Manager.
The magistrate handed the inclosure to a clerk, who was a German. ``Read it aloud,'' he said. And the clerk, after a few moments' preparation, slowly read in English:
To the Public:
Before oblivion swallows me--one second, I beg!
I have sinned, but I have expiated. I have lived bravely, fighting adversity and the malice which my superior gifts from nature provoked. I can live no longer with dignity. So, proud and fearless to the last, I accept defeat and pass out.
I forgive my friends. I forget my enemies.
Exit Carl Feuerstein, soldier of fortune, man of the world. A sensitive heart that was crushed by the cruelty of men and the kindness of women has ceased to beat.
CARL FEUERSTEIN.
P. S. DEAR. MR. KONIGSMARCK-- Please send a copy of the above to the newspapers, English as well as German. C. F.
The magistrate beamed his kindliest upon Hilda. ``The charge against you is absurd. Your arrest was a crime. You are free.''
Hilda put her hand on Otto's arm. ``Let us go,'' she murmured wearily.
As they went up the aisle hand in hand the crowd stood and cheered again and again; the magistrate did not touch his gavel--he was nodding vigorous approval. Hilda held Otto's hand more closely and looked all round. And her face was bright indeed.
Thus the shadow of Mr. Feuerstein-- of vanity and false emotion, of pose and pretense, passed from her life. Straight and serene before her lay the pathway of ``work and love and home.''