"Don"t deal in subterfuges, father," he said. "I am an upright, simple soldier, and don"t understand them."
"But, Felix, you needn"t be so headstrong. I mean well. As the Baron von Schranden never was an officer, there is no reason why you should concern yourself about him; and as Lieutenant Baumgart has proved a swindler, and a.s.sumed a false name, he is equally beneath your notice."
"That is true," said Felix, spreading honey on his bread and b.u.t.ter.
"As a matter of fact, I oughtn"t to do him the honour of challenging him."
Then a new idea seemed to occur to Felix. "If only," he added fiercely, "he could be stopped from ent.i.tling himself lieutenant. That"s what offends my sense of honour more than anything."
His old father seemed prepared with an answer to this remark.
"Why should he go on calling himself lieutenant?" he asked, grinning and whistling under his breath. "Only because his superior officers are kept in ignorance of the deception he has practised. If they had an inkling of it, they"d be down on him fast enough."
Felix understood. "You mean we ought----" he began.
"Of course we ought."
But Felix"s hypersensitive sense of honour again felt itself outraged.
"Remember that I am an officer, father," he exclaimed indignantly.
"Your proposal is in the highest degree insulting."
The host shrugged his shoulders. "Very well; if you don"t wish it, leave it alone," he said.
Then the honourable young man saw a way of escape.
"If only it could be done without a signature," he meditated aloud.
"That difficulty is easily overcome," responded the old man. "I have a scheme in my head. Let me draw it up. All you"ve got to do will be to sign your name with the others at the foot. Then it will be only one of many."
On the afternoon of the same day, the parish crier, Hoffmann, invited all the country"s defenders in the village to a.s.semble at the Black Eagle. It was the merest matter of form, a tribute to the importance of the business to be discussed, for they were certain to have turned up there of their own accord sooner or later without an invitation. The tables were soon full (Schranden had sent a contingent of thirty warriors to the War of Liberty); and when Herr Merckel saw gla.s.ses emptying to right and left of him, he stepped behind the bar, and exchanging glances with his son, rubbed his hands with satisfaction, and began the following harangue:--
"Dear fellow-burghers, I desire to speak a few words to you. You are all brave soldiers, and have fought in many a b.l.o.o.d.y battle for your Fatherland in its dire extremity. You must have often been thirsty in those days, and have longed for even a few drops of dirty ditch-water.
It"s only to your credit, then, that after the heat and burden of the war, you turn into the Black Eagle occasionally, for a good draught of pale ale. You have earned it honestly with the sweat of your brow. Your health, soldiers!"
He flourished the mug that he kept specially for occasions like the present, and then raised it to his mouth, holding it there till he had a.s.sured himself that no gla.s.s had been put down unemptied. Then making a sign to the barmaid, he wiped his lips energetically, and continued--
"I, as your Mayor and magistrate, could not accompany you to the seat of war, being obliged to remain and look after the wants of those who stayed at home." A murmur of approval came from the audience. "But I am a patriot like you; my warm heart beats true for the honour of the Fatherland, just as your hearts do, brave soldiers! Fill up, Amalie, you slow-coach! Herr Weichert is nearly expiring for thirst." Herr Weichert protested, but in vain; his gla.s.s was s.n.a.t.c.hed out of his hand. "And my bosom swells with pride when I look at my son, a gallant, upright soldier, whom the confidence of his comrades and the favour of his king promoted to the rank of officer. I speak for you all, I know, when I call three cheers for the joy of the village, the dutiful son, the good comrade, the brave soldier, and honourable officer, Lieutenant Merckel--Hip, hip, hurrah!"
The Schrandeners joined enthusiastically in the cheering, and Herr Merckel observed with satisfaction that several gla.s.ses had again become empty. To give Amalie time to fill up, he made an effective little pause, in which, in speechless emotion, he fell on his son"s breast: then he resumed the thread of his discourse.
"All the more painful is it, therefore, to see that the disgrace you, by your glorious deeds of arms, did your best to remove from our beloved and highly favoured village, now rests on it again, through the presence here of the son of the man who wrought it such dire mischief.
On the site of the fire he is now living with his father"s mistress.
I"ll not enter into details, but you know, my children, what that implies."
There was a significant laugh, which changed gradually into a sullen muttering.
"Yes, and what"s more, this immoral outlaw belongs to our glorious army. Under a false name he enlisted in its ranks, and raised himself to the position of officer. By lying, and cheating, and devilish craft, he succeeded in obtaining what you brave, honest fellows (with the exception of my son, of course) could not attain to. Will you tolerate this, you n.o.ble Schrandeners? Will you, I say, let a rascally cheat, the son of a traitor, continue to look down on you as his inferiors?
