! That was the
+hour when we both sold ourselves to hell."
+
+"Until that time I had been an honest man," he continued. "I had toiled in
+honest ways to obtain support for my family and myself. I had earnestly
+endeavored to make my knowledge profitable--humble enough to be willing to
+teach for the lowest price, to offer my services everywhere. But I could
+get no employment; people wanted no teacher of music; everywhere I was
+pitilessly turned away. During the mournful years of war which had closed
+in upon us, no one wanted to spend his money for a useless art, which
+perhaps could be used only for dirges. A music-teacher was the most
+unnecessary and useless of mortals, and the music-teacher felt this, and
+was ready to become wood-cutter, laborer, street-sweeper, anything to
+procure food for his sick wife, his only child, to brighten their
+impoverished, sorrowful lives with a ray of comfort. But it was all in
+vain; the poor music-teacher found employment nowhere; he might have
+starved in the midst of the great city, surrounded by wealthy people who,
+with arrogant bearing, daily drove in brilliant equipages past him and his
+misery. For his part, he would gladly have died, for what value could his
+wretched, pitiful life have to him! But he had a daughter, the only
+creature whom he loved; she was his happiness, his hope, and his joy. His
+daughter must not starve; must not suffer from the wretched needs of
+existence; must not crawl in the dust, while others, less beautiful, less
+good, less gifted, enjoyed life in luxury and splendor. Chance betrayed an
+important secret to the poor musician. He knew that on the one side a large
+sum would be paid for his silence, on the other for his speech. He went and
+sold himself! He went to warn some, to save others if it were possible."
+
+"I know," she said, panting for breath. "You are speaking of the
+assassination of the ambassadors in Rastadt."
+
+"Yes, Count Lehrbach's valet, in a drunken spree, betrayed his master's
+secret, so I learned the fine business, and could warn the envoys, could
+warn Lehrbach to take stronger precautions. It was my first trial, and it
+was well paid."
+
+"The poor envoys paid for it with their lives," she cried, shuddering.
+
+"That was their own fault. Why didn't they listen to my warning? Why didn't
+they delay their departure until the following morning? I knew that in the
+evening a whole detachment of Hussars was stationed on the highway which
+they must pass. I told them so, and warned them. But they did not believe
+me; they were reckless enough to set out, and I only succeeded in
+persuading them to burn their important papers and arm themselves. True,
+this was useless. They were butchered by the Hussars. One alone, Jean
+Dubarry, escaped, and I may say that I saved him; for I discovered him in
+the tree up which he had climbed in his mortal terror, took him to a safe
+hiding-place, and informed the French authorities in Rastadt. Yes, I saved
+his life, and therefore I can say that I began my new life with a good
+deed, and did not entirely sell myself to the devil. Since that time I have
+led a changeful, stirring existence, often in danger of getting a bullet in
+my head, or a rope around my neck. But what has given me courage to deride,
+defy all these perils? The thought of my child, my beautiful, beloved
+daughter Leonore. I had taken her to Paris, and placed her in one of the
+most fashionable boarding schools. I wished to have her trained to be an
+aristocratic lady. I had told her all my plans for the future, and as,
+like me, she despised the world and human beings, she had approved those
+plans and solemnly vowed by the memory of her mother, murdered by want,
+famine, and grief, to avenge herself with me upon society--wrest from it
+what formerly it had so cruelly denied: wealth, honor, and distinction."
+
+"And I think I have kept my oath," she said earnestly. "I have entered into
+all your plans; I have accepted the part which you imposed upon me, and for
+three years have played it with success. Baroness von Vernon was as useful
+to you in Berlin the last two years, as Baroness de Simonie is now in
+Vienna. She aided you in all your plans, entered into your designs,
+pitilessly betrayed all who trusted her and whose secrets she stole by
+craft, falsehood, and hypocrisy."
+
+"Why did they allow them to be stolen?" he said, shrugging his shoulders.
+"Why were they so reckless as to trust a beautiful woman, when experience
+teaches that all women lie, deceive, and are incapable of keeping a secret?
+They must bear the consequences of their own folly; we need not reproach
+ourselves for it."
+
+"I do not reproach myself," she said, "only life bores me. I long for rest,
+for peace, for solitude around me, that I may not be so unutterably lonely
+within."
+
+"You wish to conceal the truth from me, Leonore," he cried, shrugging his
+shoulders, "but I know it. You are in love, my child, and since, as I
+suppose, this is your first love, it cannot fail to be very passionate and
+transfigure all humanity with a roseate 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 for return ever to be possible, therefore we must press forward,
+steadily forward! Whoever has once sold himself to the devil can never hope
+to transform himself once more into an angel. Therefore he must be on his
+guard against nothing so rigidly as repentance, moods of virtuous
+atonement! You are now suffering from such a mood; it is my duty to cure
+you of it, and I know the medicine which can heal. So listen. If you do not
+swear, solemnly, swear, to continue, without wavering or delay, to play the
+part which you perform with so much talent and success, I will await Baron
+Kolbielsky here and tell him who you are."
+
+"You will not do that," she shrieked, throwing herself from the divan upon
+her knees; "no, father, you will not. You will have pity on me, for I will
+confess it to you: I love him. He is my first, my only love, and for his
+sake, oh! solely for his sake, I would fain again be good, pure, virtuous.
+So have pity on me, do not betray me."
+
+"Will you swear to remain Madame de Simonie? To make no change in your
+present mode of life? To fulfill the duties which you have undertaken, and
+pursue your task with zeal and cleverness?"
+
+"If I do, will you then promise not to betray me?"
+
+"If you do, I will devote all my craft, cunning, and boldness to the one
+purpose of making us rich; will put all means in motion, in order, when we
+are wealthy, to give you the happiness of living with your lover in some
+secluded corner of the world."
+
+"You do not say that you will not betray me. Swear it."
+
+"I swear that I will betray to no human being who and what you are, as soon
+as you swear to remain what you are and to fulfill your duties."
+
+"Well then," she groaned faintly, "I swear it: I will remain what I am; I
+will make no attempt to fly from this life of disgrace and crime."
+
+"My dear Leonore," he said kindly, "now we have taken our mutual vows and
+understand each other. All differences are settled, and we are once more
+sure of each other."
+
+"Yes, we are sure of each other," she repeated with a melancholy smile,
+slowly rising from her knees and drawing her figure proudly to its full
+height. "I will take up my part again and you shall hear no more complaints
+from me, father. Have you any further questions to ask?"
+
+"Really," he exclaimed, gazing at her with sparkling eyes, "really, you are
+an admirable woman. Just now a despairing, penitent Magdalen, and once more
+a Judith ready for battle or a Delilah who is joyfully ready to cut
+Samson's locks and deliver him to the Philistines. Tell me, is there a
+Samson whom you will deliver to us?"
+
+"More than one," she cried; "for I tell you that there is a conspiracy, and
+I already know three of the members. The object is to discover the others.
+So give me time and trust me."
+
+"May I speak of it to the emperor now?"
+
+"You may warn him, throw out hints, fix your price. For as you have said,
+we must be rich to be free and happy. Demand a high price of blood, that we
+may be rich."
+
+"Blood-money! Then it is a very serious matter. Blood will be shed! Ay,
+blood will be shed! Heads will fall!" she cried with flashing eyes. "But
+what do we care for that? We shall be paid for betraying the traitors, and,
+when we have gained wealth, no one will ask from what bloody source it
+came. Wealth reconciles, equalizes everything. So we will be rich, rich.
+And now, uncle, listen. Baroness de Simonie will give another entertainment
+to-morrow. She will invite all her friends and acquaintances, but
+especially Count Andreossy's aids, Colonel Mariage, Captain de Guesniard,
+Lieutenant-colonel Schweitzer, the two Counts von Poldring, and moreover a
+number of French and Austrian officers, magistrates and ladies. It must be
+a brilliant fête--all the rooms crowded with people, that some, without
+attracting attention, may be able to retire and hold a familiar
+conversation."
+
+"Of course, of course, my beautiful Leonore, and as your uncle and
+major-domo, I will do everything in my power for your honor! And now, my
+child, farewell! I will go to Schönbrunn, to report to the emperor.
+Farewell, and be brave, happy, and joyous. Believe me, men do not deserve
+to be pitied, far less to be loved. The day will soon come when my Leonore
+will perceive this and strip the enthusiasm of love from her heart as
+calmly as the glove from her fair hand. Farewell, you lovely Baroness de
+Simonie!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER III.
+
+BARON VON KOLBIELSKY.
+
+
+Leonore had accompanied her father into the anteroom and listened in
+breathless silence to his departing footsteps.
+
+Then, rushing to the window, she threw it open and gazed down into the
+street. Yes, she saw him enter a carriage and drive off in it, turning once
+to nod to her.
+
+With a sigh of relief she went back to her boudoir. Her whole being seemed
+transformed. Her cheeks flushed, her eyes sparkled, and a happy smile
+hovered around her lips as she glanced at the clock.
+
+"Twelve!" she cried joyously, "twelve! He will come! I shall see him
+again. Ah, there he is! There he is!"
+
+She darted to the door to open it. She had not been mistaken. _He_ was
+there, the man whom she expected. With a cry of joy he opened his arms, and
+she threw herself into them, clasping her arms around his neck, and laid
+her head upon his breast.
+
+"Welcome, my beloved one, welcome! Oh, how delightful it is to rest upon
+your breast!"
+
+"And what happiness to clasp you in my arms, Leonore! Raise your head, my
+sweet love; let me see your beautiful face and sun myself in your eyes."
+
+She lifted her face to his, gazing at him with a happy smile. "I see myself
+in your eyes, dearest."
+
+"And you would see yourself in my heart also, if you could look into it,
+Leonore. But come, my queen, sit down and let me rest at your feet and look
+up to you as I always do in spirit."
+
+He accompanied her to the divan and pressed her down upon the silken
+cushions. Then, reclining at her feet, he laid his clasped hands in her lap
+and resting his chin upon them, gazed up at her.
+
+"Do you really love me, Leonore? Can you, the proud, petted, much courted
+Baroness de Simonie, really love the poor adventurer, who has nothing, is
+nothing, calls nothing his own, not even his heart, for that belongs to
+you."
+
+"I love you, because you are what you are," she said, smiling, stroking his
+black hair lightly with her little white hand.
+
+"I love you because you are different from every one else; because what
+attracts others does not charm you; what terrifies others does not
+intimidate you; I love you precisely because you are the poor adventurer
+you call yourself. Thank heaven that you are no sensible, prudent,
+deliberate gentleman, who longs for titles and orders, for money and
+position, but the clever adventurer who calls nothing his own save his
+honor, seeks nothing save peril, loves nothing save--"
+
+"Loves nothing save Leonore," he ardently interrupted. "Believe me, it is
+so! I love nothing save you, and, until I knew you, I did not know even
+love, only hate."
+
+"Hate?" she asked, smiling. "And whom did you hate, my loved one?"
+
+"The foes of my native land," he cried, while a dark, angry flush swept
+over his handsome, expressive face, and his dark eyes flashed more
+brightly.
+
+"The foes of your native land?" she repeated, smiling. "And who are these
+hated foes?"
+
+"The Prussians and the Emperor Napoleon. It was the Prussians who first
+dismembered my hapless country. Oh, I was but a little boy when the Empress
+Catharine and King Frederick stole the fairest portions of hapless Poland.
+I did not understand my mother's tears, my father's execrations, but as my
+father commanded me, I laid my hand upon the Bible and vowed eternal,
+inextinguishable hatred of the Prussians. And the boy's vow has been kept
+by the man. I have struggled ceaselessly against these ambitious
+land-greedy, avaricious Prussians; fought with my tongue, my sword, and my
+pen. And when at last, at Jena, they were vanquished and forced to bow to
+the very dust, I exulted, for their defeat was Poland's vengeance. God was
+requiting the wrong they had done to Poland. Since then I have no longer
+hated the Prussians, but I despise them."
+
+"And whom do you hate now?" she asked, gazing lovingly at him with her
+large, dreamy eyes.
+
+"Him, the traitor, the actor, and liar, the Emperor Napoleon!" he cried,
+starting up and pacing excitedly to and fro. "Ah, Leonore, why did you lay
+your hand upon the great, ever-aching wound in my heart? Why did you ask
+about my hate when I wished to speak to you only of my love? Why do you
+wish to see that my heart is bleeding when you ought only to know that it
+exults in love? Yet perhaps it is better so; better that you should behold
+it wholly without disguise; that you should know it not only loves, but
+hates. Leonore, all my love is yours, all my hate Napoleon's. I came to
+Vienna by the behest of my hate, and for the first time, I found here what
+I had never known--love. Hitherto my heart had belonged to my native land,
+now it is yours, Leonore. The poor adventurer, who, under manifold forms,
+in manifold disguises, under many names, had wandered through the world,
+always in the service of his native land and vengeance, has now found a
+home at your feet, and it sometimes happens that he forgets grief for his
+country in the joy of his love. And yet, Leonore, yet there are bitter,
+sorrowful hours, in which I execrate my love itself; in which I feel that
+I will rend it from my heart; that I must escape from it into the hate
+which hitherto has guided and fixed my whole existence."
+
+"If you feel and think thus, you do not love me," she said mournfully.
+
+"Yes, I love you, Leonore; love you with rapture, with anguish, with
+despair, with joy. Yet I ask myself what will be the goal and end of this
+love? I ask myself when this sun, which has shone upon me through one
+beautiful, splendid day, will set?"
+
+"It will never set, unless by your desire," she cried, putting her arms
+around his neck and bending to imprint a kiss upon his brow.
