ment.

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 assault 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 coarse
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 passion.

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