The large trunks of the beeches concealed the forms of the conspirators.

"When I command, we fire!" whispered Conrad.

So close were they now that the persons seated in the coach could be
recognized. The man sitting on the right was Napoleon. But who was the
young man with the fine but downcast face?

"Stop," whispered Alfred. "Do not shoot, brother! He is no Frenchman! He
is a German prince, the brother of the King of Prussia! We cannot fire!"

"No, we must not fire at the brother of the unfortunate King of
Prussia!" murmured Conrad, lowering his arm. As the carriage passed by,
the conspirators could distinctly hear the words of Napoleon and his
companion. "A fine, fragrant forest," said the former, in his sonorous
voice, "just the thing for German poets and dreamers. For I suppose,
prince, the Germans like to dream?"

"Sire," said Prince William, mournfully, "I believe your majesty has at
last disturbed them in their visionary musings."

Napoleon burst into laughter, which resounded through the forest, and
startled the pale men standing behind the trees, and gazing gloomily
after him. He chatted gayly beside Prince William, without suspecting
that he, the brother of the King of Prussia, whom Napoleon had humbled
so often and so grievously, had just saved his life.

"We have failed again," said Alfred, when the noise of the wheels was
dying away in the distance. "The last day is nearly gone. What shall we
reply to the brethren when they ask us how we have carried out the order
which our country sent us? What shall we reply when they call us to
account?"

"We shall tell them that Heaven refused to allow the sacred cause of
Germany to be desecrated by murder!" exclaimed Conrad, gravely; "that,
faithful to our obligation, although with reluctant hearts, we tried to
accomplish our mission, but that we were restrained and our strength was
paralyzed. You will tell them so, brother--you alone. Tell them that I
was not forgetful of the oath I took on the day I joined the league.
Having been unable to obey, I die! Farewell, brother!" A shot reechoed
in the silent forest.

Not long after, a man, with livid cheeks and wild eyes, might have been
seen hastening across the distant heath on the other side of the woods.
As he ran he whispered, "Unhappy Germany!" These were the last words of
his companion Conrad, who lay dead on the fallen leaves.

Two days after their return from Weimar, on the 10th of October, the
emperor