“Oh, a truce to this childish and feigned regret,” cried Wilhelm with rude impatience. “I pray you end the farce with less of verbiage and of pretended justice. You have his Majesty here a prisoner. You have, through my own folly, my neck at the mercy of your axe or your rope. There stands the executioner eager for his gruesome work. Finish that which you have already decided upon, and as sure as there is a God in heaven there will be quick retribution for the crimes committed in this loathsome dungeon.” The examiner deplored the introduction of heat into a discussion that required the most temperate judgment. “But be assured,” he said, “that the hurling of unfounded accusations against this honourable body will not in the least prejudice their members in dealing with your case.” “I know it,” said Wilhelm with a sneering laugh. “We have been informed that no such commission exists, that the document empowering you to take instant command of the Imperial troops rests in the hands of the wife of his Majesty the Emperor and is unsigned.” “If you know that, then why do you ask me so many questions about it?” “In the sincere hope that by the production of the document itself, you may be able to repudiate so serious an accusation. You admit then that you have acted without the shelter of a commission from his Majesty?” “I admit nothing.” The examiner looked up and down the row of silent figures as much as to say, “I have done my best; shall any further questions be put?” There being no response to this the examiner said, still without raising his voice: “There is a witness in this case, and I ask him to stand forward.” A hooded and cloaked figure approached the table. “Are you a member of the Fehmgerichte?” “I am.” “In good and honourable standing?” “In good and honourable standing.” “You swear by the order to which you belong that the evidence you give shall be truth without equivocation and without mental reservation?” “I swear it.” “Has the prisoner a commission signed by the Emperor empowering him to command the Imperial troops?” “He has not, and never has had such a commission. A document was made out and sent three times to his Majesty for signature; to-day it was returned for the third time unsigned.” “Prisoner, do you deny that statement?” “I neither deny nor affirm.” Wilhelm was well aware that his fate was decided upon. Even if he had appeared before a regularly constituted court of the Empire instead of at the bar of an underground secret association, the verdict must inevitably have gone against him, so long as the Emperor’s signature was not appended to the document which would have legalised his position.