outh."

"I shall do," returned Karl, much flattered. "I've got reconciled to
agriculture. My uncle is a worthy man. If you picture my father to
yourself about half his own size, thin instead of stout, and with a
small stumpy nose instead of a large one, and a long face instead of a
round, with a gray coat and no leather apron, and with a pair of great
boots up to his knees, why then you have my uncle--a most capital little
fellow. He is very kind to me. At first I found it dull in the country,
but I got used to it in time; one is always going about the farm, and
that's pleasant. It was a blow to my gray-headed uncle when I had to
turn soldier, but I was delighted to get upon a horse in right down
earnest, and to see something of the scuffle here. There are wretched
inns in this country, Mr. Wohlfart, and this place is a horrible scene
of desolation."

Thus Karl rattled on. At last he caught up his cap: "If you remain here,
will you allow me often to spend a quarter of an hour with you?"

"Do as at home," said Anton; "and if I happen to be out, the landlord
will have the key, and here are the cigars."

And so Anton found an old friend; but Karl was not his only military
acquaintance. The captain was delighted with a countryman who had played
so bold a part against the insurgents. He introduced him to the colonel
who commanded the division. To him Anton had to tell his adventures, and
to receive high commendation from a large circle of epaulets; and the
following day the captain invited him to dinner, and introduced him to
the officers of his own squadron. Anton's modest composure made a
favorable impression upon them all. At home they would probably have
been restricted by their views of human greatness from becoming intimate
with a young merchant, but here in the camp they were themselves wiser
men than in the idle days of peace, their social prejudices were fewer,
and their recognition of others' deserts less impeded. Consequently,
they soon came to consider the young clerk as a "deuced good fellow,"
fell into the habit of calling him by his Christian name, and whenever
they were going to drink their coffee or to play a game of dominoes,
they invariably invited him to join them. An obscure tradition of large
means and mysterious relationship once more emerged from the abyss of
past years, but, to do the squadron justice, it was not this which
prompted their kind attentions to their countryman. Anton himself was
mor