"I'm going to ask you, Regina," he began, "to answer very briefly, and to the point, several questions!" She started, then whispered, "Yes, _Herr_." "Drink, and that will make you more talkative." She struggled to do as he desired, but to-day the effect the wine had upon her was to make her more nervous and reserved, instead of less so. "To go back to the night in which you led the French across the Cats' Bridge. Was there any one on the premises who knew of the expedition?" "No, _Herr_." "How did it get wind in the village then?" She cast down her eyes. "I believe through me, _Herr_," she stammered. "To whom did you confide the information?" "To my father." "How, and when?" "He used to come to the Castle secretly from time to time to get money from me, and if I hadn't any to give him he pinched and beat me." "Why did you not call out for help?" "Because it was at night, _Herr_; and if he had been found there they would have flogged him." "Go on." "And so he came soon after ... after the expedition, I mean ... and asked me to do all sorts of things. I was to get money from the _gnädiger Herr_ ... or to turn out his pockets when no one was looking; and to be left in peace, I fetched the bag the French General had given me. And when he saw the moonlight shine on the coin that was in it, he was half mad----" She paused abruptly. "Well?" "Must I say it, _Herr_?" "Of course you must." "But he _is_ my father, _Herr_." "You are to do as I command you." She drew a deep sigh and went on. "And he caught hold of me by the throat with one hand, and beat me with the other, and hissed in my ear: 'Unless you confess how you came by all that money, I'll squeeze the life out of you----' And when I could hardly breathe, I----" He laughed harshly to himself. _His_ father and _her_ father--both had resorted to the same chivalrous measures. Regina thought the laugh was at her expense. "Ah, _Herr_," she went on with an imploring upward glance, "I was so dreadfully stupid then. Even a fortnight later, when they cross-examined me, they could have strangled me before they would have got anything out of me. But then--I suppose it was because he was my father----" "Oh yes, I understand. You told tales out of school to your father. Well, what else?" "The very same night my conscience pricked me, and in the morning when I took the _gnädiger Herr_ his coffee--he would always have me take it--I told him all." "And what did he say?"