+
+"It will set, for I am not created to live in sunshine and enjoy happiness.
+My life belongs to my native land! I have sworn to consecrate it to my
+country, and I must keep my oath. I dare not give myself up to love until I
+have done enough for hate; I dare not enjoy happiness ere I have fulfilled
+vengeance."
+
+"Vengeance, my dearest? On whom do you wish to take vengeance?"
+
+"On him who stole my native land; who deluded us for years with false
+hopes, with lying promises; who promised us liberty and in return gave us
+bondage. I seek to avenge my country on Napoleon--"
+
+"Hush! for God's sake, hush!" she cried, trembling violently, as she
+pressed her hand upon his lips. "Do not utter such words; do not venture
+even to think them; for even thoughts bring danger, and speech will bring
+you death."
+
+"Ah," he cried, laughing, "does my proud, royal Leonore fear? Does she
+fear in her own house, in her boudoir, where love alone can hear?"
+
+"And hate," she said anxiously. "For you say that not only love, but hate,
+dwells in your heart."
+
+"But not in yours, Leonore. No, in your heart dwells only love, and I will
+trust it. Yes, you beautiful, glorious woman, I will give you a proof of my
+infinite love and confidence. You shall know my secrets and I will tell you
+what I have yet betrayed to no woman on earth."
+
+"No, no," she cried vehemently; "no, I will hear nothing. I do not wish to
+know your secrets; for I might reveal them in my sleep. They might fill my
+soul with such anguish and terror, that they would occupy it even in
+slumber, and I might tell in my dreams what I certainly would not disclose
+in waking, though I were exposed to the tortures of the rack. Oh, love, I
+fear your secrets, and I fear that they threaten you with peril! Give them
+up. If my love has any power over you, I entreat you: renounce them. Resign
+all your plans of hate and vengeance! Cast thoughts of anger from you! You
+have lived and labored for your native land long enough. Now, my love,
+dismiss hatred from your heart, and yield it to love! Renounce vengeance
+and allow yourself happiness! You say that you love me--give me a proof of
+it, a divine, beautiful proof! Let us fly, my beloved one, fly from this
+world of falsehood, treachery, hate, and anger, to conceal ourselves in a
+quiet corner of the earth, where no one knows us, where the noise of the
+world does not penetrate, where we shall learn nothing more of its
+dissensions and wars, where only love and peace will dwell with us; where,
+clasped in each other's embrace, we can rest on Nature's bosom and receive
+from her healing for all our wounds, comfort for all our losses. Oh, let us
+fly, for I know well that, so long as you are here--here in this world of
+strife and intrigue--you will not be mine; you cannot wrench yourself away
+from the numerous relations which hold and bind you, draw you into their
+perilous circle. Give them up. Let us rend these bonds which fetter you and
+will drag you to destruction. Let us go to America; far, far away to some
+quiet, unknown valley, where there are no human beings, and therefore there
+will be no falsehood and no treachery, no battles and strife. There let us
+dwell in the divine peace of creation; live as Adam and Eve lived in
+Paradise, quietly and at rest in the precincts of pure human happiness."
+
+"And you would, you could, do this for me?" he asked, gazing with admiring
+eyes at her glowing face, radiant with enthusiasm. "You, the petted queen
+of society, the spoiled, delicate daughter of luxury and wealth, you could
+resolve to lead a quiet, simple, unknown life, far from the world and men?"
+
+"Oh," she exclaimed, "such an existence would be my happiness, my ecstasy,
+my bliss. I would greet it exultingly. I long for it with all the powers of
+my soul, all the fervor of my heart. Give it to me, my beloved; give us
+both this life of solitude and divine peace. Speak one word--say that you
+are ready to fly with me--I will arrange everything for our escape; will
+guide us both to liberty, to happiness. Speak this one word, and I will
+sever every tie that binds me to the world; my future and my life will
+belong to you alone. We will strip off all the luxury that surrounds us as
+the glittering snake-skin with which we have concealed our real natures,
+and escape into the solitude as free, happy children of God. If such a life
+of peace and rest does not satisfy you; if you wish to labor and create, be
+useful to mankind, we can find the opportunity. We will buy a tract of land
+in America, gather around us people to cultivate it, create a little state
+whose prince you will be, which you will render free and happy and content.
+Say that you will, my loved one; tell me that you will make my golden
+dreams of the future a reality--oh, tell me so and you will render me the
+proudest and happiest of women. My dearest, you have so long devoted your
+life to hate, consecrate it now to love; let yourself be borne away by it.
+It will move mountains and fly on the wings of the morning through every
+realm. Hitherto you have called Poland your native land--now let love be
+your country, and you shall find it on my breast. Come, my darling, come!
+My arms are opened to embrace you; they are ready to bear you away, far
+away from this battle-rent, blood-soaked Europe. Save yourself, my beloved,
+save me! Come to my arms, let us fly to America!"
+
+She held out her arms, gazing at him with a happy, loving smile. But he did
+not rise from his knees to fall upon her breast; he only bowed his head
+lower and kissed the hem of her dress--kissed her feet, which he pressed to
+his bosom.
+
+"Alas!" he sighed sadly, "this little foot, in its white satin shoe, is not
+created for the rough paths of life; it would be torn and blood-stained by
+their thorns, and the fault would be mine. No, my sweet love, you shall not
+for my sake renounce the world of pleasure and splendor whose queen you
+are, even though you wish it, and perhaps even long for the peace and quiet
+of solitude. I must not accompany you thither, must not be faithless to
+myself. For the most terrible and inconsolable thing which can befall a man
+is to be faithless to himself and turn from the way which he himself has
+chosen, and from the goals which he himself has appointed. But I should do
+this, Leonore, if I renounced the goals and efforts of my whole past life,
+and turned from what I have hitherto regarded as the most sacred purpose of
+my existence. You yourself, Leonore, cannot wish it, for then how could you
+trust my fidelity, my love, if, for your sake, I could be untrue to my
+native land, my sacred duty. No, Leonore, my heart is yours, but my brain
+and life belong to my country. I came to Vienna to serve it. The great
+patriots of Poland sent me here. 'Go to Austria, they said, and serve there
+the sacred cause of freedom and human dignity.' And I went, and am here to
+serve it. Many are in the league with me, struggling with me toward the
+same goal. No one knows the others, but in the decisive hour we shall all
+work together for the one great object. And this hour will soon come; all
+the preparations are made, all the plans are matured. It is approaching.
+The great hour of sacred vengeance is approaching. You do not wish me to
+initiate you into my secrets, Leonore, and I now feel that you are right,
+for every sharer in these secrets is imperiled by them, and I will not draw
+you, my beloved one, into the dangerous circle, where I am bound. But if a
+gracious destiny grants our plans success, if the great venture which we
+have determined upon succeeds, then, Leonore, I will come to you, hold out
+my hand, and exultingly repeat the question which to-day I dare only to
+whisper timorously: Leonore, will you be my wife?"
+
+She did not answer immediately, but covered her glowing face with her
+hands, while her whole frame trembled with emotion. "Oh," she groaned
+sorrowfully, "you will never repeat the question, for you will perish in
+the dangers which you are preparing for yourself."
+
+"No," he cried joyously, "I shall not perish in them, and I shall come to
+repeat my question. Believe me, love, and be glad and strong. Do not fear
+for me, and forgive me if, during the next few days, I keep away from you.
+The last preparations for our great enterprise are to be made; all my
+strength of mind, all the courage of my soul must be summoned, and perhaps
+I might be cowardly and weak if I should see you, gaze into your beloved
+face, and think of the possibility that I was beholding it for the last
+time; that death might clasp me in his arms ere I again pressed you to my
+heart. So I will bid you farewell, my dearest, farewell for a week. During
+this time, remember me, pray for me, and love me. A week, my dear one, then
+I will return to you; and then, oh, then may I be permitted never to leave
+you again; then perhaps we shall make the dream of your heart a reality,
+and in some valley of the New World seek for ourselves a new world of
+happiness."
+
+He again pressed her closely in his arms and imprinted a long, ardent kiss
+upon her lips. "Farewell, beloved, farewell for a week, an eternity."
+
+"Do not say that; do not talk so!" she cried, trembling, as she threw her
+arms around his neck and clung closely to him. "Oh, do not speak of an
+eternity of separation, as you bid me farewell, or my arms will hold you to
+draw you by force from the dangers that threaten you; my lips will betray
+you by calling for help and accusing you of a conspiracy, merely to save
+you--compel you to renounce your perilous plans."
+
+"If you should do that, Leonore; if even for love of me you could become a
+traitress, I would kill myself, but ere I died I would curse you and invoke
+heaven's vengeance upon you! But why conjure up such terrible pictures! I
+know that my Leonore would be incapable of treachery, and that, during this
+week of separation, no word, no look, no hint, will betray that her mind is
+anxious and that some care oppresses her."
+
+"I swear to you that by no word, no look, no hint will I betray anything,"
+she said solemnly. "I swear that I will not even attempt to guess your
+secrets, in order not to be disturbed by them. But one question more,
+dearest. I shall give an entertainment to-morrow. Count Andreossy, Colonels
+Mariage and Schweitzer, Captain de Guesniard, and the two Counts von
+Poldring will be present, as well as Generals Berthier and Massena, and
+several men who are prominent in aristocratic Austrian society. Will you
+not attend my reception? Will you not come to-morrow?"
+
+"No," he replied, "no, I cannot attend gay entertainments now. My week of
+exile begins from this hour, and the first festival for me will be when I
+again clasp you in my arms. And now, dearest, let me go. This last kiss on
+your eyes--do not open them until I have left you; for your eyes exert a
+magic power, and if they are gazing at me I shall not have courage to go.
+Farewell, my beloved star, farewell, and when you rise for me once more,
+may it be for the radiant hour of a reunion, unshadowed by fresh pangs of
+parting."
+
+He pressed a last lingering kiss upon her eyes. She submitted and sat
+quietly with closed lids and clasped hands until the door had closed behind
+him and the sound of his steps died away in the anteroom.
+
+Then she slipped from the divan upon her knees, and, raising her hands to
+heaven, cried: "I thank Thee, oh God, I thank Thee. He is not one of the
+conspirators; he has no share in these plans; for he is not coming to the
+entertainment to-morrow, and therefore does not belong to those who have
+their secret appointment with me. Oh, God be praised for it, and may He
+guard and protect him in all his enterprises! I do not wish to know them; I
+will not investigate them. Thou, oh God, canst shield and defend him. Thou
+alone!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER IV.
+
+BARON VON MOUDENFELS.
+
+
+Colonel Mariage, alone in his room, was pacing restlessly up and down, with
+his eyes fixed intently, almost anxiously, upon the door.
+
+"The appointed hour has come and he is not here," he murmured in a low
+tone. "Has suspicion been roused, and have they arrested him? Oh, God
+forbid! then we should all be lost, for we are all compromised, and letters
+from me, also, would be found among his papers."
+
+At this moment the door was softly opened and the servant announced "Baron
+von Moudenfels."
+
+"He is welcome, heartily welcome!" cried the colonel joyfully, swiftly
+advancing toward the door, through which the person announced had just
+entered the room. It was an old man with a long white beard, his head
+covered with a large wig, whose stiff, powdered locks adorned the temples
+on both sides of his pale, emaciated face. Thick, bushy brows shaded a pair
+of large dark eyes, whose youthful fire formed a strange contrast to the
+bowed frame and the white hair. His figure, which must once have been
+stately and vigorous, was attired in the latest fashion, and the elegance
+of his dress showed that Baron von Moudenfels, though a man perhaps
+seventy, had not yet done with the vanities of this world, but was ready to
+pay them homage. In his right hand, over which fell a broad lace cuff, he
+held an artistically carved cane, on whose gold handle he leaned, as he
+moved wearily forward, and a pin with beautiful diamonds glittered in the
+huge lace jabot on his breast.
+
+Colonel Mariage held out both hands to the old man, but the baron contented
+himself with placing the finger-tips of the little hand adorned with
+glittering rings in the colonel's right hand a moment, and then sank into
+the armchair, panting for breath.
+
+"Pardon me," he gasped, "but the exertion of climbing your two long flights
+of stairs has exhausted my strength, and I must rest. You probably see that
+I am a poor, fragile old man, who has but a few steps to take to his
+grave."
+
+"But who will probably carefully avoid them," replied the colonel,
+smiling. "You are, as you say, an old man, but in this aged form dwells a
+fiery, youthful soul, whose strength of will will support the body so long
+as it needs the aid."
+
+"So long as it is necessary to the native land, yes," cried the baron
+eagerly; "so long as there are foes to fight, friends to aid. Yes, the last
+years of my life belong to my native land and the foes who oppress it, and
+I know that I shall not die until I have attained the object of my life,
+until I have helped to overthrow the tyrant who has not only rendered my
+native land, Germany, wretched, but is also hurling his own country,
+France, into ruin."
+
+Colonel Mariage glanced around the room with a hasty, anxious look. "For
+heaven's sake," he whispered, "don't speak so loud, baron; who knows
+whether my valet is not a paid spy; whether he is not standing at the door
+listening to betray me at once to Count Andreossy, or even to the emperor."
+
+"My dear colonel," said the baron, smiling, "that is why it is quite time
+that we should secure you against such treason, and remove those who
+threaten you."
+
+"What do you mean by that, baron?" asked the colonel timidly. "What are
+you saying?"
+
+"I am saying that the great hour of decision is approaching," replied the
+baron solemnly. "I mean that ere a week has passed, the world will be
+released from the yoke which oppresses it--released from the evil demon,
+Napoleon."
