t to be seriously thought of. As a Prussian
officer I need permission before I can marry. How can I join my regiment
in the company of a lady? Or how could I now get leave to marry?"

"Quite easily. Many officers marry at the beginning of a war."

"Well, but even if I get leave now, according to the law we could not be
married for some months. I have already proposed that you should go to
my relatives at Hamburg and wait there till the war is over, and I still
think that is the only right thing to do."

"But I will not go to your relatives at Hamburg."

"And why not?"

"Do you think that I, an Englishwoman, would go and live in a German
family to be stared at? Do you think I could bear to read all the lies
about England in the German newspapers?"

"My uncle and aunt are people of great tact, and my cousins will show
you due respect."

"Cousins! No, thank you! I should be out of place in the midst of the
domestic felicity of strangers."

"If you won't go there, you might stop at a pension in Berlin."

"No, I won't do that either. I will stay with you."

"But, dearest Edith, how do you think this could be managed?"

"I will have nothing to do with conventionalities; otherwise life in
Germany would be intolerable. I should die of anxiety in a pension,
thinking every moment of the dangers to which you are exposed. No, I
couldn't endure that. I have lived through too much--seen too much that
is terrible. My nerves would not be strong enough for me to vegetate
in a family or a Berlin pension in the midst of the trivialities of
everyday life. Have pity on me, and don't leave me! Your presence is the
only effectual medicine for my mind."

"Ah! dearest Edith, my whole heart is full of you, and I would gladly do
as you wish. But every step we take must be practical and judicious.
If you say you will stay with me, you must have some idea in your mind.
How, then, do you think we can manage to be together? Remember that on
my return I shall be an officer on service, and shall have to carry out
the orders I receive."

"I have already thought of a way. Prince Tchajawadse had a page with
him; I will be your page."

"What an absurd idea! Prussian officers don't take pages with them on
active service."

"Never mind the name. You must have servants, like English officers; I
will be your boy."

"With us soldiers are told off for such duties, my dear Edith."

"Then I will go with you as a soldier. I have already gone as