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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.
"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."
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!" Four days had elapsed since the execution at Schönbrunn.
"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.
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. Kolbielsky had listened to this death-warrant with immovable composure no word, no entreaty for pardon escaped his lips.
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.
"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.
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?
"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?"
"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.
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