The Sign Of Flame Part 56

"So? And you therefore took to your legs speedily and left everything to go topsy-turvy at Rodeck. I should not have thought you would neglect your duty like that!"

Stadinger looked at him in doubting perplexity.

"But I have come according to orders. Your Highness has written me to make haste and come and take Louis from the hospital--you would attend to the travel and everything. I arrived this noon, and found the lad as well as could be expected. The doctor thinks I can take him home with me in a week, for then all danger would be over. But the kindness Your Highness has shown to Louis and all the others from Rodeck who are in the army can never be told. May G.o.d reward you a thousand times!"

Egon withdrew his hand impatiently.

"It is 'Herr Lieutenant' now, remember that. I insist upon my military t.i.tle--and what does this mean, now that when I count upon your churlishness you are meek as a lamb and give us a pathetic scene!

I forbid it! This Louis, gentlemen, is a grandson of this old Waldgeist--a fine, brave fellow, but he has a sister who is much handsomer. I am sorry to say this senseless grandfather sends her away regularly when I go to Rodeck. Why did Lena not come along? You should have thought of bringing her."

This proved effective against the meekness and affection, which were as unusual as embarra.s.sing.

Stadinger drew himself up rigidly and replied with his usual terseness: "I believed Your Highness had no time here in the war to think about such foolishness."

"Aha, now it is coming!" said the Prince under his breath to Waldorf, who stood beside him, but aloud he continued: "That is where you are very much mistaken. A fellow gets uncivilized in the war, and when I return home again----"

"Then Your Highness has promised to get married at last," reminded the old man in the most emphatic tone, which called forth general laughter among the young officers. Egon joined it, but his laugh sounded forced, just as did his reply:

"Yes, yes; I have promised, but I have reconsidered the matter in the meantime. I may keep my word in ten years or perhaps in twenty, but no sooner."

Stadinger, who in spite of the command would not have used the t.i.tle of Lieutenant under any consideration, because that would be a humiliation to the ducal family in his eyes, flew into a high state of indignation and gave free vent to it.

"If I do not almost believe it! If Your Highness has really for once a sensible thought, it does not hold good for twenty-four hours--and your sacred father a married man, too! Man has to marry, anyhow, and all foolishness stops of its own accord after marriage."

"Now that he is in the run of it, gentlemen, let him moralize to you,"

cried Egon, and the young officers, to whom this was great fun, teased the poor Stadinger until he lost all respect and exhibited himself in the full halo of his admonitory nature.

Half an hour later Willibald and Eugene Stahlberg approached the Prince to take leave.

"You march on by to-morrow?" he asked.

"At daybreak. We march toward R----, where Major-General von Falkenried is stationed with his brigade, though it will take several days to reach there, for the whole country between here and the fortress is occupied by the enemy, and we have to clear our way."

"But tell the General, w.i.l.l.y, that I shall follow in at least a week,"

said Eugene. "It is bad enough that I have to remain behind so long on account of a shot wound not worth mentioning. Next week I shall report myself well, whatever the doctor may say, and after that I shall join my regiment without delay--I hope before the capture of R----"

"You must, indeed, make haste then," said Egon, "for resistance does not last long usually where General Falkenried stands; we have seen that often enough. He is always in front with his men always the first to storm a place, and has already won inconceivable things. It seems as if no impossibility exists for him."

"But he has the good luck to be always put in the front," grumbled Lieutenant Waldorf. "Now again he is to take R----, while we lie here, G.o.d knows how long. And he will take possession of it--there is no doubt of that--perhaps he has taken it already. News reaches us only by roundabout ways so long as the enemy stands between us."

He arose to escort the two gentlemen out, while the Prince remained behind.

Standing before the fire with folded arms, he gazed into it, and his face bore an expression not in accordance with the gayety which he had but now been showing. Seriously, yet gloomily, he looked into the dancing flames, and the shadow would not leave his usually sunny eyes.

