an assumed name?"

"Yes. Jack says there can be no question but that he is an educated
German officer who has had to quit the service there for some crime or
trouble. He came here just when I did, last December; and Jack says he
is the finest first sergeant he ever saw, though I believe the men don't
fancy him. He speaks French as well as he does English, and there is
apparently nothing he does not know about cavalry service."

"And how did he happen to be in the army?"

"I do not know; there was nothing else for him to do, I suppose. The old
first sergeant of the cavalry detachment here was discharged last fall,
and when a new one was needed, and there seemed to be no really good one
in the troop, Jack wrote to a recruiting officer in the city to send him
a first-class man. One day he got a letter saying that a young German
desired to enlist for cavalry service who was evidently a thorough
soldier, and that there was some mystery about him. He was dressed like
a gentleman, but had not a cent of money, and claimed to have arrived
only within three days from the old country. Next day the man himself
came here. Jack had told me nothing about the letter. The servant said
there was a gentleman in the parlor wanted to see the captain. Jack was
away at the riding-hall, and I went into the parlor, and there stood
this tall, fine-looking fellow. I thought, of course, he must be some
officer on leave,--some one whom Jack knew. It was a little dark,--one
of those rainy December days, and he had his back to the light,--but the
moment he spoke and I heard the German accent I saw there was a mistake.
He seemed greatly embarrassed, said he had been told he would find the
captain here, apologized for the intrusion, and started for the door,
when I saw his face was as white as a sheet and that he was staggering,
and the next thing I knew he had dropped like a fainting woman in the
big arm-chair. Something told me he was weak from want of food. I called
Mary, and got some wine and made him drink it, and pretty soon he
revived, and then Jack came, and I left them together. He said that he
had eaten nothing for three days and was exhausted.

"Well, Jack questioned him closely that evening after he had made him
rest and had fed him well, poor fellow! and the result was that in a day
or two he regularly enlisted. Jack really tried to induce him not to,
telling him that a man of his education would surely find something
better, but it wa