"Then I can congratulate you upon your marriage. But seriously, Herr Comrade, I ought to call you to account for your robbery of an artist from our midst. Please tell your wife that the whole city is in sackcloth and ashes over her loss."
"I will tell her, although I think the city has no time for such light sorrows now. Ah, there are the gentlemen! I hear Eugen"s voice."
There they were, true enough. They entered just as Willibald ceased speaking. Young Stahlberg greeted his friend with a joyous cry of surprise. They had not seen each other since the war began, though they were in the same army corps. Eugen"s arm was in a sling, otherwise he looked well and happy. He had none of his sister"s beauty, neither had he the strength and earnestness of expression which had been her legacy from their father. The son seemed, to judge from his appearance, of an amiable and yielding, rather than a strong nature; but notwithstanding all this he resembled his sister strongly, and that was the secret of Egon"s friendship for him. His companion was a handsome young officer, with keen, merry eyes, and as he stepped into the room the prince introduced him to Willibald.
"I need not fear a duel when I mention your names to one another," he said laughing. "You"ll have to meet some day. Herr von Eschenhagen--Herr von Walldorf."
"Bless me! I at least declare for peace!" cried Walldorf gaily. "Herr von Eschenhagen, I am rejoiced to know my future wife"s cousin, who got ahead of us at the altar. We, too, wanted a marriage from the saddle, but my future father-in-law a.s.sumed his fiercest look and declared: "First conquer, and then marry." Now we"ve been doing the former for the last five months, and when I go home again I"ll see to the latter."
He shook Toni"s cousin warmly by the hand, then turning to the prince, said:
"We have something here for you. Orderly from Rodeck, present yourself before his highness, Herr lieutenant, Prince Adelsberg."
Through the open door came a tall figure which Egon recognized as that of his old, gray-haired steward. He closed the door cautiously, and came forward into the room.
"Saints preserve us, it"s Peter Stadinger!" It was, indeed, old Peter who stood in front of his master. He was not unknown to the other officers, either, for they all greeted him with a shout.
"Well, we must have lights now, that your highness may have a good view of this old "ghost of the woods,"" cried Walldorf, as he lit two candles and placed them with comic gravity before the old man. Egon laughed as he said:
"You see, Stadinger, what a prominent personage you are, and how much I talk about you; now I"ll present you in all form; here, gentlemen, is Peter Stadinger, noted for his unfailing incivility and his everlasting moral lectures. He thinks that I need both to keep me in order and even here in the field he has followed me in order that he might keep up the friendly custom. I trust he pleases you, my masters--now you can let me go, Peter."
But instead of obeying this order, the old man held his two hands all the more firmly, while he said in a tone of deep emotion: "Ah, your highness, you cannot know how anxious we have been about you at Rodeck."
The prince answered him impatiently: "Indeed, and that"s why you have run away and left things at sixes and sevens at Rodeck, despite all my solemn charges? I had not thought you would be so neglectful of duty."
Stadinger looked at him quite puzzled.
"But I came on receipt of your letter telling me to do so. You wrote me to fetch Lois from the hospital, so I started at once. I saw the boy this morning, and found him as gay as he could be, but he can"t be moved for a week, the doctor said; then I am to take him home. What your highness, and Lois, and all the rest from Rodeck would have done if I had not stayed home to guard and control--G.o.d alone knows."
Egon drew his hand back impatiently.
"I am Herr Lieutenant here, and have no other t.i.tle but my military one, remember that! and here you are as meek as a lamb, when I counted on a fine sermon for the benefit of us all. Lois, gentlemen, is the grandson of this old growler, a fine, brave fellow, and he has a sister as sweet as a peach. But her grandfather sends her away regularly the minute I set foot in Rodeck. Why didn"t you bring Zena with you, and let her see a little of the world?"
The old man, notwithstanding his desire for peace, threw back his head at this interrogatory, and answered with all the old acerbity:
"I believed your highness had no time for folly now."
"You made a mistake then. We lead the wildest kind of a life in the army, and when I go home again--"
"Your highness has promised to marry," finished the steward in such an impressive manner that the officers all shouted. Egon joined in, but something was wanting in his merriment, and in his answer too.
"Yes, yes, I"ve promised that, sure enough, but I have many matters to settle in the meantime, I"ll keep my word in ten years, or perhaps in twenty--perhaps never!"
Stadinger listened to his highness"s words--not for worlds would he have obeyed the order to call him Herr lieutenant--and his face darkened.
