on; the sentence
being, for form sake, reserved for a later period. Occasionally it would
happen that some member of the court would interpose a few favorable
words, or endeavor to throw a pretext over the alleged crime; but these
cases were rare, and usually nothing was heard but the charge of the
accuser.

Having determined to make no defence, my whole effort was to accustom my
mind to the circumstances of my fate, and so steel my heart to bear up
manfully to the last. My offence was one never pardoned. This I well
knew, and it only remained for me to meet the penalty like a brave man.
Few, indeed, could quit the world with less ties to break,--few could
leave it with less to regret; and yet, such is the instinctive love of
life, and so powerful are the impulses to struggle against fate, that as
the time of my trial drew nigh, I would have dared any danger with the
hope of escape, and accepted any commutation of a sentence short of
death. I believe that this is a stage of agony to which all are exposed,
and that every criminal sentenced to the scaffold must pass through this
terrible period. In my case it was prolonged, my name being one of the
very last for trial; and already five weeks had gone over before I was
called. Even then a postponement took place, for the Emperor had arrived
on his way to Germany, and a great review of the garrison superseded all
other duties.

Never had all the pomp and circumstance of war seemed so grand and so
splendid to my eyes as when, through the grating of my prison-cell, I
strained my glances after the dense columns and the clanking
squadrons, as they passed. The gorgeous group of staff-officers and the
heavy-rolling artillery had all a significance and a meaning that they
had never possessed for me before. They seemed to shadow forth great
events for the future, portentous changes in time to come, gigantic
convulsions in the condition of the world, kingdoms rocking, and thrones
overturned. The shock of battle was, too, present to my eyes,--the din,
the crash, and the uproar of conflict, with all its terrors and all its
chivalry. What a glorious thing must life be to those about to enter on
such a career! How high must beat the hearts of all who joined in this
enthusiasm!

That day was to me like whole years of existence, filled with passages
of intensest excitement and moments of the very saddest depression. My
brain, hitherto calm and collected, struggled in vain against a who