+
+The colonel, without answering even by a word, crossed the large apartment,
+and with a swift jerk opened the door leading into the anteroom. Then,
+after convincing himself that no one was near, he closed it, and made a
+tour of the spacious room, carefully examining every _portière_, every
+article of furniture, and at last approached the baron, who had been
+watching him with a quiet, scornful smile.
+
+"Now, my dear baron, speak," he said, taking his seat in an armchair
+opposite to him. "We are really alone and without listeners, so I am ready
+to hear you. Do you bring news from our friends? News from France,
+especially?"
+
+"Yes, news from France. I mean news from the Minister of Police, Fouché. Do
+you know, my dear sir, that Fouché is very much dissatisfied with his
+beloved fellow conspirators; that he thinks they have not acted so
+resolutely and energetically as might have been expected from the brave
+generals and colonels of the French army?"
+
+"Why should he be dissatisfied?" asked the colonel. "What ought we to have
+done? When and where could we have acted more energetically?"
+
+"At Castle Ebersdorf, my dear colonel. Surely you know that, after the
+battle of Aspern, when Napoleon left his exhausted and conquered army on
+the island of Lobau, and went to Castle Ebersdorf himself to enjoy a
+refreshing sleep after his first great defeat."
+
+"Yes, that sleep was really singular enough," said Mariage thoughtfully.
+"The emperor slept soundly twenty-two hours; slept so soundly, in so
+motionless a posture, breathing so softly, that he might have been
+believed to be dead, and did not even hear his drunken soldiers force their
+way into the castle garden, and, with furious shouts, plunder and destroy
+everything until our representations and entreaties forced them to retire."
+
+"Yes, the emperor fell into a deathlike slumber and would have been unable
+to resist or to defend himself had he been bound and gagged and quietly
+carried away. Yet what did the generals and colonels who had assembled in
+the large reception-hall close beside the sleeping emperor's private
+office? What did the gentlemen who all belonged to the secret league which
+has existed in the French army four years, and whose object is to overthrow
+the hated tyrant and oppressor? Did they avail themselves of the
+opportunity to attain this desired goal with a single bold stroke? No,
+they stood whispering and irresolute, asking one another what should be
+done if Napoleon did not wake from his deathlike slumber--who should then
+be his heir to the throne of France? Whether they should make Bernadotte,
+the Prince of Ponte Corvo, or Eugene, the Viceroy of Italy, or the Count of
+Provence, who styles himself Louis XVIII., king of France, or again restore
+the great and glorious republic? And since they could not agree upon these
+questions, they did nothing at all, but contented themselves with sending a
+secret envoy to Paris to ask Fouché what should be done, how they should
+act in such a case, and what counsel he had to give."
+
+"But how do you know all this so accurately?" asked the colonel in
+surprise. "One would really suppose you had been present, yet I distinctly
+remember that this was not the case."
+
+"No, I was not; but you probably know that a certain Commissioner Kraus was
+there. Bernadotte had made the acquaintance of this Herr Kraus at Colonel
+Oudet's, who, as is well-known, is the head of the secret society, which
+existed in the French army, and to whose laws all members, or, if you
+choose, all fellow-conspirators, were compelled to submit. Oudet had
+recommended Kraus to the Prince of Ponte Corvo as a faithful and reliable
+man, a skillful negotiator, who was qualified to maintain and to promote
+the agreements and alliances between the French conspirators and the German
+patriots, and who could be employed without fear or reserve. Well, this
+Commissioner Kraus, as you probably know, had come to Ebersdorf to
+negotiate in behalf of myself and my German friends, and to ask whether the
+time had not now come to accomplish the great work and rid Germany of the
+scourge which God had sent in punishment of all her sins. Commissioner
+Kraus described that scene in the great hall of Castle Ebersdorf. He
+returned as your messenger, and brought us the news that we must keep quiet
+and wait for further tidings, and, after bringing this message, he went to
+Paris to Fouché, the minister of police, to deliver the letter and inquiry
+of the conspirators."
+
+"And he has not yet returned," said Mariage, sighing. "Some misfortune has
+befallen him; the emperor's spies have doubtless tracked him, and he has
+atoned for his reckless enterprise with his life."
+
+"No, Kraus is too clever and too bold to let himself be discovered by
+Napoleon's spies," said the baron with a subtle smile, "and, since Monsieur
+Bonaparte must fare like the worthy citizens of Nuremberg who hang no one
+until they have caught him, Commissioner Kraus has not been compelled to
+atone for his bold enterprise with his life, but has returned successful
+and unharmed."
+
+"What? He has returned?"
+
+"Four days ago."
+
+"Four days ago, and I, we all, know nothing of it?"
+
+"Yes, I knew it. Surely you are aware that Fouché was not to direct his
+reply directly to any one of you, to a subject of the emperor, in order, in
+case of discovery, to compromise no one. So Fouché addressed his reply to
+me; for if the letter had actually been opened, it could have done Baron
+von Moudenfels no harm, since fortunately I am not one of the emperor's
+subjects, and what he could punish in you as high-treason, he must
+recognize in us Germans as patriotism."
+
+"But the letter, Fouché's answer!" said Mariage impatiently. "Pray do not
+keep me on the rack any longer. What does Fouché write?"
+
+"Why, his letter is tolerably laconic, and one must understand how to read
+between the lines to interpret the meaning correctly. Here it is. You see
+that it is directed to me--Baron von Moudenfels--and contains nothing but
+the following words: 'Why ask me anything, when you ought already to have
+accomplished everything yourselves? Put him in a sack, drown him in the
+Danube--then all will be easily arranged everywhere.'"[C]
+
+"For heaven's sake," cried the colonel, pale and horror-stricken, "what
+does Fouché mean? Of whom is he speaking?"
+
+"Why, of whom except Bonaparte, or, as he likes to call himself, the
+Emperor Napoleon!" said the baron coolly. "And you will admit that Fouché
+is right. If, at Ebersdorf, the sleeping Bonaparte had been thrust into a
+sack and flung into the Danube, the whole affair would have been ended in
+the most successful and shortest way, instead of our now being obliged to
+rack our brains and plunge into dangers of every kind to attain the same
+goal which we were then so near without peril or trouble. But it is useless
+to complain; we must rather be mindful to seize the best means of repairing
+the omission."
+
+"Has Fouché given no counsel, suggested no plan?"
+
+"Yes, he sent verbally, by Commissioner Kraus, counsels and plans to be
+communicated by me to the conspirators, and this communication has occupied
+me during these last few days. The point was to discover, among those who
+were in close attendance upon the emperor, certain individuals who could be
+won over to our plans."
+
+"And have you succeeded?"
+
+"Yes, I have succeeded. Do not ask the persons and names. I have sworn to
+mention none, and just as I would communicate your name to no one, I may
+not impart the names of the others to you. Secrecy and silence must envelop
+the whole conspiracy like a veil that bestows invisibility, if we are to
+hope for success. No one will know of the others until the day of decision,
+and even the necessary arrangements which the conspirators have to make
+must be done under a mask. I am the mediator, who conveys the messages to
+and fro, and I know very well that I risk my life in doing it. But I am
+ready to sacrifice it for my native land, and death is a matter of
+indifference, if my suffering serves my country. Now listen! Within a week
+Napoleon must be removed; for every day beyond endangers us the more. He
+has a suspicion of our plans; he has a whole legion of spies in the army,
+in Vienna, acting in concert with friends and foes, to watch the designs of
+the conspirators. For he is perfectly conscious that a conspiracy exists,
+and some inkling even of the conversation of his generals at Castle
+Ebersdorf has reached his ears. It caused such an outburst of fury that he
+was attacked with convulsions, and for three days ate nothing until Roustan
+had tasted it, because he was afraid of being poisoned. The Emperor
+Napoleon also learned that Colonel Oudet was head of the secret society,
+and his most dangerous enemy, because he was extremely popular in the army
+and possessed rare powers of persuasion. So Oudet must be removed, and he
+has been."
+
+"Then you think that--"
+
+"That the bullet which struck Colonel Oudet at the battle of Wagram was
+not a chance shot, sent by the enemy? Certainly I think so, and the proof
+of it is that the wound was in the back of the head. So he was struck from
+behind, and his murderer was in the ranks of his fellow-combatants. So you
+see that the emperor had sentenced him to death and he had his executioners
+ready to fulfill his commands. We must let this serve as a warning to us.
+We must kill him, that he may not discover us and order his executioners to
+kill us."
+
+"It is true, we are all lost if he discovers the conspiracy. As I said, the
+work must be accomplished within a week, or you and all your companions,
+all the members of the society, will be imperiled. The emperor has his
+suspicions; if he becomes certain, your death-sentence will be signed. You
+hate Bonaparte. You are an adherent of the Count de Lille. You desire to
+replace the legitimate King Louis XVIII. upon the throne of his ancestors.
+Well, to accomplish this, Bonaparte must fall. Help to overthrow him, help
+to rid the world of this monster, who feeds upon the blood of all the youth
+of Europe, and you will be sure of the gratitude of your king. He has a
+general's commission ready for you, promises orders and a title, and he
+will keep his royal word."
+
+"And what is asked of me? What part have I to perform?"
+
+"The part of a man who is blind and deaf, colonel. You are commander of the
+military police, and your officials will perhaps spy out the conspiracy and
+make reports to you. You will be deaf to these reports, and order your
+subordinates to be the same. You are on the staff of the present
+Governor-general of Vienna, Count Andreossy, and it is your task not merely
+to hear, but also to see what is occurring in the capital. But, during the
+next few days, you will have the kindness to be blind and see nothing that
+is passing around you, not to notice the preparations that attract the
+attention of the suspicious. You will give the same directions to your
+confidant, our fellow-conspirator, Captain de Guesniard, and if our
+enterprise is endangered, you will warn us through him, as we will
+communicate to you, by the same person, what other aid we expect from you.
+Are you ready to fulfill these demands?"
+
+"Yes, baron, I am ready. I hate Napoleon and I love the legitimate king of
+France. So I have no choice. I will risk my life to serve the king, for the
+kings of France have been kind and gracious lords to my family for
+centuries, and we owe them all that we are. I am ready to prove my
+gratitude by deeds, and I hope that, if I fall in the service of the king,
+he will have pity on my wife and my two children as soon as he himself
+returns to France. I will fulfill your commands. I will play the part of
+one who is blind and deaf. I will see and hear nothing, warn no one, unless
+I am forced to warn the conspirators."
+
+"In that case you will have the kindness to send your friend, Captain de
+Guesniard, to St. Stephens. One of our emissaries will be waiting night and
+day at the entrance of the main door of the cathedral, and every message he
+receives will be faithfully brought to us."
+
+"But who will it be? How is De Guesniard to recognize your confidant?"
+
+"Who will it be? To-day our messenger at the door of St. Stephens will be a
+beggar-woman, to-morrow perhaps a blind cripple, the day after a priest, a
+lady, or some other person who would not rouse suspicion. The token by
+which to recognize the envoy will be a strip of blue paper, held in the
+left hand."
+
+"Well, that will suffice. You have nothing more to say, baron?"
+
+"No, colonel. So you will have the kindness to see and hear nothing for the
+space of a week, but if, at the end of that time, you learn the news that
+the Emperor Napoleon has disappeared, you will hear it with the joy of a
+true patriot. It will be reserved for you to set off at once with post
+horses to bear to the Count de Lille in England this message of the rescue
+and purification of his throne."
+
+"Ah, that is indeed a delightful and honorable task," cried the colonel
+joyously. "Heaven grant that it may be executed."
+
+"It will be, for our arrangements are well made, and we are all anxious to
+do our utmost to regain the greatest of blessings, over liberty. Farewell,
+Colonel Mariage, in a week we shall see each other again."
+
+"In a week or never," sighed Colonel Mariage, pressing the baron's
+proffered hand in his own.
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER V.
+
+COMMISSIONER KRAUS.
+
+
+After taking leave of Colonel Mariage, old Baron von Moudenfels passed
+through the antechamber, where he found the valet, with slow and weary
+steps. Panting and resting on every stair, he descended the staircase,
+coughing, and moved slowly past the houses to the nearest carriage, into
+which he climbed with difficulty and sank with a groan upon the cushions.
+
+"Where shall I drive, your lordship?" asked the hackman, lifting his whip
+to rouse the weary nags from their half slumber.
+
+"Where? I don't know myself, my friend," replied the old man, sighing. "I
+only want to ride about a little while to rest my poor old limbs and get
+some fresh air. So take me through the busiest streets in Vienna, that I
+may see them. I am a stranger who has seen little of your capital, because
+his weary limbs will not carry him far. So drive very slowly, at a walk,
+that I may see and admire everything--so slowly that if I liked anything
+especially, and wanted to get out, I could do so without stopping the
+vehicle."
+
+"Then your lordship does not want to drive by the trip, but by the hour?"
+
+"Yes, my friend, by the hour, and here are four florins in prepayment for
+two hours. You'll have no occasion to trouble yourself now, but drive as
+slowly as possible and your horses will be able to rest. So go on through
+the busiest streets, and at a walk."
+
+"Well, that will suit my poor beasts," said the driver, laughing, "they
+have already been standing for six hours, and stiff enough from it."
+
+He touched his horses' backs with the are whip, and the animals started.
+
+The carriage now rolled on slowly, like a hearse, at the pace drivers
+usually take when they wish to notify pedestrians that they have no
+occupant in their vehicles and can receive a passenger. So no one noticed
+the slow progress of the carriage; no one in the crowded streets through
+which it passed heeded it. Yet many a person might have been interested if
+he could have cast a glance within.
