Leo groaned, and thought of the shame that he was about to bring the next night on his own good name and memory. "What do you want me to do?" he asked; "am I to go and humbly beg his pardon, and promise not to do it again?" "No, Fritzchen; but when he sends a second bearing his challenge to you, to-morrow, you ought to accept it and arrange the usual formalities." "And then?" "The rest, Fritzchen, will be your affair." "Look out!" cried Leo, in a threatening tone. "You know I never jest. My bullet never misses the mark at which I choose to aim. I have sent one man into eternity already--remember that." Then the pastor slowly rose to his feet, and with a solemn movement of his arms, he said-- "I am an old man, and I have not got much to look forward to. He is my first-born, my heart's delight, my hope. But I would a thousand times rather hand him over to you to do with him what you did with that other, than that he should continue to live despised and disgraced." Leo was shocked for a moment, but the next he felt a wild satisfaction that buoyed him up. Here was an old man coming to him--a murderer and would-be suicide--to beg him take his son's life. And he asked the favour over two foaming glasses of wine. Truly they were a well-assorted couple. The devil himself could not have matched them better. "Your health, old 'un!" he would have shouted again, but the words stuck in his throat. And the old man, who could scarcely stand on his legs, dragged his corpulent body ponderously round the table, and laid both hands on Leo's shoulders. Speaking down into his ear from over the back of his chair, he said-- "Think, my son, for how many years your training was in my hands. I taught you to fight for honour and right till the last drop of blood. You were a wild lad, and tyranny would have been dearer to you than justice. But my rod hung over you, and you were obliged to obey, however much you kicked against the pricks. And for that I claim your gratitude to-day." "You have my thanks," sneered Leo. "And if you want a testimonial here it is--you were a severe taskmaster." "No, Fritzchen; that I was not. For I was fond of you, and you were fond of me. Don't you remember that September evening when we went out into the meadows and climbed on to a haystack, and lay looking up at the clouds? Nothing happened, but all of a sudden you crept close to me and, laying your head quietly against my arm, began to sob. I think that you must remember it, for on that evening I became your friend. Then there was the day we went into the town to see 'William Tell.' In the night you came to me, and, sitting on the edge of the bed, took your solemn oath that you, too, would die for your Fatherland, for liberty." "Oh, my God!" groaned Leo, and buried his head in his hands.