Jena or Sedan? Part 43

The two trains started again at the same moment, and the reservists began to sing:

"Reservists they may rest, Reservists may rest, And if reservists rest may have.

Then may reservists rest."

Wolf kept his eyes fixed on the dusty floor of the compartment.

As the song died away in the distance, he lifted his head courageously.

The bright light of day gave him new confidence. Looked at from a truly enlightened standpoint, and regarded fully and clearly, his act had indeed been of the most excusable kind.

Perhaps in six months he would be free again.

A week later, Gunner Heinrich Wilhelm Wolf, of the Sixth Battery, 80th Regiment, Eastern Division Field Artillery, was condemned by the military tribunal of the 42nd Division, for actual bodily a.s.sault on a superior officer, to three years' imprisonment.

CHAPTER XII

Sergeant-Major Heppner married his sister-in-law[A] Ida very quietly during Christmas week. It was quite necessary, unless there was to be a christening before the wedding.

[Footnote A: Marriage with a deceased wife's sister is legal in Germany.--_Translator._]

The terrible death of his wife had somewhat chastened the coa.r.s.e recklessness of the man's bearing. Throughout the autumn and far into the winter he seemed entirely changed. He restrained himself, his harsh voice being seldom heard in the corridors of the barracks; and he attended scrupulously to his duties, so that the inner wheels of the battery ran smoothly in perfect order.

Captain von Wegstetten sometimes took himself to task. He could not but be pleased with his sergeant-major, and yet he could not quite overcome the antipathy he had hitherto felt for Heppner. The certain degree of intimacy that otherwise might be expected to arise from their common care of the new recruits appeared to him quite impossible. He could not bring himself to feel complete confidence in Heppner's uprightness.

The sergeant-major, however, was unaware of anything lacking in their relations; when he felt he had discharged his duty thoroughly his heart glowed with satisfaction, and he resolved never to fall back into his old follies.

He felt very awkward about his compulsory marriage; but happily no one seemed to think the worse of him for it. People considered it natural enough that a healthy young couple under one roof, with only a dying woman between them, should have been carried away by their pa.s.sion.

The peace which now reigned in his dwelling seemed to him something unwonted and delightful. He began to change his manner of life completely, and, instead of frequenting public-houses, spent his evenings cosily at home. In order to save fuel, Ida had made the kitchen more habitable; and the sergeant-major, luxuriously ensconced in Julie's armchair, would watch the fire glowing through the stove door, and Ida bustling about her household tasks. Then, before turning in, he had to go once more through the stables, between the ranks of sleeping horses, the stable-guard emerging from the darkness of some corner to make his report. The sharp frosty air of the nights, after the moist aromatic warmth of the stables, would make the sergeant-major shiver and draw his cloak closer around him. He would settle himself anew by the stove, watching his young wife, whose quick, clever hands were busy with baby-clothes; and at such moments, tired by an honest day's work, Heppner felt himself to be a thoroughly good fellow.

During the course of the summer, Albina Worzuba had been brought home as a bride by Deputy sergeant-major Heimert, to the Schumanns' old quarters next door.

The married life of the young pair began happily. Albina was br.i.m.m.i.n.g over with affection for her husband, and Heimert felt he could not show his wife too much attention.

Ere long Frau Heimert played a leading _role_ in the little world of the barracks. The wives of the non-commissioned officers listened more or less dubiously to the romantic tale of her origin, and envied her the all-powerful money at her disposal. For not only did she give one pure coffee from the bean,--no chicory mixture,--but she was also extremely fashionable in her attire, rustling about in silk-lined skirts, so that folk turned to look as she pa.s.sed them. The good women considered her gowns altogether too noticeable. And such undergarments as she possessed! Red and yellow silk chemises and drawers, trimmed with the finest lace. Such lovely jewellery, too! Yes, indeed, Frau Heimert must come of well-to-do people. That was obvious in everything belonging to her, her house, her clothes, her linen. Her expensive musk scent penetrated even into the men's quarters.

Albina accepted the honour paid her with the airs of a little queen.

She spared neither her good coffee nor her good nature; she wore her dresses, which she said came from one of the leading firms, with an easy grace. In reality, she bought them from an old "friend," part of whose business it was to be always in the latest Paris mode.

The non-coms.' wives envied Frau Heimert's taste, and tried to copy her manner and deportment. Only the fair-haired little Berlin seamstress, Frieda, Sergeant Wiegandt's sweetheart, found fault with her. Once at the non-commissioned officers' summer fete, that young person--who, by-the-by, was almost suspected of being a red-hot little social-democrat--saw Albina, and had the courage to declare, "That creature?--Otto, she's a----no! I won't soil my mouth with the dirty word. But I know that sort of truck! In some matters you men are just as blind and as stupid as new-born kittens."

Seeing Albina surrounded by lieutenants and non-coms., dancing first with one and then with another, Frieda grew quite excited.

"Otto," cried she, "if you dare to dance with that baggage, all is over between us. It's like flies buzzing about a sugar-cake."

Wiegandt had fully intended to dance the next dance with Frau Heimert; but he dutifully abandoned the idea, and conducted Frieda into a secluded little plantation, where other couples wandered lovingly entwined like themselves.

