Paul was quivering with hatred, not so much a personal hatred aroused by the recollection of his own sufferings as a hatred made up of horror and contempt for the greatest criminal imaginable. And, despite his absolute resolve not to depart from the usual formulas and the rules of outward respect, he answered: "Let them untie me!" The Emperor started. It was the first time certainly that any one had spoken to him like that; and he exclaimed: "Why, you're forgetting that a word will be enough to have you shot! And you dare! Conditions! . . ." Paul remained silent. The Emperor strode up and down, with his hand on the hilt of his sword, which he dragged along the carpet. Twice he stopped and looked at Paul; and, when Paul did not move an eyelid, he resumed his march, with an increasing display of indignation. And, all of a sudden, he pressed the button of an electric bell: "Untie him!" he said to the men who hurried into the room. When released from his bonds, Paul rose up and stood like a soldier in the presence of his superior officer. The room was emptied once again. Then the Emperor went up to Paul and, leaving a table as a barrier between them, asked, still in a harsh voice: "Prince Conrad?" Paul answered: "Prince Conrad is not dead, sir; he is well." "Ah!" said the Kaiser, evidently relieved. And, still reluctant to come to the point, he continued: "That does not affect matters in so far as you are concerned. Assault . . . espionage . . . not to speak of the murder of one of my best servants. . . ." "Karl the spy, sir? I killed him in self-defense." "But you did kill him? Then for that murder and for the rest you shall be shot." "No, sir. Prince Conrad's life is security for mine." The Emperor shrugged his shoulders: "If Prince Conrad is alive he will be found." "No, sir, he will not be found." "There is not a place in Germany where my searching will fail to find him," he declared, striking the table with his fist. "Prince Conrad is not in Germany, sir." "Eh? What's that? Then where is he?" "In France." "In France!" "Yes, sir, in France, at the Château d'Ornequin, in the custody of my friends. If I am not back with them by six o'clock to-morrow evening, Prince Conrad will be handed over to the military authorities." The Emperor seemed to be choking, so much so that his anger suddenly collapsed and that he did not even seek to conceal the violence of the blow. All the humiliation, all the ridicule that would fall upon him and upon his dynasty and upon the empire if his son were a prisoner, the loud laughter that would ring through the whole world at the news, the assurance which the possession of such a hostage would give to the enemy; all this showed in his anxious look and in the stoop of his shoulders.