"The murder has been committed within our jurisdiction, and must be punished by our tribunal."
"And do you call it a murder that Tausdorf, to defend his own life, slew your son against his will?"
"It is not for us two to decide upon this point, Frau von Netz; for I am the father of the murdered, and you are the intended of the murderer. The judges will settle it upon their oaths."
"Mr. Burgomaster, we are alone; I would not--by Heavens I would not, offend you; but the terrors of death give me courage for the question; can money save Tausdorf? My uncle, von Schindel, is rich; we have friends amongst the nobles of the country. Fix the sum."
"If you were not a woman," exclaimed the burgomaster furiously; "if you were not a woman, you should fare ill with this twofold insult,--to the dignity of my office, and to my heart as a father. Gold for blood! That is one of the maxims of you nobles, when the question, is of a citizen's life. But the Polish times are over, when the high-born murderer had only to fling the price of blood upon the corse of the murdered, and thus remain free from all retribution. When the nobleman of Siegwitz shot the citizen's daughter, his drinking companions thought that such a girl might well be paid for; but the council there did not think so, and the head of the assassin fell."
"Oh my heart!" sighed Althea, and stood for a time struck with grief and horror at these words of wrath; then on a sudden, collecting her spirits, she flung herself before the burgomaster and embraced his knees.
"Mercy!" she cried, and lifted up her beautiful blue eyes to the inexorable one with so much fervour, that in spite of his iron resolution an unpleasant feeling oppressed his heart, and he was leaning down to her with pity, when the marshal entered to announce that the judges had presented themselves to the council and waited for the worshipful burgomaster. At this the old evil spirit returned in him. He started up with vehemence, and sought to disengage Althea's hands from his knees.
"For Heaven's sake, what will you do?" cried the unhappy victim.
"My duty!" replied the man of the stony heart, and walked away with firm and echoing steps.
The sufferer breathed a deep and piercing sigh, as if in that moment the tender thread of her life was broken, and her head fell in a kind swoon upon the seat of the chair before which she had been kneeling.