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 "No, I'll die first, you butcher!" I exclaimed, setting my teeth.

"Do your duty, Captain," said the inflexible old martinet.

"Count Benderoff, let me make another request," he said, daring even the General's displeasure in his reluctance to give the command.

"No; you shall butcher me here."

A moment of terrible strain followed, and then in the room without the sounds of some confusion were heard, and an exclamation of surprise from one or two of the men there. Quick, light steps fled across to the room where we stood.

"Shut that door," cried the General.

But the order was too late, and the Princess Christina came rushing in, her face deathly white with alarm at what she saw, while with the quickness of thought she placed herself between me and the soldiers who covered me with their muskets.