ol-practice ground, on which a few months
ago his duel with Lieutenant Landsberg had taken place. He thought less
of that episode itself than of the night before it, during which he had
written down his reasons for contemplating resignation.

To-day he felt himself enriched by a fresh argument.

Deuce take it! Was not this passion for similarity enough to madden
one? Must everything be tainted by this damned, regular, grinding
drill, this parade-march sort of principle? Must things everywhere run
smoothly and according to rule, just in order that the authorities
might be convinced of the excellence of the whole system?

So even the punishment-register should be carefully edited! No one must
lift his head above his fellows! It was really laughable. Teachers
might have bad pupils; but it seemed to be against the rules for the
captain of a battery to have bad soldiers in his troop!

Luckily for him, he happened to be in very favourable circumstances. He
had a colonel who stood up for him, and who could dare to express a
difference of opinion from his superior officer, because he himself
chanced to be in the good books of the king. So that this affair would
pass by all right and do nobody any harm. But what would have happened
if the colonel himself had felt uncertain of his position? Would he
have found the moral courage to oppose his influential superior, even
if only by a modest remonstrance? Would he not rather, for the sake of
his career, have said, merely: "Certainly, sir!"

And then the pressure would have gone on downwards; and among a hundred
captains there were certainly but few who, in the struggle between
their better knowledge and their future career, would remain true to
their convictions. Most of them would bring the punishment-register up
to the "desirable" regularity, and just do as best they could with the
bad elements in their batteries: the men who sneered at all discipline,
and whom nevertheless their captain dared not punish properly; who
spoilt the good soldiers, and increased the dislike of the reservists
for the service. Otherwise the punishment-register might exceed the
average demanded, and "that would cause unfavourable conclusions as to
the discipline of the battery and the capability of the captain."

Guentz rode slowly back along the grassy lane. He looked around him.
Yonder the white walls of the barracks gleamed in the sunshine; a fresh
wind gently shook the budding branches, and all ar