“Ich bin ein Deutscher,” replied the prisoner.
“What in the devil does he say?” asked the prince. “What new gibberish is that?”
“He says he is German, my lord,” replied Raoul; “but I doubt it, for his accent is bad and his pronunciation defective.”
“Then you speak German, also?” asked the prince.
“Yes, my lord.”
“Well enough to question him in that language?”
“Yes, my lord.”
“Question him, then.”
Raoul began the examination, but the result justified his opinion. The prisoner did not understand, or seemed not to understand, what Raoul said to him; and Raoul could hardly understand his replies, containing a mixture of Flemish and Alsatian. However, amidst all the prisoner’s efforts to elude a systematic examination, Raoul had recognized his natural accent.
“Non siete Spagnuolo,” he said; “non siete Tedesco; siete Italiano.”