"You cannot do such a thing! He is not
a soldier! They would not take him because he is too old! He is my
mother's servant! It would be barbarous to have him shot!"
Auersperg looked again at Julie, and smiled, but it was the slow, cold
smile of a master.
"You beg very prettily, Mademoiselle," he said.
She flushed, but stood firm.
"It would be murder," she said. "You cannot do it!"
"You know little of war. This man is a _franc tireur_, a civilian in
civilian's garb, fighting against us. It is our law that all such who
are caught be shot immediately."
"Your Highness," said von Arnheim, "I have reason to think that the
lady's story is correct. This man's daughter is her maid, and he is
obviously a servant of her house."
Auersperg turned his slow, heavy look upon the young Prussian, but John
noticed that von Arnheim met it without flinching, although Picard had
really fired upon the Germans. He surmised that von Arnheim was fully as
high-born as Auersperg, and perhaps more so. John knew that these things
counted for a lot in Germany, however ridiculous they might seem to a
democratic people. Nevertheless Auersperg spoke with irony:
"Your heart is overworking, von Arnheim," he said "Sometimes I fear that
it is too soft for a Prussian. Our Emperor and our Fatherland demand
that we shall turn hearts of steel to our enemies, and never spare them.
But it may be, my brave Wilhelm, that your sympathy is less for this
hulking peasant and more for the fair face of the lady whom he serves.
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