noon
I believe it was out of a spirit of defiance that I flung away the watch , and only kept half the money . I wished to be taken for a personal enemy of the murdered man , but not for one who had robbed him . `` I now fled deeper into the wood , which I knew extended four German miles to the north , and there touched the border of the country . Till noon I ran breathless . The rapidity of my flight had dissipated the anguish of my conscience , but the return of that anguish was frightful , when my strength more and more declined . A thousand hideous forms passed before me , and struck into my heart , like sharp knives . Between a life filled with an increasing terror of death , and a violent end , the awful choice was now left me -- and choose I must .