He hesitated a moment. The president wore a look of awful anxiety.
“No, my lord Bishop,” he said at last.
The president’s look of relief fell full upon him.
“No, I had no accomplices,” repeated Musdœmon, still more emphatically. “I concocted this plot through affection for my master, who knew nothing of it, to destroy his enemy, Schumacker.”
The eyes of prisoner and president met once more.
“Your Grace,” said the bishop, “must see that as Musdœmon had no accomplices, Baron Ordener Guldenlew must be innocent.”
“Then why, worthy Bishop, did he confess his guilt?”
“Mr. President, why did that mountaineer persist that he was Hans of Iceland at the risk of his life? God alone knows our secret motives.”
Ordener took up the word: “Judges, I can tell you my motive, now that the real criminal has been discovered. I accused myself falsely to save the former chancellor, Schumacker, whose death would have left his daughter without a protector.”
The president bit his lip.