+
+Something strange and unusual was certainly occurring inside the hack. No
+sooner had it started than Baron von Moudenfels hastily raised both the
+side windows and pulled down the little curtains of dark red silk. No
+curious eyes could now look in at him, and he could fearlessly devote
+himself to his occupations, which he did with perfect composure and
+unconcern. First, he drew from the back pocket of his coat a package
+wrapped in paper, which he unrolled, placing its contents on the back seat.
+These consisted of a wig of short fair hair, a mustache of the same color,
+and two little boxes containing red, white, and black paints. Then the
+baron took from his breast-pocket another package, which he unwrapped and
+produced a mirror, brushes and combs.
+
+After hanging the mirror by a small hook on the cushion of the back seat,
+the baron began to make his toilet, that is, to transform himself from an
+old man into a young one. First, he removed his powdered wig and exchanged
+it for the blonde one, doing it so quickly that the most watchful eye would
+have had no time to see the color of his own hair concealed beneath. With
+the same speed he fastened over his hitherto beardless lips a pointed
+mustache of reddish-fair hair and, after removing from his face the
+skillfully painted wrinkles and the powder, he hastened to add red cheeks
+to the fair curls on his head, and to tinge the tip of his nose with the
+rosy hue which suggests a convivial nature. After this was accomplished, and
+the baron had convinced himself by a careful examination in the mirror that
+he was transformed into a charming, gay, young fellow, he began a similar
+metamorphosis of his costume. Taking the diamond pin from his lace jabot
+he hid it under his vest, which he buttoned to the necktie. Then removing
+the light silk long-skirted dress-coat, he turned it completely on the
+other side and, by taking out some pins which held them, let the tails fall
+back. The dress-coat was now changed into an overcoat, a blue cloth
+overcoat, whose color harmonized very pleasantly with his fair hair.
+
+Now the metamorphosis was complete, and, from the skill and speed with
+which the baron had performed it, one might suppose that he was not
+practising such arts of disguise for the first time, but was well-trained
+in them. With perfect calmness and deliberation he now put the cast-off
+articles into the parcels, hid them in the pockets of his clothes, and,
+after unscrewing the gold crutch-handle from his cane and replacing it by
+a plain ivory head, he drew up the little curtains and looked out with a
+keen, watchful gaze. The carriage was just passing down the crowded and
+busy Grabenstrasse moving behind a long row of equipages following a
+funeral procession, and the driver was of course compelled to proceed
+slowly.
+
+The baron now cautiously opened the carriage door, and as it was just in
+the act of turning a corner, he took advantage of the opportunity offered
+to spring with a swift leap into the street.
+
+He now hurried rapidly along the opposite side; his bearing was as vigorous
+and energetic as it had just been bowed and feeble; and with the wrinkles
+and gray hair every trace of age had also vanished he was now a young man,
+but the large black eyes, with their bold, fiery gaze, suited the rosy
+cheeks and fair hair as little as they had formerly harmonized with the old
+man's pallid countenance. But at any rate the present youthfulness was no
+disguise, and the swift, vigorous movements were no assumption; that was
+evident from the ease and speed with which the baron, after entering one of
+the handsomest houses in the Grabenstrasse, ran up the stairs, never
+pausing until he had mounted the third flight. Beside the bell of a glass
+door, on a shining brass plate, was engraved the name of Count von Kotte.
+Baron von Moudenfels pulled this bell so violently that it echoed loudly,
+and at the door, which instantly opened, appeared a liveried servant with
+an angry face, muttering with tolerable distinctness something about
+unseemly noise and rude manners.
+
+"Is Count von Kotte at home?" asked the baron hastily.
+
+"No," muttered the lackey, "the count isn't at home, and it wasn't
+necessary to ring so horribly loud to ask the question."
+
+He stepped back and was about to close the door again, but the baron thrust
+his foot between it and the frame and seized the man's sleeve.
+
+"My good fellow, I _must_ see the count," he said imperiously.
+
+"But when I tell you that the count isn't--"
+
+He stopped suddenly in the middle of his sentence and cast a stolen glance
+at the florin which the baron had pressed into his hand.
+
+"Announce me to Count von Kotte," said the baron pleasantly. "He will
+certainly receive me."
+
+"Your name, sir?" asked the lackey respectfully.
+
+"Commissioner Kraus," was the reply. The man withdrew, and, a few minutes
+after, returned with a smiling face.
+
+"The count is at home and begs the gentleman to come in," he said, throwing
+the door wide open and standing respectfully beside it.
+
+Commissioner Kraus, smiling, stepped past him into the anteroom. A door on
+the opposite side opened, and the tall figure of a man attired in the
+Austrian uniform appeared.
+
+"Is it really you, my dear Kraus!" he cried. "So you have returned already.
+Come, come, I have longed to see you."
+
+Holding out his hand to the visitor, he drew him hastily into the next
+room.
+
+"You have longed to see me, my dear count," said Kraus, laughing, "and yet
+I was within an ace of being turned from your door. Since when have you
+lived in a barricaded apartment, count?"
+
+"Since the spies of the French governor of Vienna, Count Andreossy, have
+watched my door and pursued my every step," replied the count, smiling.
+"But now speak, my dear Kraus. You went to Totis? You talked with the
+Emperor Francis?"
+
+"I went to Totis and talked with the Emperor Francis."
+
+"Good heavens! you say it with such a gloomy, solemn expression. Has the
+emperor become irresolute?"
+
+"Yes, that is it. The emperor is surrounded by adherents of the Napoleonic
+party; they have succeeded in thrusting back the real patriots, the
+Anti-Bonapartists, and would have rendered them wholly inactive had not
+the Empress Ludovica tried to support them with all her influence. All is
+not yet lost, but unless we soon succeed in making a decisive step, our
+foes will completely gain the ear of the emperor, persuade him to accept
+the ignoble, humiliating peace which Napoleon offered, and, from his enemy,
+become his ally."
+
+"It would be horrible if that could be done," cried the count sadly. "It is
+not possible that the Emperor Francis could resolve upon such humiliation."
+
+"They have alarmed the emperor, intimidated him; told him that his crown,
+his life, were at stake; that unless he would make himself Napoleon's ally
+and accept the proffered peace, the Emperor Napoleon would say of him what
+he said of the Bourbons in Spain: 'The Hapsburg dynasty has ceased to
+exist.' If something does not now happen, if we do not force a decision,
+everything is lost. Austria will conclude a humiliating peace and, instead
+of being delivered from the French tyrant's yoke, we shall be obliged to
+see Austria sink into a French province, and the Emperor Francis, in spite
+of his high-sounding title, become nothing more than the viceroy of the
+Emperor Napoleon."
+
+"It must not, it shall not come to that!" exclaimed the count wildly. "We
+must risk everything to prevent this. We must stake our blood, our lives,
+to save Austria and Germany!"
+
+"Ah, if you speak and think _thus_, count, you are one of us; you will wish
+to have a share in our work of liberation."
+
+"Yes, I demand my share, and the greater and more perilous it is, the more
+welcome it will be."
+
+"We all risk our lives," said Kraus solemnly, "and if we are defeated, we
+shall all be lost; for the Emperor Francis will not protect us--he will
+abandon us to Napoleon's wrath, in order to prove that he had no part in
+our plans. With this conviction, we must begin our work and arrange our
+affairs as if we were going into a battle."
+
+"My affairs are arranged, and I am ready," replied the count solemnly.
+
+"Hush! listen! All our friends, like you, are ready, and the conspiracy
+winds like a great chain through all the countries of Europe. Every one who
+loves his native land, and therefore hates Napoleon, has laid his brave
+hand on this chain and will add the link of his manly strength. In France,
+in England, in Spain and Italy, in Sweden, in Russia and Turkey,
+everywhere, our friends are waiting for the decisive act which must take
+place here. In England they have bought arms and ammunition and sent them
+to Heligoland Thence members of our league have brought them here and
+distributed them among the brothers. In the harbor of Genoa a Swedish and
+an English ship lie ready for our service; the English one to aid our
+escape and convey us to England, if our enterprise fails; the Swedish one
+to serve as a transport vessel, if we succeed. Everywhere our friends are
+working, everywhere they are preparing the insurrection; Tyrol is like a
+well-filled bomb which needs only the application of a spark to burst and
+scatter confusion around it, and in the minds of individuals patriotism
+has increased to a fanaticism which deems even murder a justifiable means
+to rid Europe from the shameful yoke of the tyrant. If we cannot execute
+our plan, if we do not succeed in abducting Napoleon, perhaps the dagger of
+an assassin will he raised against him--an assassin who does not regard his
+deed as a crime, but as a sacred duty."
+
+"And why are we content with an abduction?" asked the count fiercely. "Why
+should not the blood of the man who has shed so many torrents of blood, be
+shed also?"
+
+"Because that would be too light a punishment," said Kraus, with an
+expression of gloomy hate. "Because it would be an atonement for all his
+crimes, if he fell beneath the daggers of murderers. Such daggers rendered
+the tyrant Julius Cæsar a hero, a martyr, and they would also transform
+Napoleon into a demi-god. No, we will not grant him such a triumph, such a
+glorious end--we will not allow him a speedy death. He shall ignominiously
+disappear; he shall die slowly on some barren island in the ocean; die amid
+the tortures of solitude, of weariness, of powerless rage. This must be the
+vengeance of Europe; this must be the end of the vampire who has drunk her
+heart's blood."
+
+"You are right? it shall, it must be so," cried the count, with sparkling
+eyes. "Now tell me, what have _I_ to do? What part is assigned to _me_?"
+
+"You will go to Genoa, count. Here is a letter from General Nugent to the
+captain of the Swedish ship Proserpina, now lying in the harbor."
+
+"But it is not sealed?" asked the count, taking the paper offered.
+
+"Open it, and you will find that it does not contain a single word. I
+received it so from our messenger, who brought it directly from Count
+Nugent in Heligoland to me. It is your letter of recommendation, that is
+all! Written words might compromise, spoken ones die away upon the wind. If
+you deliver this, addressed in General Nugent's hand, to the captain of the
+Proserpina, he will recognize you as the right messenger, and you will then
+tell him verbally what you have to say."
+
+"What shall I tell him?"
+
+"Tell him to take in his freight, have his ballast on board, and keep
+everything in readiness for departure. From the day that you reach him the
+Proserpina must be ready for sea, and a boat must lie in the harbor night
+and day to receive the members of our league who will come if the plan
+succeeds."
+
+"But I hope this is not all that I have to do? I shall not be denied a more
+active part in the great cause?"
+
+"If you wish, no! One of us will accompany Bonaparte to Genoa as his
+jailer. You can relieve him there, and attend him to his prison."
+
+"I will do so. But where will the prison be?"
+
+"You will put him on some barren island in the ocean, which will serve as
+his dungeon. Then you will return. But you must name the place to which you
+conveyed him to no one except the heads of the society: that is, to General
+Nugent and myself. We will guard it as the most sacred secret of our lives,
+that no one may learn it--no one can make the attempt to rescue him."
+
+"I thank you," cried the count joyously. "You assign me an honorable task,
+which proves that the heads of the society trust me. What else have I to
+do? Will not a meeting of the conspirators take place? Will you not summon
+one?"
+
+"No, for I shall go at once to Totis to make the most necessary additional
+arrangements with General Bubna, and through him with the Empress Ludovica,
+that, if the plot succeeds, the advantage will be ours and cannot be
+claimed by the French party. But you, count, must manage to summon such an
+assembly of our friends in some unsuspected place. I learn that Baroness de
+Simonie is to give an entertainment to which, without knowing it, she has
+invited a number of our friends. You will recognize them by the black
+enamel ring which every member of our band must wear upon the little finger
+of his left hand. You will name to each a place of meeting.
+
+"Oh, I already know one," cried the count, "it is--"
+
+"Mention no names," Kraus interrupted quickly. "I shall not be present, so
+it is not necessary for me to know. Every secret is imperiled by needless
+communication, and we must compromise no one without cause. Here, count,
+are some necessary papers in which you will find further instructions. Make
+your preparations accordingly, and when you have read them and informed the
+persons concerned, burn them."
+
+"But you tell me nothing about the principal matter," said the count. "Who
+will accomplish the actual deed? Who will have the heroic daring to take
+Napoleon captive?"
+
+"Many will be active in that, count. The names are not to be mentioned, but
+if you lay stress upon it, I will tell you that of the person who has
+undertaken to lie in ambush for Napoleon, gag him, and carry him away. It
+is Baron von Moudenfels."
+
+"Von Moudenfels? I don't know him, but I have heard of him. Was it not
+Baron von Moudenfels who arranged the secret connection with the
+conspirators in the French army, and negotiated with Oudet?"
+
+"Yes, the same man. He is a great patriot and a daring fellow. He hates
+Napoleon, and if he once has him in his grasp, he will die rather than
+suffer him to escape, though Napoleon should offer a kingdom as a ransom.
+Now farewell, count, and may God grant that we see each other again
+successful! May the guardian angel of our native land protect us in the
+perils which we must bravely meet."
+
+"So be it," said the count, cordially pressing in his own Kraus' extended
+hand. "Go to Totis: I will go to Genoa, to await my prisoner there."
+
+With the same hasty steps as he had come, Commissioner Kraus again hastened
+down the steps, and once more plunged into the tumult of the street. After
+a short walk, he again entered a house and ascended the stairs to a door in
+the fourth story beside which, in a rush-bottomed chair, sat a servant,
+with his head bowed on his breast, sleeping peacefully.
