The spring of 1878 came round, and brought with it two attempts on the life of the emperor within three weeks.

Scarcely had the people recovered from the horror caused by Hodel's crime when it was shaken to its depths by Nobiling's murderous shot.
On that terrible Sunday, June the 2d, Wilhelm had dined with Schrotter, and about three o'clock they started for a walk.

In the few steps that separate the Mittelstrasse from the Linden they saw what was going on in the town.

In Unter den Linden, however, they were received by the yells of the newspaper men calling out the first special editions, and found themselves in the stream of people pouring toward the Palace or to No.

18, where they pointed out the window on the second floor from which the too-well-aimed shot had fallen.
From the special editions, from the confused remarks and exclamations of the crowd in which the two friends found themselves, and the information they obtained from the grim-looking policemen, rougher and less communicative than ever, they learned all that was necessary of the bloody deed which had taken place an hour ago.