est.

"Madam," said he, with quiet dignity, "it is useless for you to try to
deceive us as to the purpose of your absence this afternoon. The
letter which reached you while at table with us, and which has come
into our hands by accident, proves in the most unmistakable manner
that you have abused our hospitality most grossly. May I request you
to leave this house as soon as ever you can, but certainly no later
than to-morrow morning? I must beg that you will leave us undisturbed
for the remainder of the evening."

He ceremoniously bowed, and then took his seat once more at table.

Frau Kahle remained for a moment as if petrified in the semi-obscurity
of the room. Then she hastily seized her chatelaine bag. Her hand
tremblingly fingered its contents, and then she turned to the door and
went out, slamming it behind her. The footfall of her retreating steps
could be heard in the direction of her own room.

After supper the first lieutenant stepped up to his writing-desk, lit
the green shaded lamp, and sat down on a stool before it. Next he
selected a large sheet of official note-paper, dipped his pen, and
leaned back and reflected.

For some time he thus concentrated his thoughts, and at last began to
write.

His spouse, meanwhile, with anxious aspect, sat on the sofa near a
small table, busy with some embroidery, her fingers mechanically
travelling to and fro; but every little while she cast a troubled
glance towards her husband, whose pen went scratch, scratch, over the
paper.

At last he had finished the letter. Weil reclined pensively in his
chair, and slowly read over and over what he had written. He made no
alterations, but folded Frau Kahle's note up with his own, and then
enclosed both in a large yellow envelope, sealing it in the proper
way.

Then he locked up the document in a drawer of his desk, blew out the
lamp, and took a seat on the sofa next to his wife, perusing
attentively a newspaper.

Frau Kahle departed the following morning by an early train. Nobody,
not even the orderly, knew her destination. He had taken her trunk to
the station, but she had not told him a word as to her future
intentions. And neither by letter nor by word of mouth had she left a
word of thanks or apology for her late hosts.

At noon of the same day Lieutenant Kolberg, whose mind not even the
faintest suspicion of these latest developments of his intrigue had
crossed, was ordered to appear forthwith before the commande