bt you can get a similar pass for us
to leave your lines."

"I should like nothing so much, count; but might I not get you into
trouble, if it were known that you had one of the king's officers
at your house?"

"In the first place no one would know it, and in the second place I
don't think that I should get into any trouble, were it found out.
It is not a Prussian officer that I shall be entertaining, still
less a spy, but a dear friend who is an invalid and needs care. As
everyone knows what you did for me, the excuse would be ample.

"Moreover, it happens that Governor Maguire is a personal friend of
mine, and I shall call upon him and tell him that I have a sick
friend staying with me and, without letting him know who you are,
say that I give him my word of honour that you will, while with me,
remain in the grounds, and will make no inquiries concerning his
fortifications and plans of defence. He will understand what I
mean, and if anyone should make a report to him it will, at any
rate, cause no trouble; though I do not say that he might not feel
obliged to give me notice that you had best go.

"Well, for today I will remain here and rest my horses; and
tomorrow morning we will start, early.

"Ah! I see you have your henchman still with you. He, like
yourself, has escaped both Austrian and French bullets.

"Well, Karl," he went on as the soldier came up, "you don't seem to
have managed to keep your master out of mischief."

"No, count; but it was not my fault. It was the fault of those
horses you gave him."

"Why, how was that, Karl?"

"Well, sir, the colonel was the best mounted man on the king's
staff and, however hard he worked the horses, they always seemed to
keep in good condition. So that whenever there was anything to be
done, it was sure to be, 'Colonel Drummond, please go here or go
there.' He was always on horseback, and so at last he broke down.
Anyone else would have broken down months before, but he never
seemed to know what it was to be tired."

"What, have you got another step, Drummond?" the count said,
smiling at the soldier's tone of discontent.

"Yes, count. It is not for anything particular this time, but for
what I may call general services.

"You are going to have an easy time of it now, Karl. Count
Eulenfurst is kindly going to take me off and nurse me for a bit;
and you will have to stay here and look after the horses, until I
return. It would not be safe for you to accompan