their ancestor. No other nobility do I desire, count."

"You would then be capable of refusing a count's title?" asked
Tottleben, in astonishment.

Gotzkowsky shrugged his shoulders. "If I had wished for nobility I
could long ago have bought a countship of the holy German empire, for
such things are for sale, and thirty thousand ducats is the
highest price for a count's title; and as for the orders, my own
ribbon-factory turns out the ribbons for them."

General Tottleben looked at him for a long time in mild astonishment.
"You are a wonderful man, and I wish I were like you. If I had thought
as you do, my life would have been a less stormy one, and less tossed
by care and restlessness. I would have--"

The general was interrupted by the hasty entrance of the adjutant.
He was the bearer of dispatches brought by a courier who had just
arrived. The courier, he said, had ridden so hard, that his horse had
fallen dead on his arrival.

Tottleben tore open the dispatches and read them rapidly. His
countenance immediately lost its former expression of mildness and
gentleness. His German heart was silenced by the will of the Russian
general.

He seemed to forget Gotzkowsky's presence, and turning to his
adjutant, with proud military bearing, he said: "These dispatches
contain important and surprising information. They announce that the
Prussian army is drawing on in forced marches, with the king at
its head. We cannot give him battle here, and must, in consequence,
arrange for a rapid retreat from Berlin. Call all the generals and
staff-officers together. Let the alarm be sounded. In three hours
the whole army must have left the city. And, further, summon the Town
Council to the New Market, that we may take our leave, for we must not
leave Berlin as fugitives, but as conquerors, who are proceeding on
their march."

"And the poor editors who are to be flogged?" asked Gotzkowsky, when
the adjutant had left.

The general smiled, as he took Gotzkowsky amicably by the hand.
"We will hang them a little lower," said he, significantly. "Come,
accompany us to the market-place!"

NOTE.--Count von Tottleben expiated his clemency toward Berlin very
dearly. A few months later he was sent to Petersburg under arrest,
accused principally of having behaved too leniently and too much in
the German interest for a Russian general.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XIII.

THE EXECUTION.

The morning was c