"I almost thought as much, for when your highness really does plan for the future your plans don"t last twenty-four hours. Your blessed father married, and I married, and all men marry, and it"s the only way to cure you of your foolishness, and--"
"Now gentlemen, the sermon"s coming," laughed Egon good-naturedly. He was not far wrong, for Stadinger spoke his mind as usual, and to the point too, so that before he finished the officers felt he had the best of it against the prince. After half an hour"s chatter, Willibald and Eugen Stahlberg rose to go. As they bade good-night to the prince he said:
"You push on to-morrow, I hear?"
"Yes, we march to R---- at daybreak to meet Major General von Falkenried and his brigade. We"ll be some days on the way, I fancy, for the whole of this region is infested with the enemy, and our next move will depend upon theirs," answered Willibald.
"Then tell the general, Will, that I"ll be there at latest in a week,"
said Eugen. "It"s pretty bad to have to stay behind on account of a scratch that"s not worth talking about. In another week I"ll be all right. I don"t care what the doctor says, and I hope to join my regiment before you take R----."
"We"ll have to be active now," said Egon, "for resistance doesn"t continue long where General von Falkenried commands. He"s always first with his men and has been victorious beyond belief. It seems as if no difficulties were too great for him to surmount."
"He seems to stand at the head," answered Lieutenant Walldorf. "He may take R---- while we are lying here idle; perhaps he has taken it already. No news can reach us with the enemy between."
He rose to accompany his departing comrades a short distance, while the prince remained behind by the fire. He folded his arms and looked vacantly at the burning logs, but the expression of his face was not in accord with the gaiety he had exhibited before his friends. It was dark and gloomy, and all light and happiness seemed gone out of it. He had forgotten Stadinger"s presence until the latter gave a little cough, then he turned and said:
"Ah, you are there yet, are you? Tell Lois I asked for him, and that I will see him to-morrow some time. I"ll see you again, of course, for you"ll have to wait several days for him. You didn"t think we had such a fine time here, did you? No need to take life hard just because we may lose it any day."
The old man looked keenly at his master.
"Yes, the gentlemen were jolly enough, and you were the ring-leader, but--your highness is not gay now."
"I? What"s the matter now? Why shouldn"t I be gay?"
"I don"t know, but I see you are not happy," declared Stadinger. "When you were at Rodeck with Herr Rojanow you were quite different. As you stood looking into the fire just now I could see that something lay on your heart."
"Don"t bother me with your observations," exclaimed Egon impatiently.
"Do you think I should never have a serious thought, when it may be we go into battle to-morrow?"
Then he resumed his old position, and Stadinger, though silent, was unconvinced. He knew full well that something was the matter with his master, that it was no thought of battle which clouded his sunny face.
The door opened and Lieutenant Walldorf entered without closing it.
"Come in," he cried to some one behind him. "Here"s an orderly from the seventh regiment with some information. Come in, orderly!"
Walldorf repeated his invitation to enter in an impatient tone. The soldier who stood on the threshold of the door had hesitated, and made a movement to retreat into the darkness again. Now he obeyed; he remained close to the door, his face in the shadow.
"You come from the outpost yonder on chapel mountain?" questioned Walldorf.
"At your service, Herr lieutenant."
Egon, who had turned round indifferently when the soldier entered, started as he heard the voice. He took a hasty step forward, then halted suddenly, as if he remembered something, but his glance embraced the stranger with a look almost of horror. He was, as far as one could see in the semi-darkness, a tall young soldier wrapped in the coa.r.s.e mantle of the private, with a helmet over his closely cut black hair. He stood stiff and immovable, and gave his message minutely. His voice had a suppressed, almost suffocated tone.
"I come from Herr Captain Salfeld!" he announced. "We have seized a suspicious looking man, dressed as a peasant, but probably from the relief corps, who was sneaking into the fortress. There was some writing found on him."
"Come over closer," ordered Walldorf sharply. "I can"t hear you over there by the door."
The soldier obeyed at once, and stepped up to the officers. The firelight gleamed full upon the face, which was pallid, and on the tightly compressed lips, but not on the eyes, for they seemed fastened to the ground.
Egon"s hand seized the hilt of his sabre with convulsive grasp; it was all he could do not to cry out, while Stadinger stared at the man with wide open eyes.
"There was some writing found on him, but it was of no consequence, nor what he told by word of mouth either. Now the Herr Captain wants to know whether he shall send the prisoner here, or to headquarters, for he thinks there is more in the papers than meets the eye."