They chatted about the future, which now lay plain before them.

Wiegandt had not again signed on, and by the following autumn he would have a good position in the town-police, with thirteen hundred marks a year, free quarters, and a hundred and twenty marks allowance for clothes. The burgo-master of the little town, being a senior-lieutenant of the reserve, had been present at the performance of some exercises by the sixth battery, and had personally chosen out his man. Wegstetten was furious at losing his best non-commissioned officer, and pressed Wiegandt to stick to the flag; but the sergeant was not to be prevailed upon, for he was impatient now to quit the service. With such a n.o.ble competency in view, therefore, he might well venture on marriage.

"All right, even when the children come," he whispered to his sweetheart; and Frieda nodded sagaciously, whispering back: "They'll come, sure enough!"

Albina Heimert never noticed that such a humble and inconspicuous little person gave her the go-by. As the wife of the deputy sergeant-major, she felt herself at last on firm solid ground. She carried her head high in the barrack-yard, and ordered her house with a fine matronly dignity.

She met the admiring glances of her neighbours, even if only prompted by some matter of domestic economy, with an indescribable little smile.

No word might be spoken, but it would be quite evident that she was gratified by the admiration. It was Venus triumphing over Mars.

The person who was least affected by the beautiful Frau Heimert's charms was, curiously enough, Sergeant Heppner. Once, when Albina chanced to meet him in the corridor, she said: "When I first met you, Herr Heppner--you remember that day at Grundmann's--you were perfectly different--ever so much smarter and livelier! Really, I almost think you must be ageing, Herr Heppner!" And she burst into a shrill, affected laugh, which rang rather unpleasantly in his ears.

As Heppner sat in his armchair by the stove he contrasted his pretty, healthy, buxom Ida with the woman next door, and would be seized with a veritable horror of the all-pervasive odour of the scent she used.

He would make a disdainful grimace when Albina, in a huge hat, rustled past him, and would greet her carelessly, almost discourteously.

But with the spring the old spirit of restlessness possessed the sergeant-major.

Ida was expecting her confinement in May, and had no thoughts but for the child. Heppner began to marvel at himself for having been so domestic all the winter. Surely his limbs must have been benumbed and this brain addled! He really must rouse himself now and get a few new ideas into his head. So he easily slipped back into his old wild ways of life, and could less and less understand how he had come to live otherwise during so many months.

His former boon-companions welcomed him back joyfully, and it was not long before he was once more at cards with them. The promise he had given to Trautvetter he should construe after his own views; he would be careful to keep within bounds, under all circ.u.mstances.

It happened, nevertheless, that he lost at times; and to meet such little reverses he was obliged to borrow from the battery cash-box, for Ida kept a tight hand on the purse-strings, and he could not bring himself to cut down her housekeeping money. Of course, to balance these bad days there were runs of good luck, when he had a considerable surplus; but, like a true gambler, he did not set his winnings against his losses, considering them as so much pure gain, which enabled him to indulge in extravagances. He made new holes in order to stop up the old ones.

About this time Frau Albina Heimert spoke to him again one day.

"Thank heaven!" she said. "You seem to have roused up a bit, Herr Heppner! I quite began to fear you were becoming a hopeless rustic."

The sergeant-major watched her thoughtfully as, with her provoking little air, she disappeared into her own quarters.

The devil! How utterly absurd! He had actually positively disliked this beautiful creature all the winter! He was astonished at his own bad taste. Before him stood his wife on the kitchen hearth, her figure rendered shapeless by her advanced state of pregnancy. And he had once thought her prettier than Albina!

From this time he began to show Frau Heimert small attentions. He would walk with her if they met in the barrack-yard, would carry her parcels, or stand aside politely to let her precede him up the stairs, and then open the door for her. He would inquire earnestly after her health; and once, when she complained of a headache, he brought her all sorts of remedies, besides enjoining the men to be very quiet and to tread softly as they pa.s.sed her door.

But Albina played the prude. She received the sergeant-major's attentions very coolly, and cut short his conversational efforts so as to excite him the more. At the same time her mockingly triumphant and provocative glances would contradict the virtuous compression of her lips.

Heppner did not at all despair. Un.o.btrusively he gradually multiplied the proofs of his gallantry; and by slow degrees the object of his attentions suffered her demeanour towards him to soften.

Suddenly Heimert noticed their intercourse, and, stirred by suspicious jealousy, tried hard to put a stop to it. But was that possible?

The deputy sergeant-major was often detained for hours at the exercise-ground half a mile away. Heppner, as sergeant-major, could order it so; and thus he and Albina could be together undisturbed as often and as long as they pleased.

Heimert would learn from the other men who had been on duty at the barracks what Heppner had been about during the morning. He always tried to find out stealthily and without exciting comment; but his comrades knew very well what was up, and enjoyed playing on the jealousy of the young husband.

At last the deputy sergeant-major hit on a curious plan. This was to bring the two together in his presence. He thought that if there really was a secret understanding between them they would betray themselves in a moment of thoughtlessness. So he invited Heppner to drop in now and then, in a neighbourly way, for a cigar and a bottle of beer.

The sergeant-major accepted. Once or twice he brought Ida with him; then, as the time for her lying-in approached, he came alone.