"That usually so self-possessed young gentleman was much embarra.s.sed, and was making visible efforts to hide it, while he strove at the same time to encourage the old stranger.

"'Shall I send for him?' he asked a second time. 'Oh! please, I can wait, please,'--stammered the old man in his _gemuthlich_ Upper-Austrian dialect.

"I took him for a small mechanic; he was too diffident for a peasant, and not shabby enough for a day laborer.

"'I can wait,' he repeated. 'Have already waited, long, very long, Herr Lieutenant.'

"'As you will, but won't you sit down?' said Erich, hesitating, divided between fear of giving the old man a cold, and fear of not showing him proper attention.

"Right and left of me our comrades were chatting. 'Sylvester,' cried Schmied, 'it's the stupidest day of the year. It makes me think of punch, and cakes, and cousins.'

"'It makes me think of my tailor and my governor,' laughed Farmer Toni.

"The peasant-count was sitting on a bale of hay: Schmied stood over against him, leaning on the side of a forage wagon. Toni wore a short white riding coat; his chin was in his hands, his elbows were on his knees.

"'To the first I owe a bill,' he went on, 'And to the latter I owe congratulations. Schmied, do you think he'd be satisfied with "Best Wishes for the New Year," on a card?'

'"Are you going to Schirmberg's to-night?' asked another officer coming up.

"'Must,' said Toni, laconically. 'And you?'

"'I don't know. Perhaps I can plead another engagement. It will be deadly dull at Schirmberg's.'

"'I hear they are going to serve champagne and a prince of the blood,'

said Schmied.

"'h.e.l.lo! What's old Gusti up to?' laughed Toni: 'Big soirees are not in her line.'

"'It's all for Zwilk,' answered Schmied. 'You know he is going to be made adjutant to Prince Schirmberg.'

"'Adjutant to a prince!' It was the old stranger who cried out, proud, excited, turning his head from one to the other.

"Erich had continued to do the honors with all the courtesy of your true aristocrat to the plebeian who has not as yet stretched out a hand toward any of his prerogatives. The little old man had grown quite confiding: he looked up now in Erich's face and asked, 'You know him well?'

"'He is my comrade,' answered Truyn. 'I wish I could call myself as admirable an officer as he is. He is one of the best in the service, and he has a brilliant career before him.'

"Truyn liked Zwilk as little as the rest of us, but he wanted to give the old man pleasure, and that he could do without falsehood.

"The stranger stripped off his mittens, and put his knuckles to his wet eyes.

"'I thank you, I thank you,' he sobbed like a child. 'He's my son. I wanted to see him, long, long, but he was so far away and he never could come home,--but he wrote,--such beautiful letters. The priest, himself, couldn't beat them; and,--and--now, I was going to surprise him, but--will he--will he like it, Herr Lieutenant, after all? Look you,--I'm afraid,--he such a grand gentleman, and I'--

"Zwilk's voice sounded from within, hard and merciless, rating a common soldier: then he walked into the yard.

"Arm in arm with Prince Liscat, varnished, laced, buckled, strapped, affected and arrogant, one hand on his moustache, he simpered through his teeth:

"'You're much too good, Bonbon. You don't know how to treat the _canaille_. The Pleb must be trodden on, else he will grow up over our heads.'

"Then his eyes met those of the old stranger. He turned deathly pale; the old man shook in every limb. Handsome Truyn, very red in the face, stammered:

"'Your father has come to see you: it gives me much pleasure to make his acquaintance,' or some well-meant awkwardness of that kind.

"But Zwilk smiled, his upper lip drawing tight under his nose, showing his teeth, large, square and white, like piano keys.

"'Der papa?' he simpered, elegantly, looking all over the court, as if searching for him; then, as the old man, stretching out his trembling hands, 'Loisl!' Zwilk fixed him with a cold stare and said, 'I don't know the man; he must be crazy.'

"Ashamed, confused, the stranger let fall his hands; he caught his breath, then looking anxiously from one to the other of us, he stammered:

"'It is not my son. I was mistaken: a very grand gentleman. Not my son.'

"'Never mind,' strutted Zwilk, and clapped him jovially on the shoulder. 'There, drink my health,' and he reached him a silver gulden.

"The old man took it with an indescribable, hesitating gesture; looked again in a scared way around on us all, lifted his eyes sadly, as if begging forgiveness, to the face of the n.o.bl' Zwilk, and turned away, repeating, 'Not my son!'

"He was blind with grief. He struck against the sharp corner of the stone gatepost, recoiled, felt about with his hands for support, and disappeared.

"We were dumb. There came the ring of a coin on the pavement without, a half-choked sob, then nothing more.

"'Dost thou dine at the Austrian Court to-day?' inquired Zwilk, with cheerful effrontery of his friend Bonbon, whose arm he took.

"Farmer Toni hawked and spat slowly and deliberately at Zwilk's feet, but Zwilk had the presence of mind not to see it, and left the place on Liscat's arm, still smiling.

"We looked at each other. Count Erich's eyes were full of tears.

Schmied's fists were clenched, and his lip trembled. All of us felt a tightness in our throat. We longed to rush after the disowned man; to surround him with respectful attentions; to pour out kind words and consolation,--if we could have found consolation. But it was one of those moments when fine feeling lays a restraining hand on sympathy, and we pa.s.s the sufferer blindly by, not daring even to uncover our heads.

"In the square before the barracks, a silver gulden sparkled on the pavement in the cold winter sun.

"New Year had come in when the party broke up at Prince Schirmberg's, and we rode homeward by a narrow, snow-covered path across the fields, a short cut, by which the heavy equipages of the other guests could not follow us.

"The soiree had been a great success. The prince of the blood had shown himself, as usual, all affability, and Zwilk, warmly recommended to favor, had been graciously distinguished by His Royal Highness.

"The slightly faded Countess Schnick had looked very pretty. Zwilk had been courting her since autumn, and to-night she had been very encouraging to the future adjutant of Prince Schirmberg. And Zwilk, after the departure of His Royal Highness, had beamed and twinkled, and shone as if varnished all over with good fortune, patronizing everybody, even his friend Bonbon. Now he rode, sunk in pleasant reveries, a little apart from us, at the head of our cavalcade.

"The moon shone clear. Sown with countless stars, the sky blue and cloudless arched above an endless expanse of snow. Everything around us was of a blinding whiteness, an unearthly purity, and still as death.

Only now and again, at long intervals, a light shudder trembled through the silence, a swift rushing, a deep sigh,--then once more silence.

"'It is a parting soul,' said Erich Truyn, listening, much moved. Erich was a little superst.i.tious.

"'Nonsense,' grumbled Schmied, 'it is a tree letting fall its burden of snow.'

"'Everything is so strangely pure, one is afraid of meeting an angel,'

said Toni.

"'Yes, it makes one ashamed of being a man,' muttered Schmied. Then we all ceased talking. We thought of home. The New Year's night, so still and peaceful, brought us all memories of long-forgotten childhood.

Presently Schmied spoke out in his deep ba.s.s voice, to Toni.

"'I must see if I can't get leave and give my old governor a surprise for Twelfth Night. He's awfully pleased when Hopeful turns up.'