He seemed to have forgotten the presence of Stadinger, but as the latter made himself heard by clearing his throat, he started.

"Ah, you are still here? Remember me to Louis and tell him I will come to see him again to-morrow. We don't have to say farewell yet, as you remain here for the present. You did not think we had such gay times here? Yes, one makes life easy as possible when one has to be ready every day to lose it."

The old man stood before his master and looked sharply into his eyes, then he spoke half aloud:

"Yes, the gentlemen were gay and Your Highness the gayest of all but you are not happy in spite of it."

"I? What do you mean? Why should I not be happy?"

"I don't know that, but still I see it," insisted Stadinger. "When Your Highness used to come from Furstenstein, or were up to all sorts of things with Herr Rojanow, you looked different and laughed different, and just now when you looked into the fire it seemed to me as if Your Highness had something very heavy upon your heart."

"Get away with all your observations!" cried Egon, to whom his old Waldgeist was again becoming uncomfortable. "Do you suppose we are always jolly? I should say that when one has the b.l.o.o.d.y battlefield always before the mind, earnest thoughts come near."

Nothing could be said to that, and Stadinger remained silent, but he could not be deceived. He knew quite well that something was wrong with his young master, and that something was hidden behind this ostensibly exhibited gayety.

CHAPTER LIV.

Lieutenant Waldorf re-entered the room, but left the door open. "Come right in here," he called to the man hesitating outside. "Here is an orderly from the Seventh Regiment with a report. Well, don't you hear, orderly? Come in!"

The repet.i.tion of the order sounded very impatient. The soldier who stood upon the threshold hesitated there, and had even made a start back, as if he wished to return to the darkness outside. He now obeyed, but kept close to the door, so that his face remained in the dusk.

"Do you come from the outposts at the Capellenberg?" asked Waldorf.

"At your command, Herr Lieutenant."

Egon, who had turned indifferently, started at the sound of that voice.

He made a hasty step forward, then stopped as if suddenly recollecting himself, but his eyes were fixed with an almost terrified expression upon the speaker.

As far as could be discerned in the semi-darkness he was a tall young fellow in the coa.r.s.e cloak of the common soldier, with helmet upon his closely-cut hair. He stood there, rigidly immovable, and delivered his report correctly, but his voice had a peculiarly choked, hollow sound.

"From Captain Salfeld," he reported. "We have seized a suspicious character, dressed as a peasant, but probably from the French reserve, who tried to steal into the fortress. What writings he had with him----"

"Do come nearer," commanded Waldorf, impatiently. "We cannot half understand you."

The soldier obeyed, drawing near to the officers. The light now fell full and sharp upon his features, but his face bore an ashy paleness; the teeth were tightly closed, and the eyes were fastened to the floor.

Egon's hand clutched the hilt of his sabre convulsively, and only by an effort he suppressed the stormy exclamation which was forced to his lips, while Stadinger, with wide-open eyes, glared at the man, who now continued: "The writings which he had with him were not of much account, but contained hints which he was probably to fill out verbally. The Captain thinks that if he were strictly examined, more could be learned, and asks now whether he shall send the prisoner here or to headquarters."

The report was neither surprising nor unusual. It often happened that suspicious people were seized. The enemy's reserve tried obstinately to obtain connection with the fortress; perhaps they kept it up in spite of all the watchfulness of the besiegers: but Prince Adelsberg seemed to have to struggle for breath before he could give the answer.

"I beg the Captain to send the prisoner here. We shall be relieved in two hours and then we march straight to headquarters. I shall attend to the fellow."

"I hope he can be made to speak when he is seriously pressed," remarked Waldorf. "He would not be the first whose heart had fallen when his position became clear to him. Well, we shall see."

The soldier stood there awaiting his dismissal; not a muscle quivered in his face, but neither did he raise his eyes from the floor. Egon had now collected himself, and, retaining the a.s.sumed ignorance, he asked in the curt tone of the superior:

"Do you belong to the Seventh Regiment?"

"At your command, Herr Lieutenant."