hold him, they struggled--in the scuffle the conspirator's wig fell off.
Hitherto he had had white hair--"

"It was Baron von Moudenfels?" asked Leonore breathlessly.

"Yes, Leonore, it was Baron von Moudenfels. But when the wig was torn from
his head, we saw no old man, no Baron von Moudenfels, but--"

"Kolbielsky!" she shrieked with a loud cry of anguish.

Her father nodded, and let his head sink upon his breast.

"And he, too, was shot this morning?" she asked in a low, strange whisper.

"No, Leonore. I told you that the emperor, out of regard for his future
ally, the Emperor Francis, did not have him executed. He simply imprisoned
him and punished him only by compelling him to witness the execution. He
will leave it to the Emperor Francis to pronounce sentence of death upon
the assassin."

"He lives? You will swear that he lives?" she asked breathlessly.

"I will swear that he lives, and that he will live until the return of the
courier whom Count Bubna, who is in Schönbrunn attending to the peace
negotiations--has sent to Totis to the Emperor Francis."

The Baroness de Simonie bounded like a tigress through the room, tearing at
the bell till it sounded like a tocsin and the servants came rushing in
terror from the anteroom.