coaxed and wheedled into a network of useless
expenditure, as is the youngest army officer, waylaid everywhere by
the detestable gang of "army usurers," who follow him to the bitter
end, knowing that to repudiate even the shadiest debt means disgrace
and dismissal from the army to every officer, no matter if his follies
have been committed at an age when other young boys are still subject
to closest supervision.

Deep lines had formed on Bleibtreu's smooth forehead, and he was
visibly startled when the cheery, round voice of his squadron
commander, Captain Koenig, recalled him to his surroundings.

"And that's what they call pleasure," said he, sitting down on the
sofa beside his young lieutenant, for whom he felt something like
paternal affection. "If such entertainments were at least arranged
beforehand, with the consent or at the instance of the juniors
themselves,--for I will say nothing about us older men,--but no! Frau
Stark commands, and the whole regiment, from the colonel down to the
youngest cornet, has simply to obey. Disgraceful, I say. Why, we
cannot even choose our own tipple on such occasions. The colonel
simply orders that a May bowl be composed, and we have to brew it,
drink it, and--pay for it. This evening will cost us a pretty penny
again. A glass of apollinaris would be far more palatable, and
certainly much cheaper and appropriate at this temperature than this
confounded sweetish stuff, which gives one a headache fit to split the
skull next morning."

"Quite true, Captain," replied the young man. "This form of
quasi-official pressure, even in one's private expenditures, is one of
the worst curses of our profession. It has indirectly caused the ruin
of many a promising young officer, I've been told."

"Yes, my boy, you are quite right," answered Koenig. "It is amazing how
many officers have been forced into retirement of recent years, solely
because of unpaid and unpayable debts. Things in this respect cannot
go on much longer. For the ruin of thousands of these young officers
means also the ruin of their families, and among them many of the
oldest and best in the Empire. An unhealthy craze for luxurious living
has seized upon the army, and God alone knows how it will end some
day. It is a thing which will and must frighten every true patriot,
and I wish our most gracious sovereign would take up this matter more
earnestly."

"Yes, H. M. does not attach enough importance to this chapter."

"