A Servant of Satan: Romantic Career of Prado the Assassin — page 31: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

A SERVANT OF SATAN, — | 23 sight of the prostrate figure of his commanding officer re- called the young lieutenant to his senses, and he realized in a moment the terrible consequences of his act. Visions of court-martial, life-long incarceration in a fortress, or even death, flashed like lightning through his brain and, rushing from the room, he hastened to his stables. Hastily saddling the fleetest of the three horses which he had brought from Berlin, he galloped at break-neck speed to the nearest point of the frontier, ‘and within an hour after the incident was out of German territary, and for the mo- ment, at any rate, safe from pursuit. ‘Four hours after passing the border line he rode into the Austrian town of Cracow, and alighted at the Hotel de Saxe. Having but little money about him at the moment of his flight, he | disposed of his horse to the innkeeper, and with the pro- ceeds of the sale purchased an outfit of civilian clothes in lieu of his uniform, and a ticket to Naples, where his father was spending the winter. Before his departure for Cracow, Frederick posted a letter to Rose instructing her to lose no time in leaving the neigh- bourhood of Biala and to proceed to Berlin, where she was - to remain until he wrote to her from Naples. His object in proceeding to the latter place was easy to understand. He knew that the general was the only man who possessed sufficient influence in the highest quarters to venture to intercede on his behalf, and although he was ac- quainted with his father’s strict ideas on all questions per- taining to military discipline, yet he retained a faint hope that parental affection would overpower the former and would induce him to regard, with a certain amount of indulgence, his eldest son’s conduct. More- over, Frederick was at the time in great financial difficulties. The debts which he had contracted before leaving Berlin were enormous. His appeal to the trustees of the fortune left to him by his mother for an increase of his allowance, EcoOmicbooks.com |