ild. Whatever is the matter?"

Wallenstein's entrance was answer sufficient. His hand, held against his
stinging cheek, was telltale enough for the proprietress of the Black
Eagle.

"Shame!" she cried. She knew her rights. She was not afraid to speak
plainly to any officer in the duchy, however high he might be placed.

"I can not get at you there, Gretchen," said the colonel, giving to his
voice that venom which the lady's man always has at hand when thwarted
in his gallantries. "You will have to come hence presently."

"She shall stay here all day," declared Fraeu Bauer decidedly.

"I can wait." The colonel, now possessing two smarts, one to his cheek
and one to his vanity, made for the door. But there was a bulk in the
doorway formidable enough to be worth serious contemplation.

"What is going on here, little goose-girl?" asked the grizzled old man,
folding his arms round his oak staff.

"Herr Colonel insulted me."

"Insulted you?" The colonel laughed boisterously. This was good; an
officer insult a wench of this order! "Out of the way!" he snarled at
the obstruction in the doorway.

"What did he try to do to you, Gretchen?"

"He tried to kiss me!"

"The man who tries to kiss a woman against her will is always at heart a
coward," said the mountaineer.

The colonel seized the old man by the shoulder to push him aside. The
other never so much as stirred. He put out one of his arms and clasped
the colonel in such a manner that he gasped. He was in the clutch of a
Carpathian bear.

"Well, my little soldier?" said the mountaineer, his voice even and not
a vein showing in his neck.

"I will kill you for this!" breathed the colonel heavily.

"So?" The old man thrust him back several feet, without any visible
exertion. He let his staff slide into his hand.

The moment the colonel felt himself liberated, he drew his saber and
lunged toward his assailant. There was murder in his heart. The two
women screamed. The old man laughed. He turned the thrust with his
staff. The colonel, throwing caution to the four winds, surrendered to
his rage. He struck again. The saber rang against the oak. This
dexterity with the staff carried no warning to the enraged officer. He
struck again and again. Then the old man struck back. The pain in the
colonel's arm was excruciating. His saber rattled to the stone flooring.
Before he could recover the weapon the victor had put his foot upon it.
He was still smiling, as if the wh