of
the beautiful girl bending over him again; but he noticed that she did
not look so bright as when he first beheld her.

"Ah!" he exclaimed feebly, "it was not a dream! How long have I been
ill?"

"More than a fortnight," said the girl promptly.

"Oh, my poor mother!" ejaculated Fritz with a sob, "she will have
thought me dead, and broken her heart!"

"Don't fear that," said she kindly. "I wrote to her, telling her you
were badly hurt, but that you were in good hands."

"You! Why, how did you know her name, or where she lived?"

"I found the address in your pocket," answered the girl with a laugh.
"Don't you recollect putting a slip of paper there, telling any one, in
case you were wounded or killed, to write and break the news gently to
your mother, `madame Dort, Gulden Strasse, Lubeck'? I never heard
before of such a thoughtful son!"

"Ah, I remember now," said Fritz; "and you wrote, then, to her?"

"Yes, last week, when we despaired of your recovery; but, I have written
again since, telling her that the bullet has been removed from your
wound, and that if you get over the fever you will recover all right."

"Thank you, and thank God!" exclaimed Fritz fervently, and he shut his
eyes and remained quiet for a minute or two, although his lips moved as
if in prayer.

"And where is Gelert, my dog?" he asked presently.

"`Fritz,' you mean," said the girl, smiling.

"No, that is my name, the dog's is Gelert."

"That is what I want explained," said the other.

"But, please pardon my rudeness, Fraulein," interrupted Fritz, "may I
ask to whom I am indebted for watching over me, and adding to it the
thoughtful kindness of relieving my mother's misery?"

"My name is Madaleine Vogelstein," said the girl softly. "Do you like
it?"

"I do; it is a very pretty one," he replied. "The surname is German,
but the given name is French--Madaleine? It sounds sweeter than would
be thought possible in our guttural Teuton tongue!"

"My mother was a Frenchwoman, and I take the name from her," explained
the girl. "But now, before I stop you from talking any more, for the
good doctor would blame me much if he came in, you must tell me how you
came to possess that dog; or, rather, why he so faithfully attached
himself to you, as it was entirely through him that I found you, and got
you picked up by the ambulance corps and brought here. You must first
take this soup, however, to strengthen you. It has been kept nice