esn't propose to her."

"They ought to be ashamed of themselves."

"But he is so handsome, so delightful. He dances divinely, and knows
such good riddles, and acts--_ach, himmlisch!_"

"But how absurd to make such a fuss of him!" I cried, hot and indignant.
"The idea of going on so about a man!"

A chorus, a shriek, a Babel of expostulations.

"Listen, Thekla! Fraeulein Wedderburn does not know Lieutenant Pieper,
and does not think it right to _schwaerm_ for him."

"The darling! No one can help it who knows him!" said another.

"Let her wait till she does know him," said Thekla, a sentimental young
woman, pretty in a certain sentimental way, and graceful too--also
sentimentally--with the sentiment that lingers about young ladies'
albums with leaves of smooth, various-hued note-paper, and about the
sonnets which nestle within the same. There was a sudden shriek:

"There he goes! There is the Herr Lieutenant riding by. Just come here,
_mein Fraeulein_! See him! Judge for yourself!"

A strong hand dragged me, whether I would or not, to the window, and
pointed out to me the Herr Lieutenant riding by. An adorable creature in
a Hussar uniform; he had pink cheeks and a straight nose, and the
loveliest little model of a mustache ever seen; tightly curling black
hair, and the dearest little feet and hands imaginable.

"Oh, the dear, handsome, delightful follow!" cried one enthusiastic
young creature, who had scrambled upon a chair in the background and was
gazing after him while another, behind me, murmured in tones of emotion:

"Look how he salutes--divine, isn't it?"

I turned away, smiling an irrepressible smile. My musician, with his
ample traits and clear, bold eyes, would have looked a wild, rough,
untamable creature by the side of that wax-doll beauty--that pretty
little being who had just ridden by. I thought I saw them side by
side--Herr Lieutenant Pieper and Eugen Courvoisier. The latter would
have been as much more imposing than the former as an oak is more
imposing than a spruce fir--as Gluck than Lortzing. And could these
enthusiastic young ladies have viewed the two they would have been true
to their lieutenant; so much was certain. They would have said that the
other was a wild man, who did not cut his hair often enough, who had
large hands, whose collar was perhaps chosen more with a view to ease
and the free movement of the throat than to the smallest number of
inches within which it was possible to