's pale
countenance, wild glaring eyes and disordered dress, it was evident
that he had not been in bed the preceding night, and the handles of a
pair of pistols were seen projecting from the bosom of his coat.

'Young man, what do you intend?' asked Rank. 'I have become your
friend, and cannot allow you to make yourself unhappy.'

'The injustice,' answered Arwed, 'which conducted Goertz to the
scaffold, has robbed me of all the happiness of my existence. Georgina
has rejected me and bidden an eternal farewell to Sweden. I will now
devote the rest of my miserable life to some useful purpose, and assume
the office of Nemesis. The judges who condemned the innocent, shall
answer it to me before the mouth of my pistol or the point of my sword,
and with their worthy president will I make a beginning!'

'Calm yourself,' said Rank. Count Ribbing cannot be called to account
by you.'

'He shall, he must!' cried Arwed, with flashing eyes. 'The wretch, by
signing the sentence, has declared that Goertz had lived dishonorably
and should therefore die ignominiously! It will be honor enough for him
to die as a cavalier by the hands of an honorable man!'

'He can no longer be held answerable to you,' repeated Rank. 'He is
dead!'

'Dead!' reiterated Arwed, shuddering.

'Even before the execution of Goertz, was he attacked by apoplexy,'
pursued Rank, 'and instantly expired. His death was for a time kept a
secret from the people, who might have drawn various sinister
conclusions from the occurrence, but I cannot understand how you could
have remained so long ignorant of it.'

'I have paid no attention to the news of the capital during the last
week,' answered Arwed in a low tone of voice. 'Dead! The executioner
gone before the victim! I am sorry for it. I will then seek the public
prosecutor, and thank him for the gratitude he evinced towards his
patron.'

'Would you contend with a cripple? Fehmann also has been smitten. He
now lies very low, and, if he ever recover, he will, nevertheless,
remain a maimed man the remainder of his life. The living body of the
wretched Hylten is daily consumed by worms, and doctor Molin has fallen
backwards from his seat and broken his neck.'

'And thus all the ringleaders escape me!' cried Arwed, stamping with
his foot. 'Stiernkrona is innocent, and the rest were little more than
miserable tools.'

'You see, my young friend,' said Rank, seizing Arwed's hand, 'that God
himself will fulfill th