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Suddenly there came over Reimers an irresistible desire to stretch himself out in the hay and rest there for a little. Without further thought he dismounted, pushed some hay to the mare with his foot, passed the bridle round the trunk of a pine that stood solitary at the edge of the field, and threw himself down on the soft grass.
In a few moments the table was covered with a clean cloth, with knife, fork, and spoon neatly in place; and it was certainly not the rough maid down below in the simple kitchen to whom it had occurred to decorate the dish so prettily with parsley and radishes. The meal looked far more appetising than usual, and this was Gähler's work. "Where did you get the radishes from?" Reimers asked.
Feeling this, Reimers played more easily and surely than of old, and consequently had greater leisure to remark what he had formerly been indifferent to the beauty and grace of his opponent. Meeting her during the winter in society, when she was as though bowed down by her secret sorrow, and took little part in the gay life around her, he had thought her looking older.
Reimers," he said, once more shaking the lieutenant's hand; "and it looks as if the improvement would be permanent, considering the test to which your health has been put." "It was rather va banque, sir," replied the lieutenant. "Either all or nothing."
My daughter also thanks you very much for your kind message; and I was to give you her kind remembrances, and to thank you heartily for taking such excellent care of her old papa." Reimers thanked him in a low voice. "It is wonderful," continued Falkenhein pleasantly, "what a change a little creature like that girlie of mine can make in one's home.
It was borne in upon him that he was a mere caricature of an officer, such as he had hitherto despised; perhaps but a more thoughtful, melancholy variation from the whole brainless type. But what had he to look for in the world beside? Next morning Senior-lieutenant Frommelt, the temporary commander of the second battery, came to Reimers in a hurry.
They must, like every other nation, look to a strong army as their safeguard. But then came the crushing thought: that army was no longer the same that had in one famous struggle forced the whole world to unwilling admiration. Reimers took a mournful farewell of the beloved heroes of that mighty epoch.
Most of the officers were perfectly exhausted with standing about and running hither and thither; and directly the meal was over they retired to their rooms to get half an hour's nap before their evening duty. Reimers left the camp by the back gate and went slowly along the edge of the forest towards the butts.
After Reimers had presented the challenge to Landsberg, he made all the necessary arrangements to act as his friend's second. He whispered the time and the place to Güntz while at the table in the orderly-room signing despatches. The senior-lieutenant nodded curtly, and answered: "Right; I'll speak to you later."
Reimers did not hold it necessary to be absolutely blind to the faults of one's superiors and comrades; still, he thought that his friend went a bit too far in his strictures, and he did not conceal his opinion. "Dear boy," responded Güntz, "why should I not speak freely to you?
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