Page:Stories after Nature.pdf/41

Rh Thy fault is great; but thou hast been so long my brother and fellow counsellor in the ways of honesty, that I cannot stop thy breath. What you have done in our affairs has been done with a full heart; and what you now feel, I am well assured, is felt with a full heart—that is, that you have lost your honour, and the blessed hope of bestowing liberty to your fellow men. What you did was through the infatuation of that bad woman: it was weak, and we cannot again trust you in our great cause. What are we to do with you?" Frederick immediately answered, saying, "There is but one thing to be done. We swore an oath, which oath was to be our judgment; and it sentences this traitor to death. Is it not merited? But for the aid of heaven, we had, through his treachery, been sacrificed to our enemies; and, for our blind confidence in his hollow faith, have died a death most beastly, under the steeds of our enemies. His life is forfeited to every soldier here—chiefly to you and me—and I demand it in all justice of you." Christian replied, "You have spoken the truth; but there is one thing greater than revenge, and hand-friend to our cause—it is mercy. Let him live: we can spare him and all who are traitors. His cause (which was his armour) and his power being gone, he is become