be heard again, as he wished to amplify his testimony. Sprezius blinked his eyelids peevishly and the public, who were just scrambling out of their seats, complained aloud. But Diederich had already stepped forward confidently, and had begun to speak in a clear voice. After mature consideration he had come to the conclusion, he said, that he could strengthen the substance of his evidence at the preliminary hearing. He repeated it, but in stronger and more detailed form. He began with the shooting of the workman and retailed the critical comments of Lauer and Heuteufel. The audience, oblivious of their desire to leave, followed the clash of opinions along the blood-stained Kaiser Wilhelmstrasse as far as the Ratskeller, watched the hostile ranks lining up for the decisive battle, and saw Diederich spring forward under the gothic chandelier with drawn sword, so to speak, and challenge the accused to mortal combat.
"Then, gentlemen, I will not deny it, I challenged him! Would he say the word with which I could convict him? He did, gentlemen, and I convicted him. In so doing I only fulfilled my duty, and I would do so again to-day, even though I should suffer greater social and financial losses than I have had to bear of late. Disinterested idealism, gentlemen, is the privilege of a German, and he will follow it unswervingly, even though his courage falter at times in the face of the multitude of his enemies. When I previously hesitated in my statement, it was not, as the examining judge so charitably assumed, because my memory was confused. I am not afraid to confess that it was because of a perhaps pardonable dread of the weight of the combat which I would have to undertake. But I am undertaking it, for none less than His Majesty our noble Emperor demands it of me. … Diederich went on fluently, with a swing to his phrases which took the breath away. Jadassohn discovered that the witness was beginning to anticipate the effect of his own peroration, and looked anxiously at the presiding judge. Sprezius, however, had no intention of