+
+Baron von Moudenfels or Commissioner Kraus tapped the slumberer lightly on
+the shoulder.
+
+"Wake up and open the door, Peter!" he said.
+
+The man started up and stared at the person standing before him with
+dilated eyes.
+
+"Who are you, sir, and what do you want of me?" he exclaimed sulkily.
+
+"Then you don't know me?" asked Kraus, smiling. "Must I tell you that I am
+your master?"
+
+"Herr Baron! Is it you? Is it possible that it's you; that anybody can
+disguise himself so--and--"
+
+"Hush! you know that you are not to wonder at anything, and must always be
+prepared to see me in any disguise. True, I should have expected that you
+would recognize your master's voice."
+
+"I beg your pardon, sir; I was so very sound asleep. I didn't sleep all
+night because I was expecting you, and I've been on the watch all day."
+
+"Have many spies been here?" asked the baron as, followed by his servant,
+he entered his sitting-room.
+
+"Yes, sir, they fairly besieged the door of the house and patrolled the
+opposite side of the street all day long. Three times, too, gentlemen
+called to ask for you. They said that they were visitors, but I think they
+were only spies who wanted to find out whether you were at home."
+
+"Well, now they can come and assure themselves that I'm here," replied his
+master, stretching himself comfortably upon the sofa. "True, it won't last
+long--we start in an hour. Order post-horses, Peter, two post-horses and a
+light carriage, and pack the baggage."
+
+"Yes, sir!" sighed Peter. "What clothes will you take? Do we travel this
+time again as Baron von Moudenfels, and must I pack the old gentleman's
+baggage as I did for the journey to Frankfort?"
+
+"No, not as Baron von Moudenfels. This time I shall go in my own person and
+under my own name. We shall go to Totis to the camp of his majesty the
+emperor. So take the court dress and everything necessary for a gentleman.
+Thank heaven, I shall be rid of the tiresome wig for a few days."
+
+Removing the blonde wig he passed his hand through the black locks which
+appeared under it.
+
+"Hurry, Peter, order post-horses and pack our clothing; we must start in an
+hour."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VI.
+
+THE CONSPIRACY DISCOVERED.
+
+
+The festival was over, the last guests had taken leave of Baroness de
+Simonie, and the servants and lackeys were gliding noiselessly through the
+empty rooms to extinguish the lights in the chandeliers and candelabra, and
+here and there push the scattered pieces of furniture into place.
+
+Baroness de Simonie had gone to her boudoir, but though it was late at
+night she seemed to feel no disposition to retire to rest, nor was there
+the slightest expression of weariness on her beautiful face; her eyes
+sparkled as brightly as they had just flashed upon her guests, and there
+was no change in the proud carriage of her head, or of the tall, slender
+figure, still robed in white satin veiled with silver-embroidered white
+crêpe. The diadem of diamonds still glittered in her hair, and clasps of
+the same brilliant gems adorned her neck and her bare white arms.
+
+Madame de Simonie was pacing up and down her boudoir with hasty, impetuous
+steps; her whole being seemed intensely agitated. Sometimes she paused at
+the door to listen, then with panting breath resumed her restless movement
+to and fro, while her scarlet lips murmured: "He does not come yet.
+Something extraordinary must have happened. But what? What? Can he be in
+danger? Oh, my God, if this terrible week were once over, that--But hush! I
+hear footsteps; it is he."
+
+Springing to the door with a single bound like a lioness, she tore it
+open.
+
+"Is it you, father?"
+
+"Yes, it is I," he answered, entering the room and cautiously locking the
+door behind him.
+
+"Thank heaven that you are here, father!" she sighed, with an air of
+relief.
+
+"What?" he asked, smiling, "has my Leonore again become so affectionate a
+daughter that she is anxious about her father if he is suddenly called away
+at night? For you have been anxious about me--about me and no one
+else--have you not?"
+
+"No, not for you," she cried impetuously, "for him, for him alone. Tell me
+that he is not in danger, that he has nothing to do with the matter on
+whose account you were so suddenly called away!"
+
+"I swear it, Leonore. But, my child, the impetuosity of your passion is
+beginning to make me uneasy. How will you keep your head clear, if your
+heart is burning with such impetuous fire that the rising smoke must
+becloud your brain? I have allowed you to give yourself the amusement of
+love, but you must not make a serious life question of it."
+
+"Yet I shall either perish of this love or be new-born by it," she
+murmured. "But let us not talk about it. Tell me first why you left the
+ball so suddenly?"
+
+"Urgent business, my child. The emperor sent for me to come to Schönbrunn."
+
+"The emperor! What did he want of you?"
+
+"There is something to be discovered, Leonore--a murderer who seeks the
+emperor's life."
+
+"A murderer!" she said, shuddering; "my God, suppose it should be he!"
+
+"The emperor has received an anonymous letter from Hungary, in which he is
+informed that, during the course of the next week, a young man will come to
+Schönbrunn to murder him.[D] I suppose that this comes directly from the
+Emperor Francis' court at Totis. Some fanatic has told the Emperor Francis
+that he will go there to murder his hated foe, and the kind-hearted
+emperor, in his magnanimity has sent this warning to Napoleon."
+
+"And _he_ was in Totis," said Leonore, trembling, under her breath, "and he
+told me that in a week something decisive would happen."
+
+"You are silent, Leonore?" asked her father. "Have you nothing to tell
+me?"
+
+She started from her sorrowful reverie; a bold, resolute fire again flashed
+in her eyes. "I have many things to tell you, many important things," she
+replied. "But I will not utter a single word unless you first take an
+oath."
+
+"What oath?"
+
+"The oath that, if it is Kolbielsky who comes to murder Napoleon, you will
+warn him and let him escape."
+
+"But how am I to warn him in advance, since the probability is that, if I
+really catch him, it will be at the moment of the deed."
+
+"Well, then, you will let him escape at that moment, if it is Kolbielsky."
+
+"But that is impossible, Leonore! You will understand yourself that it is
+impossible."
+
+"Well, then, do as you choose, but do not ask me to communicate my
+discoveries. Good-night, father; I feel tired, I will go to sleep."
+
+Passing her father, she approached the door. But just as she was about to
+open it, he laid his hand on her arm and stopped her.
+
+"Stubborn girl," he said, smiling, "I see that your will must be obeyed to
+induce you to speak. Well, then, I swear that, if the person who comes to
+murder Napoleon is Baron von Kolbielsky, I will let him escape if he falls
+into my hands."
+
+"Swear it by my mother's spirit and memory."
+
+"I swear it by your mother's spirit and memory. But now, Leonore, speak.
+Have you really discovered a conspiracy?"
+
+"Yes, I have discovered a conspiracy, and, thank heaven, I can tell you
+everything--the names of all the conspirators; for _he_ is not among
+them--he has nothing to do with this crazy, reckless affair. Father, you
+can tell Napoleon that a widespread conspiracy exists, and that it even has
+numerous adherents in his own army. The most aristocratic members of it
+were present at my entertainment and held a consultation here. Colonel
+Mariage, as you know, had begged me to give him and his friends a room
+where they could talk undisturbed."
+
+"And you gave him the little red drawing-room didn't you?"
+
+"Yes. I gave them the little red drawing-room, which is reached from this
+boudoir. I was in the niche and heard all."
+
+"So it is really an actual conspiracy?" asked her father, with a happy
+smile.
+
+"Really an actual conspiracy," she repeated gravely, "and unless you warn
+the Emperor Napoleon, unless you save him, he will be a lost man within a
+week, even if that murderer's dagger should not strike him."
+
+"That is splendid, that is marvelous," cried her father. "Leonore, this
+time we shall really attain our goal. We shall be rich. The emperor is
+generous; he loves life. I will set a high price upon it. By heaven, the
+Cæsar's head is well worth four hundred thousand francs! I will ask them,
+and I shall receive. We shall be rich enough to do without and be
+independent of men."
+
+"And I shall be free," murmured Leonore, with a flash of enthusiasm upon
+her beautiful face. "You will not forget, father, that you promised to give
+me my liberty if I helped you to become rich. You will not forget that you
+are to permit me to escape, with the man I love, from this false, pitiful
+world, and fly with him to some remote, secluded nook, where no one knows
+me--no one can betray to him the shame and sin of my past life. And above
+all, father, you will not forget that you have solemnly sworn to reveal
+nothing of my former existence, not to let him suspect who I am, and--"
+
+"Who and what your father is, you wanted to say," he interrupted. "Yes, I
+will remember and not disclose our little secrets to him. The virtuous
+Baron von Kolbielsky would certainly be very much astonished if he made the
+discovery that your major-domo has the honor of being your father, and that
+the father of the proud baroness is no other than the well-known spy
+Schulmeister, who has rendered the Emperor Napoleon so many useful
+services, and whose name Kolbielsky has so often mentioned in my presence
+with scornful execration. No, he must not learn all this. We will conceal
+our past, we will begin a new life, and since we shall then be rich enough,
+it will not be difficult for us to remain noble and virtuous. But now, my
+Leonore, tell me exactly and in detail everything you know. Come, let us
+sit down on this divan and allow me to note at once the most important
+points in your story, and especially the names."
+
+"Then listen, father! Thursday next the emperor is to be carried away by
+force."
+
+"Carried away--where?" asked Schulmeister, smiling.
+
+"To some desolate island in the ocean. But do not interrupt me; don't let
+me anticipate, but relate everything in regular order. So listen and note
+what is necessary. There is a conspiracy which has its members in the
+French army, in the garrison now in Vienna, nay, even among those who are
+in the closest attendance upon the emperor, and which unites all the
+malcontents in France with the foes of Napoleon throughout all Europe.
+Heligoland is the meeting-place for the envoys of the conspirators
+throughout Europe; there the central committee always assembles at certain
+times, and from there by confidential messengers and fellow conspirators
+issues its commands and directions to the members in all places; there is
+the depot of the arms, ammunition, and other military stores. Thither
+England has sent General Bathurst; Spain, General Bandari, for consultation
+and agreement with the Austrian General Nugent, the Russian General
+Demidoff, and a certain Baron von Moudenfels, who has apparently played a
+prominent part in all these negotiations, and in whose hands all the single
+threads of this many-branched conspiracy meet. There was devised and
+arranged the plan which is now to be executed and in which Baron von
+Moudenfels plays the most important part."
+
+"Do you know this Baron von Moudenfels?" asked Schulmeister. "Was he at
+your entertainment this evening? I saw several gentlemen who were strangers
+to me, and whose names I was going to ask you, when I was called away. Was
+Baron von Moudenfels among them?"
+
+"No, father, he was not among them, and I do not know Baron von Moudenfels
+at all. According to the descriptions which I heard of him this evening, he
+is a man already advanced in years, but whose youthful vigor and energy
+were extravagantly praised and admired. Baron von Moudenfels has been the
+originator and director of the whole plan, and has been engaged for months
+in making preparations for its execution. Listen to the rest of my story!
+On Thursday the plot must be put into action. On that day the emperor will
+take a ride in the afternoon, as he always does. If, by chance, he should
+show no disposition to do so, they will induce him by some means, and will
+persuade him to go to the woods near Schönbrunn. The emperor likes to
+dismount there and stroll along the lovely, shady paths, talking with his
+generals. To his surprise he will find a most charming little hut which he
+has not seen before--for the very good reason that it was erected only the
+previous day. The emperor, as is well-known, is curious, and he will go to
+it. The conspirators--and his entire suite is composed of them--the
+conspirators will propose going in. A French song, the signal that
+everything is ready, will be heard within. The emperor will enter, his
+companions will follow. Inside the hut armed conspirators will be
+stationed, who, as soon as the emperor enters, will seize and gag him, bind
+him hand and foot, and thus render him harmless. Then one of the party who
+entered with the emperor, Colonel Lejeune, whose figure is exactly like
+his, will put on a suit of clothes made precisely like the emperor's, and,
+donning Napoleon's three-cornered hat, will leave the hut. Meanwhile
+twilight will have gathered, and the conspirators, with the emperor--that
+is Colonel Lejeune--at their head, will return to Schönbrunn. The guards
+will salute as soon as they see the emperor dash into the courtyard. The
+chief equerry will hold his stirrup, and help him to dismount. The emperor,
+followed by his suite, will enter the castle, and silently, according to
+his custom, ascend the stairs and go to the hall where he receives his
+marshals; there, as he so frequently does, he will dismiss all who are
+present with a wave of his hand and pass on into his study, which adjoins
+his sleeping-room."
+
+"Well, it must be admitted that so far the affair has a glimmer of
+feasibility and probability," said her father, smiling. "But I should be
+very anxious about the continuation. Would Roustan, who undresses the
+emperor every evening, also be deceived by the masquerade, or would the
+conspirators attempt to abduct him also? And then--has it been forgotten
+that before going to rest the emperor now works an hour every evening with
+his private secretary, Bourrienne?"
+
+"Bourrienne is one of the conspirators. He will enter the room with his
+portfolio and remain there an hour, after first bringing to the anteroom
+the order, in the emperor's name, to make no further reports to him that
+evening, as he was wearied and therefore wished to go to rest early. The
+Mameluke Roustan could not be bribed, and therefore the attempt was
+relinquished. But the day before, through a dose of arsenic which will be
+administered to him, Roustan will be so dangerously ill that he cannot
+attend upon the emperor, and Constant will take his place."
+
+"And is the valet Constant one of the conspirators?"
