nerals, rode down to the front, he immediately noticed the
audacious young officer, whose eye met his askance and pleadingly. The
king beckoned to him, and as Baron Kaphengst stood erect before him, the
king said, laughingly; "It is truly difficult to exchange secrets with
one of your height; bow down to me, I have something to whisper in you
ear."

The comrades and officers, yes, even the generals, saw not without envy
that the king was so gracious to the young Lieutenant von Kaphengst;
whispered a few words to him confidentially, and then smiling and bowing
graciously, moved on.

It was, therefore, natural that, when the king left, all were anxious
to congratulate the young lieutenant, and ask him what the king had
whispered. But Baron Kaphengst avoided, with dignified gravity, all
inquiries, and only whispered to his commander softly, but loud
enough for every one to hear, the words, "State secrets," then bowing
profoundly, returned with an earnest and grave face to his dwelling,
there to meditate at his leisure upon the king's words--words both
gracious and cruel, announcing his advancement, but at the same time
condemning him to secrecy.

The king's words were: "You are a captain, but he is a scoundrel who
repeats it!"

Thus Baron Kaphengst was captain, but no one suspected it; the captain
remained a simple lieutenant in the eyes of the world.

CHAPTER VI. THE LEGACY OF VON TRENCK, COLONEL OF THE PANDOURS.

Baron Weingarten, the new secretary of legation of the Austrian embassy
in Berlin, paced the ambassador's office in great displeasure. It was
the hour in which all who had affairs to arrange with the Austrian
ambassador, passports to vise, contracts to sign, were allowed entrance,
and it was the baron's duty to receive them. But no one came; no one
desired to make use of his ability or his mediation, and this displeased
the baron and put him out of humor. It was not the want of work and
activity that annoyed him; the baron would have welcomed the dolce far
niente had it not been unfortunately connected with his earnings; the
fees he received for passports, and the arrangement of other affairs,
formed part of his salary as secretary of legation, and as he possessed
no fortune, this was his only resource. This indigence alone led him to
resign his aristocratic independence and freedom of action. He had not
entered the state service from ambition, but for money, that he might
have the means of suppor