"Do you think so, unhappy man?" cried Heinrich. "Now let us see whether you will venture to lay hands upon me."
With these words he led the young girl out of the cell, and ordered the jailer to remove the irons at once.
"I command it, and will be responsible," he said, imperiously, as they hesitated, "and then lock us both in from the outside." The fetters were taken off, and the turnkeys withdrew, locking the door behind them.
"Now summon up your courage; you see that I am unarmed and your chains are removed," said Heinrich, standing directly before him, and gazing at him with an unwavering glance.
The unhappy roan stood motionless for a moment, engaged in a most violent struggle with his emotions. At last his whole frame trembled, his hands fell as if weighed down by fetters of double weight, and he sank at Heinrich's feet, unable to utter a word.
The latter gazed at him a moment in silence, and then knocked on the door. The turnkeys came in anxiously and raised Albert, but his knees still trembled so violently that he was obliged to sit down on his bed. The Prison Fairy, with a sublime expression of sympathy, stroked his burning brow, and gazed at Heinrich with imploring expectation.
The latter quietly approached the group. "Albert, I have convinced myself that you can subdue your passions. You are worthy of the freedom I shall now help you secure. You shall no longer suffer for my frivolity, and both you and this lady shall be convinced that I am no scoundrel. Farewell for to-day."
Albert suddenly clasped his hands over his brow, and a flood of tears relieved his oppressed heart. Heinrich looked for a long time at the young girl, who, with pallid face, was gazing silently at the floor, then begged her to follow him, and left the cell.
When they were outside, he asked, "What do you think of me now?"
"If you go on and give yourself up to the law, as the best proof of Albert's deposition, I shall think well of you."