never expected it from
the first two, and such a decision from the fat brewer certainly showed
great devotion. But, in any case, their intentions were excellent, and
so they must have their way.

He himself would see to Vogt, who was again on duty, the wound on his
forehead covered with plaster; the gunner should ride on the box of his
own carnage. For he, as the officer commanding the battery, Reimers as
its lieutenant, and the sergeant-major, were, in a way, obliged to
attend the funeral. Besides these, Sergeant Wiegandt was to go with
them as representative of the other non-commissioned officers; while
head-quarters Colonel Falkenhein and Major Schrader had notified their
intention of being present with their adjutants.

At the end of one of the wings of the castle there was a small room
arranged as a chapel, and an enclosure which adjoined the park was used
as a graveyard.

A fine drizzle was falling, so the short service was held in the
chapel.

Nothing was lacking in the obsequies of the poor clerk. 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 white-haired widow of the keeper of the castle
had also picked all the flowers she could find still spared by autumn,
and had made wreaths of many-coloured asters and dahlias, with which
she had decorated the coffin, somewhat fantastically. While rummaging
in the attics, she had found in some corner a chest, forgotten for
perhaps a hundred years, full of old-fashioned moulded candles, and
with these she had filled two many-branched candelabra.

The pastor stood at the head of the coffin and began the service;
behind him the sexton had taken up his position with folded hands. On
either side sat the officers and men, holding their helmets on their
knees and looking on with serious countenances. The old woman knelt
crouching on a prie-dieu, and hid her face in her hands. When the
pastor had pronounced a final "Amen," the four gunners raised the
coffin on their shoulders and bore it to the little graveyard. The
sexton preceded the coffin, and behind it followed, in order, the
pastor, the two staff officers, Guentz and Reimers, the two adj