+
+"He is, and he will be on duty during the night in the anteroom of the
+bedchamber. In this way the emperor's disappearance will be concealed until
+the next morning, and the matter will not become known until the following
+day at nine o'clock, when the generals arrive. What will happen then,
+whether Eugene is declared emperor or the Bourbons are again summoned to
+the throne, will depend upon what occurs in France, and what effect the
+emperor's disappearance has upon the minds of the people there. We need
+not trouble ourselves about it for the present; it does not belong to the
+business which occupies our attention."
+
+"No, no, we have to deal only with the emperor," cried Schulmeister,
+laughing, "and I can tell you that I am as anxious about the progress of
+this matter as if it were the development of a drama, and that I am
+extremely curious to know what more is to be done with the gagged emperor.
+We have left him in the hut."
+
+"Yes, and he will remain there until the night has closed in. Then Baron
+von Moudenfels and two other conspirators, disguised as workmen, will
+convey him in a basket standing ready in the hut, such as are used in the
+transportation of the sick to the place in the woods where a carriage will
+be waiting for the basket and its companions. They will ride all night
+long, relays will be ready everywhere at the appointed spots, and, when
+morning dawns, they will have reached the house of a conspirator near
+Gratz, and spend the day there. At nightfall the journey will be continued
+in the same way, and so, constantly traveling by night and resting by day
+in the house of a conspirator, until Trieste is reached. To be prepared for
+all casualties, a French passport for the transportation of an invalid to
+Trieste has been obtained. Count Andreossy issued it at the request of
+Colonel Mariage, and for greater security, Captain de Guesniard, in full
+uniform and provided with the necessary legal documents, will accompany the
+party to Trieste."
+
+"Who are to be the other companions of the captive emperor?"
+
+"Three more persons will accompany him. First, Baron Moudenfels, the
+originator and instigator of the whole plan. Then there are two subaltern
+officers in the French army, for whom Captain de Guesniard answers, but
+whose names were not mentioned."
+
+"Oh, I will discover them," cried Schulmeister, "be assured I will discover
+them; and I am glad that there is some special work for me in this affair.
+Go on now, go on, my Leonore."
+
+"There is but little more to say. A ship, laden with grain, lies in the
+harbor of Trieste with papers ready to set sail at once for Genoa. The
+Baron von Moudenfels, with the prisoner and the two French lieutenants,
+will take passage in her for Genoa, where another vessel, furnished by the
+Swedish members of the league, is ready to convey the party further. Count
+von Kotte has already been sent from here to Genoa by Baron von Moudenfels
+to give directions to the captain of the ship, who from that port will
+relieve Baron von Moudenfels from the charge of the prisoner."
+
+"And what is the goal of his journey?"
+
+"As I told you, some desolate island in the ocean, where no ships touch.
+There the emperor will be put ashore and left to support life like a second
+Robinson Crusoe, or in his despair seek death."
+
+"Well, the plan really is not impracticable, and has been devised with
+equal boldness and calculation. Only I should like to know why so much ado
+is made, instead of adopting the shorter process, that is, murdering the
+emperor."
+
+"For two reasons! The conspirators consider their task too sacred to
+profane it by assassination. They wish to rid Europe of the unhallowed yoke
+which weighs upon it in the person of the Emperor Napoleon. They are
+convinced that they are summoned to the work; that they shall thereby
+render the world and mankind a service full of blessing; but they will not
+anticipate fate; they will leave it to God to end a life which they merely
+desire to render harmless to God and men. This is the first motive for not
+killing the emperor, the second is that they believe a speedy death would
+be no fit punishment for the crime which Napoleon has perpetrated on
+humanity, while a perpetual, hopeless captivity, embittered by the
+omnipresent, ever alert consciousness of ruined greatness, of fame buried
+in dust and silence, would be a lasting penance more terrible to an
+ambitious land-robber than death could ever be."
+
+"They are right, by the eternal God, they are right!" cried Schulmeister;
+"I believe that the emperor would prefer a speedy death a hundred times to
+such slow torture; and to you, Leonore, to you and to me will now fall the
+vast, the priceless happiness of preserving the emperor from such
+martyrdom. I say the priceless happiness, but I shall take good care that
+the emperor pays me for it as dearly as possible, and--so far as it can be
+done--balances the immense weight of our service by its compensation. By
+heaven, half a million francs really seems a trivial reward, and I don't
+know whether we can be satisfied with it."
+
+"I shall be satisfied," cried Leonore, with an enthusiastic glance, "only
+when you fulfill the vow which you made; when, after I have made you rich,
+you make me free and permit me to go with the man whom I love wherever I
+desire, taking care that you do not betray by a word, a hint, who I am, and
+what I was."
+
+"I will fulfill my oath to you," said Schulmeister earnestly, "for you have
+performed yours. You have discovered a conspiracy, and through this
+discovery saved the emperor from a terrible misfortune, and given me the
+right to demand a high price. You will make me rich; you will drive the
+demon of poverty from my head; I will repay you--I will guard yours from
+the demons of disgrace and shame; you shall have no cause to blush in the
+presence of the man whom you love. On the day that I bring from the
+emperor half a million as my property and yours, your past and mine will
+both be effaced, and we will enter upon a new life, in a new world! Let the
+spy, Schulmeister, the adventuress Leonore de Simonie; be buried, and new
+people, new names, rise from the budding seeds of the half million. But now
+farewell, my daughter, my beautiful Leonie. I must begin the work, must
+summon all my assistants and subordinates, and assign their tasks, for the
+next few days will bring much work. It is not enough for me to inform the
+emperor of the existence of a conspiracy, and the plan of the accomplices,
+but I must be able to give him convincing and irrefutable proofs of this
+plot, that he may not deem it a mere invention which I have devised in
+order to be able to claim a large reward. No, the emperor must see that I
+am telling him the truth, so I must not let the affair explode too soon. I
+must first know the names and residences of all the conspirators,
+investigate the details of the whole enterprise, and hold in my hand the
+threads of the entire web in order to be sure that all the spiders who have
+labored at it will be caught in their own net."
+
+"Do so, father," cried Leonore joyously. "I will leave them all to you--all
+these poor spiders of the conspiracy. I feel no pity for them. Let them
+die, let them suffer, what do I care! I, too, have suffered, oh, and what
+mortal anguish! Yes, let them die and rot; I shall at last be happy, free,
+and beloved. Oh, God be praised that the man whom I love is not entangled
+in this conspiracy, that I could disclose the whole plot, mention the
+names of all the conspirators, without fear of compromising him. Yes, I
+thank Thee, my God, that Kolbielsky has no share in this scheme."
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VII.
+
+THE REVELATION.
+
+
+The fatal Thursday had passed, Wednesday had come, yet Leonore had received
+no tidings from her father. For three days she had not seen him, had had no
+message from him.
+
+But it was not this alone that disturbed and tortured Leonore. She had also
+had no news from Kolbielsky, though the week which he had named as the
+necessary duration of their parting had expired the day before. He had
+said:
+
+"My week of exile will begin from this hour, and the first festival will be
+when I again clasp you in my arms."
+
+This week had expired yesterday, and Kolbielsky had not come to clasp his
+loved one in his arms again. She had expected him all through the day, all
+through the night, and the cause of her present deep anxiety was not
+solicitude about her father, the desire to learn the result of the
+conspiracy discovered; no, it was only the longing for _him_, the terrible
+dread that some accident might have befallen Kolbielsky.
+
+Why did he not come, since he had so positively promised to return at the
+end of a week? Was it really only a coincidence that the day which he had
+fixed for his return was the selfsame one on which the conspiracy formed by
+Napoleon's foes was to break forth?
+
+What if he had had a share in the conspiracy? If he had deceived her,
+if--But no, no, that was wholly impossible--that could not be! She knew the
+names of the conspirators, especially those of the heads and leaders; she
+knew that Kolbielsky's name had not once been mentioned during the whole
+discussion between them. So away with anxieties, away with cowardly fears.
+Some accident might have detained him, might have caused a day's delay.
+
+To-day, yes, to-day he would come at last! To-day she would see him again,
+would rush into his arms, rest on his heart, never, oh! never to part from
+him again! Hark, a carriage was stopping before the door! Steps echoed in
+the corridor.
+
+They approached, stopped at her door! It is he, oh, surely it is he!
+
+Darting to the door, she tore it open.
+
+No! It was her father, only her father!
+
+With a troubled cry, she sank into the chair beside the door. Her father
+went to her; she did not see the sorrowful, almost pitying look he fixed
+upon her. She had covered her face with her hands and groaned aloud.
+Schulmeister stood before her with a gloomy brow, silent and motionless.
+
+At last, after a long pause, Leonore slowly removed her hands from her face
+and raised her head.
+
+"Are we rich now?" she asked in a whisper, as though she feared lest even
+the walls should hear her question.
+
+"Yes," he exclaimed joyfully, "yes, we are rich."
+
+Drawing his pocketbook from his coat, he opened it and poured out its
+contents, shaking the various papers with their array of high numbers into
+Leonore's lap.
+
+"Look, my daughter, my beloved child! Look at these wonderful papers. Ten
+banknotes, each one fifty thousand francs. That is half a million, my
+Leonore! Look at these papers. Yet no, they are no papers, each is a magic
+spell, with which you can make a palace rise out of nothing. See this thin
+scrap of paper; a spark would suffice to transform it to ashes, yet you
+need only carry it to the nearest banker's to see it changed into a heap of
+gold, or glitter as a _parure_ of the costliest diamonds. If you desire it,
+these papers will transmute themselves into a magnificent castle, into
+liveried servants, into superb carriages. Oh, I already see you standing as
+the proud mistress of a stately castle, in your ancestral hall, with
+vassals bowing before you, and counts and princes suing for your hand. For
+these magic papers will give you everything, everything; not luxury alone,
+but honor, rank, and dignity, the love and esteem of men. Take them, for
+the whole ten papers shall be yours. I wish to see you rich and happy,
+therefore I defied disgrace and mortal peril. Come, my child, let us set
+out this very hour to buy with these papers, far away from here, in an
+Eden-like region, a castle which shall be adorned with all that luxury and
+art can offer. Come, my Leonore, come. We have accomplished our work of
+darkness, now day is dawning, now our star is rising. Come, come! Alas, the
+days are so short, let us hasten, hasten to enjoy them!"
+
+Leonore slowly shook her head. "_He_ must return," she said solemnly.
+"First I must see him again, have him tell me that he will go with me to
+that distant region. What would all the treasures of the earth avail, if I
+did not have him! What would I care for castles, diamonds, and carriages if
+he were not with me! I am expecting him--he may be here at any moment. So
+tell me, father--describe quickly how everything has happened. I have not
+seen you for three days; I do not know what has occurred, for, strangely,
+nothing has reached the public."
+
+"The emperor enjoined the most inviolable silence upon us all," said
+Schulmeister gloomily. "The whole affair has been treated and concealed as
+the most profound secret. The emperor does not wish to have anything known
+about it; no one must deem it possible that people have dared to seek to
+take his life, to attempt to capture him. I never saw him in such a fury
+as when I first told him the plan of the conspirators. His eyes flashed
+lightnings, he stamped his feet, clenched his little hands into fists, and
+stretched them threateningly toward the invisible conspirators. He vowed to
+kill them all, to take vengeance on them all for the unprecedented crime."
+
+"And has he fulfilled the vow?"
+
+"He has. He has punished the conspirators, so far as lay in his power. But
+some of them, for instance Baron von Moudenfels, do not belong to the
+number of his subjects, but are Austrians. The emperor did not have the
+sentence which he pronounced upon his own subjects executed upon them; he
+could not at this time, for you know that negotiations for peace have been
+opened, and the treaty will be signed immediately. So the emperor did not
+wish to constitute himself a judge of Austrian subjects; it is a delicate
+attention to the Austrian emperor, and the latter will know how to thank
+him for it and to punish the criminals with all the rigor of the law.
+Therefore Baron von Moudenfels and Count von Kotte have merely been held as
+prisoners, and were compelled to witness the execution to-day."
+
+"What execution?" asked Leonore in horror.
+
+"Colonel Lejeune, Captain de Guesniard, and two sous-lieutenants were shot
+this morning on the meadow at Schönbrunn,"[E] said Schulmeister in a low
+tone.
+
+Leonore shuddered, and a deathlike pallor overspread her face. "And _I_
+delivered them to death!" she moaned.
+
+"And if you had spared them, you would have delivered the Emperor
+Napoleon, the greatest man of the age, to death, to the most terrible
+torture of imprisonment!" cried her father, shrugging his shoulders. "These
+men wished to commit a crime against their sovereign, their commander. You
+have no reason to reproach yourself for having delivered the criminals to
+the law."
+
+"And Mariage? What has become of Mariage?"
+
+"Apparently he received a warning; he has fled. But we found all the others
+yesterday at their posts; for we had made all our arrangements so secretly
+that even the conspirators who surrounded the emperor were not aware of it.
+The emperor at first intended to act strictly according to the programme of
+the conspirators; take the ride with his suite, and not permit me to come
+to his assistance, with a few trustworthy assistants, until after he had
+entered the hut and been captured. But he rejected this plan, because he
+would have been compelled to arrest his most distinguished generals and
+subject the greater number of his staff officers to a rigid investigation.
+The whole army would then have heard of this bold conspiracy, and
+conspiracies are like contagious diseases, they always have successors. So
+the emperor rejected this plan, and, at the moment that his suite were
+mounting to attend him on his ride, he dismissed them all, saying that he
+wished to go into the woods alone, accompanied only by Colonel Lejeune, the
+Mameluke, and myself. You can imagine the mute horror, the deathlike pallor
+of the generals. The emperor did not vouchsafe any of them a glance, but
+dashed away. When we had ridden into the woods, the emperor checked his
+horse and turned to Colonel Lejeune, who, white as a corpse, rode beside
+him.
