"He is assuredly insane," murmured Napoleon to himself. At this moment he cast his eyes on a miniature, fastened to a string, and lying on the table.
"What locket is that?" he asked.
"Sire," replied Rapp, "we took it from the assassin; he wore it on his neck."
Napoleon examined it. It contained the portrait of a beautiful woman. "Whose portrait is it?"
"Sire," said Staps, in a solemn voice, "it is the portrait of my betrothed—my dearly beloved Anna."
"What!" exclaimed the emperor. "You have a sweet-heart—you have a mother and a father—-you are in the flower of your life—and yet you intended to commit so horrible a crime! For you will not deny that murder is a crime."
"Murder in ordinary cases is one of the greatest crimes," said Staps, in his calm, gentle voice. "But to take your life—to rid the world of Napoleon—is no murder and no crime; it is an act of justice—nay, it is a sacred duty! If I had killed you, no one would have called me an assassin; my attempt is criminal because it did not succeed. That is what one of our own great poets says concerning certain actions:
'Conceived and unsuccessful—there's the crime!
Accomplished, it becomes a deed immortal.
And what succeeds will surely be forgiven,
For God's own verdict lies in the result!"'[48]
"And God, then, has decided against you," said Napoleon, quickly.
"No, God delays only the execution of the blow, and perhaps I am not the right instrument. He will choose another, and my successors will know better how to find your heart. Believe me, the Germans know how to do their duty; and to rid Germany of her tyrant, and restore peace to her people, is their duty."