tly fix him for the moment."

"You have met him possibly at Wiesman's, in the Pragerstrasse: he is one
of the attendants there," said the officer.

The American girl is Republican in her ideas, but she draws the line at
hairdressers. In theory it is absurd: the hairdresser is a man and a
brother: but we are none of us logical all the way. It made her mad, the
thought that she had been seen by all Dresden Society skating with a
hairdresser.

"Well," she said, "I do call that impudence. Why, they wouldn't do that
even in Chicago."

And she returned to where the hairdresser was illustrating to her friend
the Dutch roll, determined to explain to him, as politely as possible,
that although the free and enlightened Westerner has abolished social
distinctions, he has not yet abolished them to that extent.

Had he been a commonplace German hairdresser he would have understood
English, and all might have been easy. But to the "classy" German
hairdresser, English is not so necessary, and the American ladies had
reached, as regards their German, only the "improving" stage. In her
excitement she confused the subjunctive and the imperative, and told him
that he "might" go. He had no wish to go; he assured them--so they
gathered--that his intention was to devote the morning to their service.
He must have been a stupid man, but it is a type occasionally
encountered. Two pretty women had greeted his advances with apparent
delight. They were Americans, and the American girl was notoriously
unconventional. He knew himself to be a good-looking young fellow. It
did not occur to him that in expressing willingness to dispense with his
attendance they could be in earnest.

There was nothing for it, so it seemed to the girls, but to request the
assistance of the officer, who continued to skate round and round them at
a distance of about ten yards. So again the elder young lady, seizing
her opportunity, made appeal.

What the Soldier dared not do.

"I cannot," persisted the officer, who, having been looking forward to a
morning with two of the prettiest girls in Dresden, was also feeling mad.
"I dare not be seen speaking to a hairdresser. You must get rid of him."

"But we can't," said the girl. "We do not know enough German, and he
can't, or he won't, understand us. For goodness sake come and help us.
We'll be spending the whole morning with him if you don't."

The German officer said he was desolate. Steps woul