rd it was he who poisoned me. From him come these
fearful tortures which are burning now like the flames of hell."

"Gracious sir, oh, my dear sir!" cried Dietrich now, coming up to the bed
and kneeling beside it, "I beseech you, take nothing from her. I have
heard all, and I tell you it is Schwarzenberg who sends this Jewess to
you. Trust her not, my beloved Prince, take none of her hellish mixtures!"

"Trust me," said Rebecca quietly. "If life is dear to you, if you hope in
the future, if you would take vengeance upon the man who is your real
murderer, whose mere tool my poor husband was, then accept the remedy
which I bring you!"

"Yes," cried the Electoral Prince, with countenance lighting up, "yes, I
will take it! Give me your remedy. Hush, Dietrich, hush! I will take it!"

"Praised be Jehovah! he will take it!" said she joyfully, drawing forth
from her bosom a little flask. "Before I give you the medicine, I have
something to say to you, Frederick William. As soon as you have taken it,
you will fall into a deep sleep, almost resembling death. If you are
disturbed in this, the efficacy of my cordial will be destroyed."

"Dietrich," said the Prince composedly, "you will take care that no one
disturbs my slumbers. I command you so to do!"

"I shall obey, most gracious sir," murmured Dietrich.

"When you awake after six hours," continued Rebecca, "you will experience
a feeling of ineffable comfort. Be not deluded by this, and attempt to
leave your couch. Rest is necessary for you, and you are then only on the
road to health. That you may be perfectly cured I must come again
to-morrow night, and once more administer the cordial. Mind that to-morrow
night, as at present, you be alone. No one must be with you but old
Dietrich. He is a trusty, affectionate servant, and I hope to God will
tell no one what he has seen and heard here, for I would be lost if he
should do so."

"I swear, in the presence of Almighty God, that I will keep silence," said
Dietrich solemnly.

"And now, enough of words!" cried she. "See, Dietrich, the pains begin
anew, and his features twitch convulsively. We must procure him relief."

She took a glass from the table and emptied into it half of the brown
liquid contained in her little flask. Then she bent over the Prince and
held the glass to his lips.

"Drink this," she said, with solemnity, "and may the Lord our God bless
the potion to you!"

The Prince drank in long draughts, emptyin