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That that is not the case with Reimers does not, I hope, escape the penetration of your excellent wife. That is my official view of the case; as to my personal feeling, which I give Frau Lischke in strict confidence: it is that I wish the devil would take all these everlasting balls and parties!
They also seemed in no way changed. Major Lischke and Captain von Wegstetten were still at loggerheads, Lischke blustering away in his loud voice, and Wegstetten assuming his most ironical expression. Captain Stuckardt was listening in a half-hearted way; he had quite recently been put on the list for promotion to the staff, and consequently wore a rather preoccupied look.
The colonel let him have his say out. Then he began, in his somewhat nervous, quick way: "My dear major, give my compliments to Frau Lischke, and tell her that young Reimers is preparing for an examination, so that she will understand his seclusion.
Frau Lischke laid the case before her husband, and begged him to ask instructions of the colonel. "H'm," answered the major, "I'll do it; but I don't care for the job. Falkenhein can be pretty sharp-tongued upon occasion." "Sharp-tongued?" retorted his wife. "My dearest, surely you are more than a match for him there! And there's another matter.
Then voices sounded from the mess-room: the high crowing tones of Wegstetten and the mellow bass of Major Lischke, The little captain was grumbling about the food. "No, no, major," he piped. "The mess-steward sets disgusting stuff before us, and that's the truth. Now, to-day beef and potato-soup? Pah! It was lean old cow, as tough as shoe-leather! And soup? hot water and Liebig!"
On one occasion, standing in the doorway of a ballroom, he had closed his ears so as to exclude all sound of the music, and then had seriously doubted the sanity of the men and women he saw madly jumping about. He felt almost ashamed afterwards when he had to ask the no longer youthful Frau Lischke for a dance; but the fat lady hung smiling on his arm, and did not spare him a single round.
The adjutant presented the other men according to their seniority in rank. First came the two majors. Lischke received a studiously polite greeting; Schrader was far more graciously treated was not the smart bachelor a notable waltzer at court balls?
For my part, Lischke, if Reimers had turned up at every dance of which your wife is patroness, or which she has helped to get up, I should have been surprised. There may be C.O.'s who think differently; for my own part, so long as I have the honour of commanding the regiment, such festivities shall only be obligatory on those youngsters whose manners need touching up.
"But, my dear Wegstetten," Lischke tried to appease him, "think of the difficulties of transport! A two-hours' drive, and we're not to run up the expenses!" Wegstetten's reply was lost in the passage. Reimers rose quickly from the bed. He was afraid that Frommelt might seek him out, and that he would have to invent some kind of excuse.
Marie von Falkenhein was secretly enraptured with Kläre Güntz and her "sweet baby"; while Kläre took to her heart the fair young girl who had so early lost a mother's love. From this time the social status of the former governess was completely changed. Frau Lischke invited that "delightful" Frau Güntz to her select coffee parties.
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