es. He was ready but
for his coat, when suddenly everything around him seemed to vanish into
endless distance. He felt loosed from time and space.

Mechanically he let himself slip into a chair, covering his face with
his hands and closing his eyes.

He thought of Hannah von Gropphusen. How beautiful she was! How
marvellously beautiful! He thought of that one look she had bestowed on
him; of the silent question spoken by her lovely shy eyes. He guessed
it to be: "Shall I really be happy once more? Dare I hope it? Is it
indeed you who will bring me happiness?" Out of an unfathomable abyss
of doubt and misery she appealed to him thus.

How unhappy was this woman! and how beautiful!

The door opened. Gaehler came in.

"What do you want?" demanded Reimers.

"Beg pardon, sir," stammered the fellow, "I thought you were ready."

He held in his hand his master's cap and sabre.

"All right, give them to me!"

The lieutenant quickly completed his toilet, and hurried away to
Waisenhaus Strasse.

His passion for Frau von Gropphusen increased day by day. He took no
pains to combat it. True, his beloved was the wife of another, of a
brother-officer; but he did not even in thought desire to draw nearer
to her, and, should ever the temptation arise, he believed himself
strong enough to resist it.

Indeed, no words passed between them that might not have been overheard
by a third party. At their meeting and parting there was no meaning
pressure of the hand; only their glances betrayed the secret
understanding of a mighty, burning love: the deep sorrow of the one,
and the sweet, tender consolation of the other.

Needless to say, the gossips of the garrison were soon busy over such a
welcome morsel. Since the Gropphusen's flirtation with Major Schrader a
winter ago, she had furnished no cause of scandal. All the busier now
were the evil tongues.

It was not long before the subalterns began to make more or less
pointed remarks, half jestingly, to Reimers.

Little Dr. von Froeben shook his finger at him, and let fly a solitary
shaft: "Aye, aye, still waters run deep!" he said.

Landsberg actually congratulated him. "Happy you!" he cried with mock
sorrow, "as for me----" And he proceeded crudely to extol the physical
charms of Frau von Gropphusen--"that rattling fine woman," as he called
her.

Reimers shut him up sharply.

These attacks ended by opening his eyes to the comparative jejuneness
of his own outlook on life.