At this von Nauheim looked up, and stared rather wildly about him. I saw Praga's motive then, and was glad.
"Halt! most noble and honorable of counts," he cried when they stood about twenty paces from us. Then, in a rough, stern tone, he added, "Now tell the truth—the part you played in it."
At that von Nauheim made a sudden dash and struggle to get free from his antagonist's grip; but he might as well have tried to get away from his master, the devil, as from the iron hand that held and then shook him till his teeth chattered.
I guessed that he had caught sight of us.
"Now the truth!" cried Praga in a truly terrifying tone. "Out with it. You know me by this time."
The other glanced about him in abject fright, and then said, in a whisper hoarse and husky with agitation:
"Are you there, Minna?"
"Silence!" thundered Praga, shaking him again. "Speak what I have told you—no more, no less."
For a time von Nauheim tried vainly to find words, and the sight of his fear was so appalling and repulsive that Minna clung closer to me, and hid her face against my arm.
Another threat and command came from Praga, and then, in a voice that shook and quavered, and broke again and again, he began the shameful story of his own abominable part in the intrigue which had led to the duel between Minna's brother and the Corsican; and the latter would not let him halt until the whole villanous tale was complete.