Was it for this that his gracious Majesty made you free men?
"The moment was a favourable one for drinking his gracious Majesty"s health, and Amalie, in obedience to a signal, began the filling-up process anew. Herr Merckel already felt he had cause to congratulate himself on the result of his stirring oration.
"No, brave Schrandeners," he went on, "such a scandal must not be tolerated! The army must be purged of this black spot; otherwise you will be ashamed, instead of proud, of calling yourselves Prussian soldiers."
"Kill him! kill him!" cried several voices at once.
"No, dear friends," he replied, with his unctuous smirk. "You mustn"t always be talking of killing. I, as your Mayor, cannot countenance that," shaking a warning fat forefinger at them; "but I can give you wiser counsel. The authorities, naturally, have no suspicion of who it is has been masquerading as Lieutenant Baumgart; last spring no one had time to inquire into birth certificates and such-like details. But now there will be leisure to investigate the case of a Prussian officer pa.s.sing under an a.s.sumed name. And the case presses for attention. Do you remember the story Johann Radtke related in this very room, the day he came over from Heide, when none of us had the slightest idea of what a savage kind of animal his celebrated hero, Lieutenant Baumgart, really was?
"He was interrupted by a laugh of pent-up hate and fury. It proceeded from his son Felix.
"He is said to have tramped home from France entirely alone, like a wandering journeyman. He had been wounded and taken prisoner, and all the rest of it. But mark my words, that signifies more than you think.
It means that he didn"t get his discharge--that he sneaked out of the service like a thief in the night, in the same straightforward manner as he entered it. And do you know what that is in good plain Prussian?
_Deserting_! It means he is a deserter."
A cry of jubilation arose, which Herr Merckel greeted with profound approval, for, according to his ripe experience, shouting rendered the throat dry. He let the applause therefore exhaust itself, and then went on.
"It is our sacred duty, as genuine patriots and intrepid soldiers, to open the eyes of his Highness the Commander-General to this young man"s true character. We owe it to our King, our Fatherland, above all, to ourselves. We"ll get him cashiered out of our brave army, degraded and ruined. What is done to him afterwards, whether he is shot or cast into prison, is a matter of indifference to us. We are not responsible for him."
At the mere suggestion of such a vengeance the Schrandeners were beside themselves, and almost howled with rage.
Herr Merckel drew a sheet of paper from his breast-pocket.
"I have drawn up a little statement, in which I have respectfully lodged a complaint to a Deputy-General of high standing and n.o.ble birth. If you"ll allow me, dear friends----"
He was in the act of unfolding the sheet when a still happier thought occurred to him.
"I could lay the doc.u.ment before you at once and ask you to sign it, but then it would be my composition, and not yours," he went on, beaming; "and I want every word well weighed and considered, and altered if needful. I therefore propose that a committee of five comrades be elected from amongst you, who shall withdraw with me and my son into the best parlour, where we can hold a quiet consultation over the wording of the address, while the rest of you remain here."
Then he gave the names of those he considered worthiest of filling this delicate office. They were five young men whom he knew to be lavish spendthrifts, and whom he expected to acquit themselves honourably in more senses than one. Half in envy, half in malice, his choice was agreed to.
The elected looked rather glum; then they knew what they had been let in for, but at the same time they were too flattered by the invitation to decline it.
Herr Merckel, with the air of solemnity he always considered due to any occasion on which the best parlour was brought into requisition, flung open the door, over which was inscribed the alluring caution, fraught with so much significance--"_Only Wine drunk here_."
With a somewhat nervous air the chosen committee entered the sanctum of gentility, awkwardly twirling their caps in their hands. The last to go in was the son of the house. At the door, Herr Merckel turned and called out in a loud impressive voice--
"Amalie, bring two bottles of Muscat for me and the Herr Lieutenant!"
Muscat was a wine made at home, from rum, sugar, cinnamon, currant juice, and a judicious quant.i.ty of water, and was sold to the Schrandeners for a thaler the bottle. Herr Merckel ordered two bottles, to demonstrate to his customers that he did not expect any of them to go shares in a bottle.
There was now a profound silence in the taproom. Its occupants gazed with serious excited faces at the closed door and then at each other.
Neither did any sound proceed from the reception room, where a dumb pitched battle was going on between the host and his guests. It was doubtful at one time who would come off victor. But a few minutes after the barmaid had hurried up from the cellar with the two freshly filled bottles, Herr Merckel tore open the door again, and shouted triumphantly--
"Amalie, five bottles more of Muscat!"
Tongues were loosened. The tension was over. As was generally the case, the customers had been mastered by the landlord. And soon the dull monotonous sound of reading aloud reached the ears of the listeners in the tap-room.