Heinrich's blood ran cold at this horrible suggestion.
'I did but seek to escape, messieurs, in exchanging my uniform for this dress,' said he.
'Oh, of course—of course!' they cried, with fierce mockery and cruelty flashing in their eyes.
'I did it but to save my life,' he urged. 'Diable—of course!'
'I am but one man among hundreds,' he continued.
'And so shall die—tué! tué!' cried they altogether.
'You are a band of cowards!' exclaimed Heinrich, defiantly; 'I do not fear to die. Hurrah for Germany!'
'Hah, ha! hah, ha!—à bas le Prussien!' they chorused.
One now appeared with a rope, which he had procured somewhere, and a cold perspiration burst over the brows of Heinrich.
'I am the Graf Von Frankenburg,' he urged, almost, but not quite, piteously. 'I am an officer of the Thuringians—let me die the death of a soldier, not that of a felon.'