d to him with a smile:

"All these things, General, will alleviate my chastisement and I thank
you for telling them to me. I regret that my misfortune will cause
others to shed tears which I did not expect, which I do not desire;
still, they will greatly ease my affliction. I am sure that you too, at
the bottom of your heart, forgive me and my poor family--you do forgive
us, General, do you not? Will you not even go further and protect that
poor old man who has now got nobody to stand by him?--will you not be
his protector if any danger, yes, any great danger should threaten him?"

The General pressed the young man's extended hand--the chains rattled on
the hand that he held in his.

"And now, General, may I speak to you of a very serious matter? Would
you be so good as to hear me out?"

"Say on."

"And you will not take what I am about to tell you as the mere ravings
of a disordered brain? Many men's brains grow disordered at the approach
of death I know; you will not imagine that I am simply delirious, will
you? You will believe that I am well and with all my wits, sound both in
heart and mind, will you not?"

The General nodded.

"First of all I would beg you not to postpone my execution for the usual
three days. Let it take place sooner. I do not ask this for my own sake.
I am as good as dead already, my time has run."

"Why do you make this request?"

"I will tell you presently. Then I would beg you not to conduct me
outside the town; the execution could take place just as well inside the
courtyard of the barracks."

"Very well, I will promise you that."

"And, finally, announce the execution for the afternoon and have it
carried out in the morning, early, at break of day, before anyone is
awake."

"What are your reasons for so extraordinary a request?"

"I will tell you, General. You know right well what terrifying rumours
have been circulating through the land in consequence of the
extraordinary, unprecedented epidemic now raging there. I had an
opportunity of discovering, involuntarily, the designs of sundry
malevolent persons who looked upon this terrible time as an excellent
occasion for carrying out their nefarious designs. The dregs of the
population have been roused to action, and only await the signal to pour
their ignorant, brutal herds all over the kingdom. This is no idle tale
I am telling you, General. I have heard their seditious mutterings, I
have read their letters, I have seen the