“What of Patkul?” he asked, in a cruel voice.
“Will not your Majesty think again of your orders to the court-martial—that he is to be tried and executed with the utmost severity?”
Karl was silent.
“That means,” continued the Count, “that he will be broken on the wheel and quartered alive.”
“You speak for a rebel?” demanded the King.
“Other rebels have received a death less cruel—might not your Majesty show the same mercy to Patkul?”
“You know in what he has offended me, Count Piper.”
“Therefore I ask your Majesty to be lenient. The man is brave—he has served his own country—he is not a Swede—he was to have been married this autumn. Let him die without torture.”
The King’s face was ugly to look upon.
“It is such a chance for your Majesty,” urged the minister.