Jena or Sedan? Part 19

"I can only feel sorry for Frau von Gropphusen."

"And so do I. But I don't want her to hang on to you."

"She does not hang on to me," answered his wife simply.

But at this moment a subdued wailing was heard, and Klare instantly hastened from the room.

The men, left alone, dropped into reflection. Neither spoke for a while.

At last Reimers broke the silence.

"I think, Guntz, that you exaggerate a bit. Senseless and silly prejudices are not only to be found in military circles. Anyhow, there's no good in running your head against a brick wall."

"True," a.s.sented Guntz. "But if a dung-cart were driven right under my nose, I should have to give it a shove."

He resumed his perambulations of the room, and lapsed for a while into silence.

"Anyhow," he began again, smiling contentedly, "Frau Gropphusen may come to Klare for consolation if she likes to have her. I am sure my wife is proof against the hysterical bacillus. Eh?"

Before Reimers could answer, Klare returned, a little flushed. She bore the baby on a pillow, rocking him in her arms.

Guntz answered his own question.

"Yes, yes, she's proof," he said.

Reimers was thoroughly happy in the Guntzes' society. The atmosphere of security and candour in which they lived influenced him unawares; it wrought as a useful antidote when his spirit was inclined to soar too high into the realms of the unsubstantial. He was much delighted to find that his friend shared his admiration for his honoured and beloved Falkenhein. Indeed, in this matter, the dry and reserved man sometimes outdid his young fellow-officer.

"There's a _man_!" he would say. "Head and heart, eyes and mouth in the right places! A good fellow. In one word--a man!"

This word was the highest in Guntz's vocabulary. The opposite to it, until his marriage, had been woman. After marriage he naturally excepted Klare.

How sick he was of the way people went on in Berlin! He could hardly speak too strongly about the weaknesses of certain officers.

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 Guntz, "why should I not speak freely to you? Do you think it gives me any pleasure that so many of our superiors and comrades do not merit the respect which, as officers, they command?

This has nothing to do with their personal character. The only question for me is: are they fit for their profession? If not, they are only a nuisance in it, so far as I can see."

"You used to be less severe."

"Possibly. But when one has rubbed the sleepiness of habit out of one's eyes one sees more clearly and sharply. Besides, take an example.

Stuckhardt will be a major soon. Do you consider him fit to lead a division?"

"No, he has already made a terrible mess of his battery. He won't stay on the staff for a year, that's certain."

"Why should he be there at all? I tell you he should never even have been made a captain. What about Gropphusen?"

"Ah! There you are! He has missed his vocation!"

"Why is he still where he is then?" Guntz laughed grimly to himself.

"What ought he to have been?"

"A painter," answered Reimers.

The other made a grimace. "Possibly!----Well, thirdly, what of my revered chief, Captain Mohr? What do you think of him?"

"He has already got a knife at his throat. I bet he'll be sent off after the manuvres."

"He goes on drinking just as he has ever since I've known him." Guntz sighed deeply. "And I tell you, Reimers, it's no joke to serve under such a man."

Reimers nodded. "I feel with you, old man. And yet half the regiment envies you for being in the fifth battery."

"Pooh!" laughed Guntz bitterly, "there you see them. They would all like to idle under a sot. They just want to be where they think they're least looked after. They may do as they choose; but I want to know what I'm here for. If I have a profession I like to live up to it; I consider myself too good to be merely ornamental. I tell you, Reimers,"

he went on, "I was thoroughly upset when I joined the battery. The way things go on there you would hardly believe. I wondered at first how it could be kept dark. But there's a regular planned-out system of hurrying things into shape somehow for inspection--fixing up a sort of model village. And as for honour! Well, one must admit that they all stand by one another in the most infernal way, from the respected chief of the battery down to the smallest gunner, so that they'll rattle along somehow. There's a show of some sort of discipline; but really and truly it's just an all-round compromise. A man does a couple of days' work, and earns by that the right of idling all the more shamelessly afterwards. And that _I_ should be let in for this sort of thing! Dear boy, you know how few palpable results, naturally, an officer can show in time of peace; but still it's too much that one should do one's duty with no possible chance of any _kudos_. Old man, it's too bad! I can't stand it. I know this, that if it goes on I shall quit the service, dearly as I love it."

He glanced with deep sorrow at his dark green coat, and strode up and down the room.

"This is my only hope," he went on, with grim satisfaction, "that my beloved captain will soon succ.u.mb to D.T."

Reimers reflected. "You must allow that this battery's unfortunate condition is quite exceptional. Let me make a suggestion. Provoke Mohr to a quarrel! You'll be sure to be backed up. Every one knows he can't control himself when he is drunk. And you can go to Madelung, or, still better, come to us under Wegstetten."

"That's an idea," observed Guntz. "But it won't do. For, in confidence, Falkenhein has let it transpire that in the autumn I shall get my captaincy; and probably--indeed certainly--I shall succeed Mohr."

Reimers jumped up, delighted.

"But, dear old chap, then it's all right! You'll bring the fifth out of the mud. You're just the chap to do it! And your reward will be the greater in proportion to the wretched state of affairs now. Jerusalem!

What a splendid division it will be! Madelung, Guntz, Wegstetten! The best heads of batteries in the whole corps! Without any flattery, old chap!"

But the other did not join in his rejoicing. "Dear old fellow," he answered, "you may think so. But I confess that it seems to me as if we had got a bit off the right track with our whole military system; as if Madelung's and Wegstetten's and my own work were bound to be labour in vain."

He stopped suddenly. His usually cheerful face had grown careworn and gloomy.

"How do you mean?" asked Reimers.

The other sighed, and answered, "Dear boy, I cannot say more as yet; I have not fully thought it out. I will first make an attempt to settle down to the work here. I promise you, as soon as my own mind is clear, I will tell you honestly what is bothering me."

Reimers suspected moisture in the eyes of his friend, as they clasped hands.

Guntz went on softly: "Dear old boy, it's pretty hard when a man finds, or thinks he finds, that he has devoted his life to a fruitless, hopeless business! What is such a man to do? But it is possible that I am right in my fears--and of that I cannot bear to think."

"What fears do you mean?"

"I can't help myself. I am often forced to remember that we've had a bad time before."

"Before when?"

"Before Jena."