ste your time. Your Excellency, I claim to be
substitute for Ferdinand Lind."

The tall soldier burst out laughing.

"What the devil is the matter with you, Calabressa; have you gone mad?"

For a second Calabressa stood silent; his eyes downcast; his fingers
working nervously with the cap he held in his hands.

"Your Excellency," he said, as if struggling to repress some emotion,
"it is a simple matter. I have been to see the beautiful child you speak
of; I addressed her, in the hall of the hotel; she turned away from me,
shuddering, as if I were a murderer--from me, who loves her more than I
love life. Oh, your Excellency, do not smile at it; it is not a girlish
caprice; she has a noble heart; it is not a little thing that would make
her cruel. I know what she thinks--that I have been the means of
procuring her father's death. Be it so. I will give her father his life
again. Take mine--what do I care?"

"Nonsense, nonsense, my Calabressa. The girl has bewitched you. One must
talk to her. Take your life in exchange for that of Lind? Pooh! We
cannot send good men after bad; you are too valuable to us; whereas he,
if he were released, could be of no more use at all. It is a generous
notion on your part, friend Calabressa, but it is quixotic; moreover,
impossible."

"You forget, Excellency, that I can claim it," said Calabressa, firmly.
"Under Article V. I can claim to be the substitute of Ferdinand Lind.
Your Excellency yourself has not the power to refuse me. I call upon you
to release Lind from the death-penalty: to-morrow I will take his place;
then you can send a message to--to Natalie Berezolyi's daughter, that,
if I have wronged her, I have made amends."

Von Zoesch grew more serious; he eyed Calabressa curiously. The elder
man stood there trembling a little with nervous excitement, but with a
firm look on his face: there was no doubt about his resolve.

"Friend Calabressa," said Von Zoesch, in a kindly way, "it seems as if
you had transferred your old love for Natalie Berezolyi to Natalie's
daughter, only with double intensity; but, you see, we must not allow
you to sacrifice yourself merely because a girl turns her heel on you.
It is not to be thought of. We cannot afford to lose you; besides, it is
monstrous that the innocent should suffer, and the guilty go free--"

"The articles of the Society, your Excellency--"

"That particular article, my Calabressa, was framed with a view to
encourage self-sacri