"Praised be Jehovah! he will take it!" said she joyfully, drawing forth from her bosom a little flask. "Before I give you the medicine, I have something to say to you, Frederick William. As soon as you have taken it, you will fall into a deep sleep, almost resembling death. If you are disturbed in this, the efficacy of my cordial will be destroyed."
"Dietrich," said the Prince composedly, "you will take care that no one disturbs my slumbers. I command you so to do!"
"I shall obey, most gracious sir," murmured Dietrich.
"When you awake after six hours," continued Rebecca, "you will experience a feeling of ineffable comfort. Be not deluded by this, and attempt to leave your couch. Rest is necessary for you, and you are then only on the road to health. That you may be perfectly cured I must come again to-morrow night, and once more administer the cordial. Mind that to-morrow night, as at present, you be alone. No one must be with you but old Dietrich. He is a trusty, affectionate servant, and I hope to God will tell no one what he has seen and heard here, for I would be lost if he should do so."
"I swear, in the presence of Almighty God, that I will keep silence," said
Dietrich solemnly.
"And now, enough of words!" cried she. "See, Dietrich, the pains begin anew, and his features twitch convulsively. We must procure him relief."
She took a glass from the table and emptied into it half of the brown liquid contained in her little flask. Then she bent over the Prince and held the glass to his lips.
"Drink this," she said, with solemnity, "and may the Lord our God bless the potion to you!"
The Prince drank in long draughts, emptying the glass to the last drop.
Then he uttered one shriek, and sank back senseless on the pillow.
"If you have murdered him," cried Dietrich, shaking his fist with menacing gesture—"if you have murdered him, be sure that I shall find you out and hand you over to the hang-man."