You first of all betrayed the wife of one of the most influential noblemen of a State allied to my own, and then, in the duel that followed, you slew him." "It was an accident, your Majesty," Dominey pleaded.

"I had no intention of even wounding the Prince." The Kaiser frowned.

All manner of excuses were loathsome to him.
"The accident should have happened the other way," he rejoined sharply.
"I should have lost a valuable servant, but it was your life which was forfeit, and not his.

Still, they tell me that your work in Africa was well and thoroughly done.

I give you this one great chance of rehabilitation.