Now, Weber, why did you do
it?"
"Let me drop my hands, Mr. Scott, and I'll answer you," said Weber.
"It's difficult to argue a case in such a strained and awkward
position."
"Put them down, then, but remember that I'm watching you, and that I'm
willing to shoot. Now, go ahead. Why have you been such a persistent
enemy of Mademoiselle Lannes, her brother and myself? Why have you been
such a triple traitor?"
"Don't call me a traitor, because a traitor I am not. On the contrary I
am loyal with a loyalty of which you, John Scott, an American, know
nothing. I've called myself an Alsatian, but really I am not. I am an
Austrian. I was born on the Zillenstein estate of Prince Karl of
Auersperg. My family has served his for a thousand years. Great as I
hold Hapsburg and Hohenzollern, Auersperg means even more to me. The
Auerspergs are the very essence and spirit of that aristocracy and rule
of the very highborn, in which I believe and to which your country and
later the French have stood in the exact opposite. Every time that my
pulse beats within me it beats with the wish that you and all that you
stand for should fail."
John did not feel the slightest doubt of Weber's sincerity. The
increasing moonlight, falling in a silver flood across his face, showed
too clearly his earnestness. Yet that earnestness was not good to look
upon.
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