th.

Yet no. He would not weep, for tears will dim her image. He wished to see
her, imprint her face deep, deep upon his heart that it might still live
there while he died.

He took the beautiful, beloved head between his hands and gazed at it with
a happy smile.

"Have you risen upon me again, my heavenly stars? Do you shine on me once
more, ere I enter eternal night?"

Bending lower he kissed her eyes and again gazed at her, smiling.

"Why do your lips quiver? Why do they utter no word of love? Oh, let me
break the seal of silence which closes them."

Bending again to the beloved face which rested in his hands, he kissed the
lips.

"Speak, my Leonore, speak! Bid me a last farewell; tell me that you will
always love me, that you will never forget me, though I must leave you."

"No, no," she cried exultingly, "no, you will not leave me, you will stay
with me."

Releasing herself and gazing at him with her large flashing eyes she
repeated:

"You will stay with me."

"Oh, my sweet love, I cannot! They have sentenced me to death. They will
soon come to summon me."

"No, no, my dear one, they will not come to lead you to death. They will
not kill you. I bring you life! I bring you pardon!"

"Pardon!" he cried, almost shrieked. "Pardon! But from whom?"

"Pardon from your sovereign and master, from the Emperor Francis!"

"God be praised. I can accept it from _him_," cried Kolbielsky jubilantly.
"So I am free? Speak, dearest, I am free?"

She shook her head slowly and sadly. "I have been able only to save you
from death," she said mournfully. "I have been able only to obtain your
life, but alas! not your liberty."

"Then I remain a prisoner?"

"Yes, a prisoner."

"For how long?"

"For life," she murmured in a voice barely audible.

But Kolbielsky--laughed.

"For life! That means--so long as Napoleon lives and is powerful. But he
will die; he will fall, and then my emperor will release me; then I shall
belong to life, to the world; then I shall again be yours! I will accept my
emperor's pardon, for it is you who bring it to me--you have obtained it.
You say so, and I know it. You hastened to Totis, you threw yourself at the
emperor's feet, pleaded for mercy, and he could not resist your fiery zeal,
your bewitching personality. But how did you know that I was arrested? Who
told you that I was Baron von Moudenfels?"

"My uncle," she replied with downcast eyes, "my uncle brought me the
tidings; he to