Vietnam or Thailand ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Updated: June 9, 2025
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.
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.
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.
"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.
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.
'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 "
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.
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.
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.
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." The fatal Thursday had passed, Wednesday had come, yet Leonore had received no tidings from her father.
Word Of The Day
Others Looking