ckly than respect.

There were certainly some who saw in her "devil take me!" the finest
thoroughbred in Norway. Again there were those who would "by all the
powers!" have given their hope of salvation for--I dare not say for
what. But there were also those who thought of the times of chivalry
and saw in their mind's eye the token the lady fastened on her true
knight's breast as a consecration. A glance, a word from her, a dance
with her, was the token. Her glory fell upon them, there was something
nobler and more beautiful in them from that moment.

How many there were who tried to draw her from memory! for she would
not be photographed. It became a common pastime to draw her profile;
some attained the greatest proficiency in the art. With a broomhandle
in the snow, with a match in cigar ashes, with skates on the ice.

On the whole, it certainly was to the credit of the regiment that she
should be so universally and unprecedentedly admired. Her uncle
naturally believed that he was the cause of it, but the truth was that
the way he advertised her would have spoiled the whole thing for any
one else. She could endure the advertisement. And now he had been put
aside, without himself understanding how it had happened. He, who on
this day had organised the whole assembly, was standing quivering with
eagerness to be abreast of the situation; but he could not. It all went
on over his head, as though on the second storey. He spurred himself up
with exaggerated gaiety, with abnormal energy, but he fell back, became
superfluous, became actually in the way. His wife laughed openly at
him; he, who when he was abroad had hidden his wedding-ring in his
pocket, and was ready to do the same thing again, was left lying in a
pocket himself, like an empty cigar-case.

His wife was enchanted. From the beginning she had been alarmed when
his miracle of a niece was brought into the house. The ostentatious
partiality with which he introduced her into society produced results
which went beyond his previsions. The crowd of worshippers kept growing
greater and denser; after the episode with the King the enthusiasm rose
to a kind of frenzy for a time. The rate of speed grew with the number;
the colonel struggled to keep up like a broken-winded horse.

The bell rings a second time, there is a movement in the crowd, renewed
clanking of spurs and swords, waving of hands, vociferous greetings.
The heroine of the hour saluted, waved farewell for t