mind; and so well did his routine drudgery
enable him to bear them, that when he heard from General Schoneck that
the term of his degradation was to continue in Italy, and from his sister
that General Pierson refused to speak of him or hear of him until he had
regained his gold shoulder-strap, he revolted her with an ejaculation of
gladness, and swore brutally that he desired to have no advancement;
nothing but sleep and drill; and, he added conscientiously, Havannah
cigars. "He has grown to be like a common soldier," Adela said to herself
with an amazed contemplation of the family tie. Still, she worked on his
behalf, having, as every woman has, too strong an instinct as to what is
natural to us to believe completely in any eccentric assertion. She
carried the tale of his grief and trials and his romantic devotion to the
Imperial flag, daily to Countess Lena; persisting, though she could not
win a responsive look from Lena's face.

One day on the review-ground, Wilfrid beheld Prince Radocky bending from
his saddle in conversation with Weisspriess. The prince galloped up to
General Pierson, and stretched his hand to where Wilfrid was posted as
marker to a wheeling column, kept the hand stretched out, and spoke
furiously, and followed the General till he was ordered to head his
regiment. Wilfrid began to hug his musket less desperately. Little
presents--feminine he knew by the perfumes floating round them,--gloves
and cigars, fine handkerchiefs, and silks for wear, came to his barracks.
He pretended to accuse his sister of sending them. She in honest delight
accused Lena. Lena then accused herself of not having done so.

It was winter: Vittoria had been seen in Milan. Both Lena and Wilfrid
spontaneously guessed her to be the guilty one. He made a funeral pyre of
the gifts and gave his sister the ashes, supposing that she had guessed
with the same spirited intuition. It suited Adela to relate this lover's
performance to Lena. "He did well!" Lena said, and kissed Adela for the
first time. Adela was the bearer of friendly messages to the poor private
in the ranks. From her and from little Jenna, Wilfrid heard that he was
unforgotten by Countess Lena, and new hopes mingled with gratitude caused
him to regard his situation seriously. He confessed to his sister that
the filthy fellows, his comrades, were all but too much for him, and
asked her to kiss him, that he might feel he was not one of them. But he
would not send a mes