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Afterwards it occurred to him that he had intended to raise objections to the colonel with regard to Heppner's elevation to the rank of sergeant-major, but now that he had committed himself to the man this was no longer possible. He did just mention his doubts in the colloquy with Falkenhein, but he made no impression, and in the end the colonel himself covered the retreat.
Colonel von Falkenhein, on his big chestnut, was stationed near by. He had been watching the target through his field-glasses, and a scarcely audible exclamation had escaped him as he saw the splinters flying about through the smoke. Turning to the battery he called out a short "Bravo, gun-layer!" Wegstetten, who had dismounted near him, smiled.
She threw herself on the couch in her room just as she was, in her bicycling costume. She drew up the rug and wrapped herself in it. And Hannah Gropphusen lay thus till far into the night, staring with wide-open eyes into the darkness of the room. A few days later Marie Falkenhein came through the garden gate to Kläre Güntz's house.
"Your health, Falkenhein!" he said. "I look forward to having you by me at court." The appointment was gazetted after the manœuvres on October 1. There was certainly no officer in the regiment, even excepting Captain Güntz and Senior-lieutenant Reimers, who did not hear of Falkenhein's prospective departure with real regret.
Falkenhein rode slowly along the ranks, taking stock of everything with his sharp eyes; then he spoke: "Senior-lieutenant Güntz, be kind enough to continue!" It was a lucky day. Everything went like clockwork; there was not a hitch, not the smallest oversight. At the conclusion of the exercises the colonel ordered the officers and non-commissioned officers to come to him.
He had expected to find in Falkenhein an officer who would entirely dissipate all the doubts that Güntz had awakened in his mind; and now he discovered that this honoured superior also was filled with the gravest views as to the thoroughness and efficiency of the organisation of the German army. The more important of these conversations he noted down each evening in the following manner:
The major, from his private means, had doubled the sum to be spent on the funeral, A beautiful oak coffin therefore stood in the centre of the little chapel, covered with the wreaths sent by the battery comrades of the dead man, by Schrader on the part of the division, and by Falkenhein on that of the regiment. They were thick wreaths of laurel, adorned with simple ribbon bows.
The delight with which he now fastened the stars upon his epaulettes was little less than that with which, seven years earlier, he had attached the epaulettes themselves to his uniform, feeling himself the happiest man in the whole world. When Senior-lieutenant Reimers reported himself to the colonel, Falkenhein made him an unexpected proposition.
She came to the conclusion that she must appeal to the colonel, who at once agreed to her request that Güntz should be transferred, and Kläre was not a little proud of her success. In reality, however, she was only responsible for it in the very smallest degree. True, Falkenhein had heard her attentively, whereas he usually only listened to ladies out of pure courtesy.
He was reminded of it because a lieutenant belonging to the South-West African Defence Corps happened to call upon him at the practice-camp. I could only say that I had brought away with me from the Transvaal an unspeakable abhorrence of war. "Of war in general?" asked Falkenhein. "Yes, indeed," I answered; and then it suddenly struck me what a preposterous reply this was for an officer to make.
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