“I cannot tell you.”
“Do you mean you cannot, or you will not?”
“Take it whichever way you please, it is a matter of indifference to me.”
The examiner folded his arms under his black cloak and stood for some moments in silence, looking reproachfully at the prisoner. At last he spoke in a tone which seemed to indicate that he was pained at the young man’s attitude:
“I sincerely trust I am mistaken in supposing that you refuse absolutely to assist this Court in the securing of a document which not only stands between you and your liberty, but also between you and your death.”
“Oh, a truce to this childish and feigned regret,” cried Wilhelm with rude impatience. “I pray you end the farce with less of verbiage and of pretended justice. You have his Majesty here a prisoner. You have, through my own folly, my neck at the mercy of your axe or your rope. There stands the executioner eager for his gruesome work. Finish that which you have already decided upon, and as sure as there is a God in heaven there will be quick retribution for the crimes committed in this loathsome dungeon.”
The examiner deplored the introduction of heat into a discussion that required the most temperate judgment.
“But be assured,” he said, “that the hurling of unfounded accusations against this honourable body will not in the least prejudice their members in dealing with your case.”
“I know it,” said Wilhelm with a sneering laugh.
“We have been informed that no such commission exists, that the document empowering you to take instant command of the Imperial troops rests in the hands of the wife of his Majesty the Emperor and is unsigned.”