Leuthold looked at her with dim eyes. "I am condemned!" was all he could say.
Then he turned to the officials. "Gentlemen, at such a moment as this, it is surely natural for a father to provide for the future of those whom he may leave behind him. I am ill, and may die at any moment. In case of my demise, therefore, I appoint, before all these witnesses, Herr Professor Hilsborn my daughter's guardian, as I hold her mother, who survives me, entirely unfit in every respect to be her guide and protector. The fact of her having forsaken her daughter at a tender age, and never troubling herself to inquire concerning her afterwards, will prove the justice of what I say. I pray you, gentlemen, to attest the validity of this my last will, when the hour for doing so arrives. Observe that I am at present in full possession of my mental faculties."
The by-standers looked at him in amazement. Bertha would have spoken, but her husband restrained her.
The officer said, coldly but politely, "Your directions shall, if necessary, receive due attention. Rely upon it."
"You have no objections to make?" Leuthold asked Hilsborn.
"Your wish shall be sacred to me," the young man assured him.
"And now, sir, I beg for one great favour," Leuthold whispered to the officer. "Grant me one half-hour's delay."
"I am sorry, but I have waited too long already."
"Only one-half hour, sir, for the love of Heaven,--a quarter of an hour!" Leuthold pleaded. The poison was beginning to work. His knees trembled, his gray eyes were glassy in their sockets, his features grew rigid.
"Not a minute longer!" the official replied impatiently, and beckoned to the police-officers.