+
+"Your sword, colonel!" he exclaimed, in tones of thunder. "You will not
+play the part of emperor to-day, but merely the character of an
+arch-traitor and assassin."
+
+At the same instant Roustan and I rode to Lejeune's side, and each seized
+an arm. A moment later he was disarmed and deprived of the papers which we
+found in his breast pocket, and the tender farewell letters to his wife and
+his mother, in case that the enterprise should fail.
+
+"I will have these sent at once to their addresses the morning after your
+execution," the emperor said, with a withering glance from his large
+flashing eyes. Then he rode on, and we followed, each holding an arm of
+Lejeune, who rode between us. At last we reached the hut and the emperor
+checked his horse again. Roustan uttered a low whistle and, at the same
+instant, six gray-bearded giants of the imperial guard stood beside us as
+if they had sprung from the earth. As soon as the conspirators entered the
+hut, they had cautiously approached it and, concealed behind the trees,
+awaited the preconcerted signal.
+
+The emperor greeted them with the smile which bewitched his old soldiers,
+because it reminded them of the days of their great victory.
+
+"I know that you are faithful," he said, "but I should also like to know
+whether you are silent."
+
+"Silent as the grave, if the Little Corporal commands it," said old
+Conradin, the emperor's favorite.
+
+"Well, I believe you, and you shall give me a proof of it to-day. Clear out
+the nest you see there, and catch the birds for me!"
+
+"He pointed with uplifted arm and menacing gesture to the hut; the soldiers
+rushed to it and broke in the door. Shouts of rage were heard, several
+shots rang out, then all was still, and the old grenadiers dragged out five
+men. Three were wounded, but they had avenged themselves, for three of the
+soldiers were also injured."
+
+"Was Baron von Moudenfels among the prisoners?" asked Leonore quickly.
+
+"Yes," replied Schulmeister, "yes, he was among them."
+
+"Then you saw him?"
+
+"Yes, I saw him."
+
+The slow, solemn tone with which her father answered made Leonore tremble.
+She looked up questioningly into his face, their eyes met, and were fixed
+steadily on each other.
+
+"Why do you gaze at me so sadly and compassionately?" asked Leonore
+suddenly, cowering as though in fright.
+
+"I did not know that I was doing so," he answered gently.
+
+"You were, you are still," she cried anxiously. "Father, I read misfortune
+in your face. You are concealing something from me! You--oh, heaven, you
+have news of Kolbielsky."
+
+She started up, letting the bank-notes fall unheeded to the floor, seized
+her father's arm with both hands, and gazed silently at him with panting
+breath.
+
+He avoided her eyes, released himself almost violently from her grasp,
+stooped, picked up the bills and divided them into halves, putting five
+into his breast pocket, and giving his daughter the other five.
+
+"Take it, my Leonore; take the magic key which will open Paradise to you!"
+
+She took the bank-notes and, with a contemptuous gesture, flung them on the
+floor.
+
+"You know something of Kolbielsky," she repeated. "Where is he? Answer me,
+father, if you don't wish me to fall dead at your feet."
+
+"Yet if I do answer, poor child, what will it avail you? He is lost, you
+cannot save him."
+
+She neither shrieked nor wept, she only grasped her father's arm more
+firmly and looked him steadily in the face.
+
+"Where is Kolbielsky?" she asked. "Answer, or I will kill myself."
+
+"Well, Leonore, I will give you a proof of my infinite love. I will tell
+you the truth, the whole truth. When the prisoners were dragged out of the
+hut, one of them suddenly made an attempt to escape. The soldier tried to
+hold him, they struggled--in the scuffle the conspirator's wig fell off.
+Hitherto he had had white hair--"
+
+"It was Baron von Moudenfels?" asked Leonore breathlessly.
+
+"Yes, Leonore, it was Baron von Moudenfels. But when the wig was torn from
+his head, we saw no old man, no Baron von Moudenfels, but--"
+
+"Kolbielsky!" she shrieked with a loud cry of anguish.
+
+Her father nodded, and let his head sink upon his breast.
+
+"And he, too, was shot this morning?" she asked in a low, strange whisper.
+
+"No, Leonore. I told you that the emperor, out of regard for his future
+ally, the Emperor Francis, did not have him executed. He simply imprisoned
+him and punished him only by compelling him to witness the execution. He
+will leave it to the Emperor Francis to pronounce sentence of death upon
+the assassin."
+
+"He lives? You will swear that he lives?" she asked breathlessly.
+
+"I will swear that he lives, and that he will live until the return of the
+courier whom Count Bubna, who is in Schönbrunn attending to the peace
+negotiations--has sent to Totis to the Emperor Francis."
+
+The Baroness de Simonie bounded like a tigress through the room, tearing at
+the bell till it sounded like a tocsin and the servants came rushing in
+terror from the anteroom.
+
+"My carriage--it must be ready in five minutes!" she cried. The servants
+ran out and Leonore darted across the room, tore open the door of the
+adjoining chamber, opened a wardrobe in frantic haste, and dragged out a
+cloak, which she flung over her shoulders.
+
+"In heaven's name, Leonore, are you out of your senses?" asked her father,
+who had hurried after her and now seized her arm. "What do you mean to do?
+Where are you going?"
+
+"To the Emperor Napoleon!" she cried loudly. "To the Emperor Napoleon, to
+save the life of the man I love. Give me the money, father!"
+
+"What money, Leonore?"
+
+"The bank-notes! The blood-money which I have earned!"
+
+Her father had carefully gathered up the bank-bills which she had thrown
+about the room, and gave them to her. Leonore shuddered as she clenched
+them in her trembling hands. "I have sold him," she shrieked, raising the
+hand that held the papers toward heaven. "His blood clings to this money.
+But I will hurl it at the emperor's feet. I want no pay; I will beg his
+life for my recompense. Pray father, pray that he may hear me, may grant me
+mercy, for I swear by all that is sacred, if Kolbielsky must die, I will
+kill his murderers. And his murderers are--you and I!"
+
+"The carriage is at the door," said a servant, entering.
+
+She sprang forward. "I am coming. Pray, father, pray for mercy upon my
+loved one's murderers!"
+
+
+
+
+CHAPTER VIII.
+
+PARDON.
+
+
+Four days had elapsed since the execution at Schönbrunn. Baron von
+Kolbielsky had been forced to attend it and was then conveyed to Vienna to
+spend dreary, lonely days at the police station in the Krebsgasse.
+
+He had vainly asked at least to be led before his judges to receive his
+sentence. The jailer, to whom Kolbielsky uttered these requests whenever he
+entered, always replied merely with a silent shrug of the shoulders, and
+went away as mute as he had come.
+
+But yesterday, late in the evening, he had entered, accompanied by the
+Chief Commissioner Göhausen, two magistrates, and a clergyman. With a
+solemn, immovable official countenance Commissioner Göhausen opened the
+document which his subordinate handed to him, and, in a loud voice, read
+its contents. It was a sentence of death. The death-sentence of Baron
+Friedrich Carl Glare von Kolbielsky "on account of sympathy and complicity
+in a murderous assault upon the sacred life of his annointed imperial ally
+and friend, Napoleon, emperor of the French."[F] Early the following
+morning, at dawn, Baron Friedrich Carl Glare von Kolbielsky must be shot at
+Schönbrunn.
+
+Kolbielsky had listened to this death-warrant with immovable composure--no
+word, no entreaty for pardon escaped his lips. But he requested the
+priest, who desired to remain to pray with him and receive his confession,
+to leave him.
+
+"What I have to confess, only God must know," he said, smiling proudly. "In
+our corrupt times even the secrets of the confessional are no longer
+sacred, and if I confessed the truth to you, it would mean the betrayal of
+my friends. God sees my heart; He knows its secrets and will have mercy on
+me. I wish to be alone, that is the last favor I request."
+
+So he was left alone--alone during this long bitter night before his doom!
+Yet he was not solitary! His thoughts were with him, and his love--his love
+for Leonore!
+
+Never had he so ardently worshipped her as on this night of anguish. Never
+had he recalled with such rapture her beauty, her indescribable charm, as
+on this night when, with the deepest yearning of his heart, he took leave
+of her. Ah, how often, how often, carried away by the fervor of his
+feelings, he had stretched out his arms to the empty air, whispering her
+dear, beloved name, and not ashamed of the tears which streamed from his
+eyes. He had sacrificed his life to hate, to his native land, but his last
+thoughts, his last greetings, might now be given to the woman whom he
+loved. All his desires turned to her. Oh, to see her once more! What
+rapture thrilled him at the thought! And he knew that she would come if he
+sent to her; she would have the daring courage to visit his prison to bring
+him her last love-greeting. He need only call the jailer and say to him:
+
+"Hasten to Baroness de Simonie in Schottengasse. Tell her that I beg her
+to come here; tell her that I must die and wish to bid her farewell. She is
+my betrothed bride; she has a right to take leave of me."
+
+He only needed to say this and his request would have been fulfilled, for
+the last wishes of the dying and of those condemned to death are sacred,
+and will never be denied, if it is possible to grant them.
+
+But he had the strength to repress this most sacred, deepest desire of his
+heart, for such a message would have compromised _her_. Perhaps she, too,
+might have been dragged into the investigation, punished as a criminal,
+though she was innocent.
+
+No, he dared not send to her! His Leonore, the beloved, worshipped idol of
+his heart, should not suffer a moment's anxiety through him. He loved her
+so fervently that for her sake he joyfully sacrificed even his longing for
+her. Let her think of him as one who had vanished! Let her never learn that
+Baron von Moudenfels, the man who would be shot in a few hours, was the man
+whom she loved. He would meet death calmly and joyfully, for he would leave
+her hope! Hope of a meeting--not yonder, but here on earth! She would
+expect him, she would watch for him daily in love and loyalty, and
+gradually, gently and easily, she would become accustomed to the thought of
+seeing him no more. Yet, while doing so, she would not deem him faithless,
+would not suppose that he had abandoned her, but would know that it was
+destiny which severed them--that if he did not return to her, he had gone
+to the place whence there is no return.
+
+"Oh, Leonore, dearly loved one! Never to see you again, never again to hear
+from your lips those sweet, sacred revelations of love; never again to look
+into your eyes, those eyes which shine more brightly than all the stars in
+heaven."
+
+It was already growing lighter. Dawn was approaching. Yonder, in the dark
+night sky a dull golden streak appeared, the harbinger of day. The sun was
+rising, bringing to the world and all its creatures, life; but to him, the
+condemned man, death.
+
+Still he would die for his native land, for liberty! That was consolation,
+support. He had sought to rid the world of the tyrant who had crushed all
+nations into the dust, destroyed all liberty. Fate had not favored him; it
+shielded the tyrant. So Kolbielsky was dying. Not as a criminal, but as the
+martyr of a great and noble cause would he front death. And though fate had
+not favored him now, some day it would avenge him, avenge him on the tyrant
+Napoleon. It would hurl him from his height, crush him into the dust,
+trample him under foot, as he now trampled under his feet the rights and
+the liberties of the nations.
+
+There was comfort, genuine consolation in this thought. It made death easy.
+The dawn grew brighter. Crimson clouds floated from all directions across
+the sky! Perhaps he would be summoned in half an hour.
+
+No, not even half an hour's delay. His executioners were punctual. The
+bolts on the outer door were already rattling.
+
+"Come, Kolbielsky, be brave, proud, and strong. Meet them with a joyous
+face; let no look betray that you are suffering! They are coming, they are
+coming! Farewell, sweet, radiant life! Farewell, Leonore! Love of my heart,
+farewell!"
+
+The inner door was opened--Kolbielsky advanced to meet his executioners
+with proud composure and a smiling face. But what did this mean? Neither
+executioner, priest, nor judge appeared, but a young man, wrapped in a
+cloak, with his head covered by a broad-brimmed hat that shaded his face.
+
+Who was it? Who could it be? Kolbielsky stood staring at him, without the
+strength to ask a question. The young man also leaned for a moment,
+utterly crushed and powerless, against the wall beside the door. Then
+rousing himself by a violent effort, he bent toward the gray-bearded jailer
+who stood in the doorway with his huge bunch of keys in his hand, and
+whispered a few words. The jailer nodded, stepped back into the corridor,
+closed the door behind him and locked it.
+
+The young man flung aside the cloak which shrouded his figure. What did
+this mean? He wore Kolbielsky's livery; from his dress he appeared to be
+his servant, yet he was not the man whom he had had in his service for
+years.
+
+Kolbielsky had the strength to go a few steps forward.
+
+"Who are you?" he asked in a low tone. "Good heavens, who are you?"
+
+The youth flung off his hat and rushed toward Kolbielsky. "Who am I? I?"
+he cried exultingly. "Look at me and say who I am."
+
+A cry, a single cry escaped Kolbielsky's lips, then seizing the youth's
+slender figure in his arms, he bore it to the window.
+
+The first rays of the rising sun were shining in and fell upon the young
+man's face.
+
+Oh, blessed be thou, radiant sun, for thou bringest eternal life, thou
+bringest love.
+
+"It is she! It is my Leonore! My love, my--"
+
+He could say no more. Pressing her tenderly in his arms, he bowed his head
+upon her shoulder and wept--wept bitterly. But they were tears of delight,
+of ecstasy--tears such as mortals weep when they have no words to express
+their joy. Tears such as are rarely shed on earth.
