fright. He could not understand
how he had been so blind as not to have perceived the treachery of his
friend and the faithlessness of his wife. A decree of divorce was
pronounced by the court, and Leimann shortly after handed in his
resignation. He was forced to that step by several considerations. On
the one hand he was compelled to turn to a more profitable calling
than that of serving his country in the army, since he had now but
very slender means at his command; on the other hand, all the events
in which he had been a conspicuous figure had damaged his reputation
so greatly as to make his further stay in the corps of officers almost
impossible.

He accepted a position for which he was eminently qualified by natural
taste and long experience,--that of drummer for a wholesale wine firm.
His little boy he intrusted to the care of some humble relatives, and
his pension as First Lieutenant was just sufficient to pay for the
little fellow's board.

Almost simultaneously, with the acceptance of Leimann's resignation,
formal sentence was pronounced against Borgert. He was condemned to a
jail term of five years, to deprivation of all civic honors for ten
years, and to expulsion from the army, brought about by a series of
frauds, by desertion and by maltreatment of subordinates in ten cases.

The newspapers published this sentence, and with it came to a close
the career of this miscreant, as far as the army was concerned.

* * * * *

Meanwhile there sat in the bureau of a large factory ex-Sergeant
Schmitz, busy at his desk with a row of figures.

The other employees had already risen from their places and were
taking their overcoats from a rack in the corner, for the large
factory bell announcing the close of the day's labor had rung out ten
minutes since.

But Schmitz did not allow himself to be disturbed by the loud
conversation going on about him. He continued writing as if he were
in the midst of silence. The large office-room had almost emptied
itself of its inmates when Master Worker Maurer entered.

Maurer was a squat-built man, and his pale, oval face was strangely
illuminated by piercing eyes of a forbidding expression. His moustache
hung straggling about the corners of his mouth, and there was
something indicative of cruelty and meanness about his whole face.

"I suppose you can't tear yourself away from your work again? Aren't
you coming soon?" he called over to Schmitz.