n regiment, and by Lieutenant Jenna. At
Camerlata a spectacled officer, Major Nagen, joined them. Weisspriess was
the less pleased with his company on hearing that he had come to witness
the meeting, in obedience to an express command of a person who was
interested in it. Jenna was the captain's friend: Volpo was seconding him
for the purpose of getting Count Ammiani to listen to reason from the
mouth of a countryman. There could be no doubt in the captain's mind that
this Major Nagen was Countess Anna's spy as well as his rival, and he
tried to be rid of him; but in addition to the shortness of sight which
was Nagen's plea for pushing his thin transparent nose into every corner,
he enjoyed at will an intermittent deafness, and could hear anything
without knowing of it. Brother officers said of Major Nagen that he was
occasionally equally senseless in the nose, which had been tweaked
without disturbing the repose of his features. He waited half-an-hour on
the ground after the appointed time, and then hurried to Milan.
Weisspriess waited an hour. Satisfied that Count Ammiani was not coming,
he exacted from Volpo and from Jenna their word of honour as Austrian
officers that they would forbear-to cast any slur on the courage of his
adversary, and would be so discreet on the subject as to imply that the
duel was a drawn affair. They pledged themselves accordingly. "There's
Nagen, it's true," said Weisspriess, as a man will say and feel that he
has done his best to prevent a thing inevitable.

Milan, and some of the journals of Milan, soon had Carlo Ammiani's name
up for challenging Weisspriess and failing to keep his appointment. It
grew to be discussed as a tremendous event. The captain received fifteen
challenges within two days; among these a second one from Luciano Romara,
whom he was beginning to have a strong desire to encounter. He repressed
it, as quondam drunkards fight off the whisper of their lips for liquor.
"No more blood," was his constant inward cry. He wanted peace; but as he
also wanted Countess Anna of Lenkenstein and her estates, it may possibly
be remarked of him that what he wanted he did not want to pay for.

At this period Wilfrid had resumed the Austrian uniform as a common
soldier in the ranks of the Kinsky regiment. General Schoneck had
obtained the privilege for him from the Marshal, General Pierson refusing
to lift a finger on his behalf. Nevertheless the uncle was not sorry to
hear the tale of h