+
+Yet no. He would not weep, for tears will dim her image. He wished to see
+her, imprint her face deep, deep upon his heart that it might still live
+there while he died.
+
+He took the beautiful, beloved head between his hands and gazed at it with
+a happy smile.
+
+"Have you risen upon me again, my heavenly stars? Do you shine on me once
+more, ere I enter eternal night?"
+
+Bending lower he kissed her eyes and again gazed at her, smiling.
+
+"Why do your lips quiver? Why do they utter no word of love? Oh, let me
+break the seal of silence which closes them."
+
+Bending again to the beloved face which rested in his hands, he kissed the
+lips.
+
+"Speak, my Leonore, speak! Bid me a last farewell; tell me that you will
+always love me, that you will never forget me, though I must leave you."
+
+"No, no," she cried exultingly, "no, you will not leave me, you will stay
+with me."
+
+Releasing herself and gazing at him with her large flashing eyes she
+repeated:
+
+"You will stay with me."
+
+"Oh, my sweet love, I cannot! They have sentenced me to death. They will
+soon come to summon me."
+
+"No, no, my dear one, they will not come to lead you to death. They will
+not kill you. I bring you life! I bring you pardon!"
+
+"Pardon!" he cried, almost shrieked. "Pardon! But from whom?"
+
+"Pardon from your sovereign and master, from the Emperor Francis!"
+
+"God be praised. I can accept it from _him_," cried Kolbielsky jubilantly.
+"So I am free? Speak, dearest, I am free?"
+
+She shook her head slowly and sadly. "I have been able only to save you
+from death," she said mournfully. "I have been able only to obtain your
+life, but alas! not your liberty."
+
+"Then I remain a prisoner?"
+
+"Yes, a prisoner."
+
+"For how long?"
+
+"For life," she murmured in a voice barely audible.
+
+But Kolbielsky--laughed.
+
+"For life! That means--so long as Napoleon lives and is powerful. But he
+will die; he will fall, and then my emperor will release me; then I shall
+belong to life, to the world; then I shall again be yours! I will accept my
+emperor's pardon, for it is you who bring it to me--you have obtained it.
+You say so, and I know it. You hastened to Totis, you threw yourself at the
+emperor's feet, pleaded for mercy, and he could not resist your fiery zeal,
+your bewitching personality. But how did you know that I was arrested? Who
+told you that I was Baron von Moudenfels?"
+
+"My uncle," she replied with downcast eyes, "my uncle brought me the
+tidings; he told me that Napoleon, through Count Bubna, had sent a courier
+to Totis, to the Emperor Francis, and asked your condemnation. I hastened
+to Schönbrunn; I succeeded in overcoming all obstacles and reaching the
+emperor. I threw myself at his feet, confessed amid my tears that I loved
+you, begged for your life. And he granted it; he became your intercessor to
+the Emperor Francis. He wrote a few lines, which I was to convey to Totis
+myself. I did so, hastening thither with post-horses. I spoke to the
+emperor. He was deeply moved, but he had not the courage to take any
+decisive step; he still dreaded offending his new ally. The Emperor
+Napoleon begs me to grant Kolbielsky's life, he said. 'I will do so, but
+can do nothing more for the present. I will grant him life, but I cannot
+give him liberty. He must be taken to the Hungarian fortress Leopoldstadt.
+There he must remain so long as he lives.'"
+
+"To Leopoldstadt! In an open grave," cried Kolbielsky gloomily. "Cut off
+from the world, in joyless solitude, far from you. Oh, death, speedy death
+would be better and--"
+
+"No," she interrupted, "not far from me! I will remain with you. The
+emperor at my fervent entreaty, permitted your servant, your faithful
+servant, to accompany you, share your imprisonment. Now look at me,
+beloved, look at me. I wear your livery, I am the faithful servant who has
+the right to go with you. Oh! no, no, we will be parted no longer. I shall
+stay with you."
+
+Clasping both arms around his neck, she pressed a glowing kiss upon his
+lips.
+
+But Kolbielsky released himself from the sweet embrace and gently pushed
+her back. "That can never be--never will I accept such a sacrifice from
+you. No, you shall not bury your beauty, your youthful bloom in a living
+tomb. Your tender foot is not made to tread the rough paths of life. The
+proud Baroness de Simonie, accustomed to the splendor, luxury, and comfort
+of existence must not drag out her life in unworthy humiliation. I thank
+you, love, for the sacrifice you wish to make, but nothing will induce me
+to accept it. Return to the world, my worshipped one! Keep your love, your
+fidelity! Wait for me. Even though years may pass, the hour of liberty will
+at last strike and then I will return to you!"
+
+"No, no!" she impetuously exclaimed. "I will not leave you; I will cling to
+you. You must not repulse me. The emperor has given your servant the right
+to stay with you. I am your servant. I shall stay!"
+
+"Leonore, I entreat you, do not ask what is impossible. There are
+sacrifices which a man can never accept from the woman he loves--which
+humiliate him as they ennoble her. I should blush before your nobility; it
+would bow me into the dust. Leonore de Simonie must not leave the pure,
+proud sphere in which she lives; she must remain what she is, the queen of
+the drawing-room."
+
+"Is this your final answer?" she asked, turning deadly pale.
+
+"My final one."
+
+"Well, then, hear me! You shall know who I am; you shall at least learn
+that you might accept every sacrifice from me without ever being obliged to
+blush in my presence. You thrust me from you, that is, you thrust me into
+death! Yes, I will die, I wish to die, but first you shall hear from my
+lips the truth, that you may not grieve, may not shed a single tear for me.
+So hear me, Carl, hear me! I am not what you believe. My foot is not
+accustomed to the soft paths of life--the world of splendor and honor is
+not mine. From my earliest childhood I have walked in obscurity and
+humiliation, in disgrace and shame, a dishonored, ignominious creature."
+
+As if crushed by her own words she sank down at his feet, and raised her
+clasped hands beseechingly, while her head drooped low on her breast.
+
+Kolbielsky gazed at her with an expression of unspeakable horror, then a
+smile flitted over his face.
+
+"You are speaking falsely," he cried, "you are speaking falsely out of
+generosity."
+
+"Oh, would to heaven it were so!" she lamented. "No, believe me, I am
+telling the truth; I am not what I seem; I am not the Baroness de Simonie."
+
+"Not Baroness de Simonie? Then who are you?" he shrieked frantically.
+
+"I am a paid spy of the Emperor Napoleon, and the spy Schulmeister is my
+father."
+
+Kolbielsky uttered a cry of fury and raised his clenched fist as if he
+intended to let it fall upon her head. But he repressed his rage and turned
+away. Despair and grief now overpowered him. He tottered to a chair and,
+sinking into it, covered his face and wept aloud.
+
+Leonore was still kneeling, but when she heard him sob she started up,
+rushed to him, and again throwing herself at his feet, she embraced his
+knees.
+
+"Do not weep--curse me! Thrust me from you, but do not weep. Alas! yet I
+have deserved your tears. I am a poor, lost creature. Yes, do not weep. I
+have suffered much, sinned much, but also atoned heavily. Yes, weep for me!
+My life lies bare as a torn wreath of roses in the dust--not a blossom
+remains, nothing save the pathway of thorns, grief, and torture. Yes, weep
+for me--weep for a lost existence. I was innocent and pure, but I was
+poor--that was my misfortune. Poverty drove my father to despair, drove us
+both to disgrace and crime. Oh, God! I was so young, and I wanted to live;
+I did not wish to die of starvation, and the tempter came to me in my
+father's form, whispering, 'Have money and you will have honor! Help
+yourself, for men and women will not aid you. They turn contemptuously
+away because you are poor. To-morrow, if you are rich, they will pay court
+to you, honor, and love you. I offer you the means to become rich. Give me
+your hand, Leonore, despise the people who leave us to die, and follow me.'
+I gave him my hand, I followed him, I became Napoleon's spy. I had money, I
+had a name, I saw people throng around me, I learned to despise them, and
+therefore I could betray them. But, in the midst of my brilliant life, I
+was unhappy, for the consciousness of my shame constantly haunted me,
+constantly cast its shadow upon me. And one day, one day I saw and loved
+you! From that day I was the victim of anguish and despair. On my knees I
+besought my father to release me, to permit me to escape from the world. He
+threatened to betray my past, my disgrace to you. And I--oh, God, I loved
+you--I yielded, I remained. My father vowed that, if I made him rich, he
+would set me free. I discovered a conspiracy. You were not among the
+accomplices--I betrayed it. I wanted to serve _you_ by the treachery and I
+plunged you into ruin."
+
+Tears gushed from her eyes; the sobs so long repressed burst forth and
+stifled the words on her lips. Kolbielsky no longer wept. He had let his
+hands fall from his face, and was listening to her in deep thought, in
+breathless suspense. Now, when she paused sobbing, he stretched out his
+hand as if he wished to raise Leonore, then he seemed to hesitate and
+withdrew it.
+
+She did not see it; she did not venture to look at him; she gazed only into
+her tortured heart. "I have betrayed you," she continued, after an
+anxious, sorrowful pause. "Oh, when I learned it, a sword pierced my soul
+and severed it from every joy of life. I knew, in that hour, that I had
+fallen a prey to despair, but I wished at least to rescue you. I have saved
+you, that is the sole merit of my life. Napoleon could not resist my
+despair, my tears, my wrath--he pitied me. He gave your life to me. All the
+blood-money which I had gained, all the splendor which surrounded me, I
+flung at my father's feet. I released myself from him forever, and, that my
+penance might be complete, I called all my servants and revealed my
+ignominy to them. Then I left the palace where I had lived so long in
+gilded shame. I took nothing with me. I call nothing mine except these
+clothes and the name of Leonore. Now you know all, and you will no longer
+be able to say that I can make a sacrifice for you. Decide whether I must
+die, or whether you will pardon me. Let me atone; let me live--live as your
+slave, your thrall. I desire nothing save to see you, serve you, live for
+you. You need never speak to me, never deem me worthy of a word. I will
+divine your orders without them. I will sleep on your threshold like a
+faithful dog, that loves you though you thrust him from you--who caresses
+the hand that strikes him. I have deserved the blows; I will not murmur,
+only let me, let me live."
+
+She gazed imploringly at him, with a face beaming with enthusiasm and love.
+
+And he?
+
+A ray of enthusiasm illumined his face also. He bent over the kneeling
+figure, laid his hands on her shoulders, and gazed into her face while
+something akin to a divine smile illumined his features.
+
+"When I bade you farewell," he said softly, "I said that if I returned, I
+would ask you a momentous question. Do you know what it was?"
+
+She shrank and a burning blush crimsoned her cheeks, but she did not
+venture to reply, only gazed breathlessly at him with fixed eyes.
+
+He bent close to her and, smiling, whispered:
+
+"Leonore, will you be my wife?"
+
+With a cry of joy she sprang into his arms, laughing and weeping in her
+ecstasy.
+
+Kolbielsky pressed her closely to his heart and laid his hand upon her head
+as if in benediction.
+
+"You have atoned," he said solemnly. "You shall be forgiven, for you have
+suffered heavily! You have come to me homeless. Henceforth my heart shall
+be your home. You have cast aside your name--I offer you mine in exchange.
+Will you be my wife?"
+
+She whispered a low, happy "yes."
+
+An hour later an officer of justice arrived to announce to Kolbielsky his
+change of sentence to perpetual imprisonment and inform him that the
+carriage was waiting to convey him to Leopoldstadt.
+
+Kolbielsky now desired to see the priest whose ministration he had formerly
+refused, and when, half an hour later, he entered the carriage, Leonore was
+his wife. She accompanied him, disguised as his servant, for the permission
+to attend the prisoner to Leopoldstadt was given in that name. But the
+priest promised to go to the emperor himself and obtain for the wife the
+favor which had been granted to the servant.
+
+He kept his word, and, a few weeks later, the governor of Leopoldstadt
+received the imperial command to allow the wife of the imprisoned Baron von
+Kolbielsky to share his captivity.
+
+But Kolbielsky's hope of a speedy release was not to be fulfilled. Napoleon
+had become the emperor of Austria's son-in-law, and thereby Kolbielsky's
+position was aggravated. He knew too many of the Emperor Francis' secrets,
+could betray too much concerning the emperor's hate, and secret intrigues
+of which Francis himself had been aware. He was dangerous and therefore
+must be kept in captivity.
+
+In his wrath he wrote vehement, insulting letters to the Emperor Francis,
+made himself guilty of high-treason. So they were well satisfied to find
+him worthy of punishment, and render the troublesome fault-finder forever
+harmless.
+
+So he remained a prisoner long after Napoleon had been overthrown. His wife
+died many years before him, leaving one daughter, who, when a girl of
+eighteen, married a distinguished Austrian officer. Her entreaties and her
+husband's influence finally succeeded in securing Kolbielsky's liberation.
+In the year 1829 he was permitted to leave Leopoldstadt, to live with his
+daughter at Ofen, where he died in 1831.
+
+
+THE END.
+
+
+
+
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+
+FOOTNOTES:
+
+[A] Napoleon's own words. See Hormayr, "Universal History of Modern Times,"
+part III., p. 136.
+
+[B] Historical. See Hormayr's "Universal History."
+
+[C] Historical. "Anemones from the Diary of an Old Pilgrim," Part II., p.
+99.
+
+[D] Historical. See "Anemones," Part II., p. 90.
+
+[E] Historical. See "Anemones," Part II,. p. 90.
+
+[F] "Anemones," Part II., p. 93.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+End of Project Gutenberg's A Conspiracy of the Carbonari, by Louise Mühlbach
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