"'I am not anxious that you should go,' said the new adjutant. 'You seem to like to look at the moon. Do so as long as you please. It costs nothing, and does no one any harm.'
"I was imprudent enough to take a little advantage of his kindness. I could not make up my mind to leave the beautiful spectacle of which I was, perhaps, to be deprived so soon, at once. Besides, I could not resist the idea that Mayer was a bad servant, but too much honored by being permitted to wait on me. He took advantage of my position, and became bold enough to seek to talk to me. 'Do you know, signorina,' said he, 'that you sing devilish well? I heard nothing better in Italy. Yet I have been to the greatest theatre, and passed the principal artists in review. Where did you make your first appearance? You have travelled much?' As I pretended not to understand his questions, he added, boldly, 'Sometimes you travelled on foot, in male attire?'
"This question made me tremble, and I hastened to reply in the negative. He said, 'Ah! you will not own it, but I never forget; and I recall to my memory a strange adventure which you have not forgotten.'
"'I do not know what you wish to say,' said I moving from the wall, and commencing to retreat to my cell.
"'A moment—a moment!' said Mayer.—'Your key is in my pocket, and you cannot go back without me. Let me say a word or two to you.'
"'Not a word, sir: I wish to return to my room, and am sorry that I left it.'
"'Pardieu! you are behaving strangely: you act as if I was ignorant of your adventures. Did you think I was simple enough not to know when I found you in the Boehmer-wald, with a little dark-haired lad, not badly made? Pshaw! I took the lad for the army of the King of Prussia. The girl was not for him; though they say you pleased him, and were sent here because you boasted of it. Well, fortune is capricious, and it is useless to contend with her. You have fallen from a high position, but I beg you not to be proud, and to be satisfied with what chances. I am only a garrison officer, but have more power here than a king, whom no one knows and no one fears, because he is too far away to be obeyed. You see that I have power enough to pass anywhere and to soften your captivity. Do not be ungrateful, and you will see the protection of an adjutant at Spandau is as useful as that of a king at Berlin. Do you understand? Do not fly me—do not make an outcry—for that would be absurd—indeed, it would be pure folly for I might say anything I pleased, and no one would believe you. I do not wish to scare you, for my disposition is good. Think of this till I see you again: and remember, I can immure you in a dungeon, or grant you amusements—starve you to death, or give you means of escape, without being suspected.' As I did not reply, and was completely terror-stricken at the idea of being unable to avoid such outrages, and such cruel humiliation as he dared to subject me to, this odious man added, without doubt fancying that I hesitated, 'Why not decide at once? Are twenty-four hours necessary to decide on the only step which it is proper for you to take, and to return the love of a brave man, yet young, and rich enough to provide in some other country a more pleasant abode than this prison?'
"As he spoke thus, the ignoble recruiter approached me, and acted as if he would oppose my passage. He attempted to lay hold of my hands. I ran to the parapet of the tower, being determined to spring over, rather than suffer myself to be soiled by his caresses. At this moment, however, a strange circumstance attracted my attention, and I pointed it out to the adjutant as a means of enabling myself to escape. It secured my safety; but, alas! came near costing the life of a person, perhaps more valuable than mine.
"On the opposite rampart, on the other side of the ditch, a figure which seemed gigantic, ran or rather leaped down the esplanade, with a rapidity and adroitness which seemed prodigious. Having reached the extremity of the rampart, the ends of which are flanked by towers, the phantom ascended the roof of one of them, which was on a level with the balustrade, and mounting the steep cone with cat-like activity, seemed to lose itself in the air.
"'What the devil is that?' said the adjutant, forgetting the gallant in the jailer. 'May the devil take me, if a prisoner is not escaping.' The sentinel, too, is asleep. 'Sentinel,' cried he, with the voice of a Stentor, 'look out!' Running towards a turret, in which is hung an alarm bell, he rang it with the power of a professor of the devil's music. I never heard anything more melancholy than this infernal tocsin, the sharp clangor of which disturbed the deep silence of night. It was the savage cry of violence and brutality, disturbing the aspirations of the harmony of the water and the breeze. In an instant, all was in motion in the prison. I heard the clangor of the guns in the sentinels' arms, as they cocked and fired at any object of which they caught a glimpse. The esplanade was lighted with a red blaze, which paled the azure reflections of the moon. Swartz had lighted up a bonfire. Signals were made from one rampart to another, and the echoes repeated them in a plaintive and decreasing tone. The alarm gun soon mingled its terrible and solemn note in this diabolical symphony. Heavy steps sounded on the pavements. I saw nothing, but heard all these noises, and my heart was filled with terror. Mayer had left me hastily, but I did not even rejoice at being delivered from him. I reproached myself bitterly with having pointed out to him, I knew not why, some unfortunate prisoner who was seeking to escape. Frozen with terror, I waited the conclusion of the affair, shuddering at every shot that was fired, and waiting to hear the cries of the fugitive announce some new disaster to me.