terested in it. Jenna was the captain's friend: Volpo was
seconding him for the purpose of getting Count Ammiani to listen to
reason from the mouth of a countryman. There could be no doubt in the
captain's mind that this Major Nagen was Countess Anna's spy as well
as his rival, and he tried to be rid of him; but in addition to
the shortness of sight which was Nagen's plea for pushing his thin
transparent nose into every corner, he enjoyed at will an intermittent
deafness, and could hear anything without knowing of it. Brother
officers said of Major Nagen that he was occasionally equally senseless
in the nose, which had been tweaked without disturbing the repose of his
features. He waited half-an-hour on the ground after the appointed time,
and then hurried to Milan. Weisspriess waited an hour. Satisfied that
Count Ammiani was not coming, he exacted from Volpo and from Jenna their
word of honour as Austrian officers that they would forbear-to cast any
slur on the courage of his adversary, and would be so discreet on the
subject as to imply that the duel was a drawn affair. They pledged
themselves accordingly. "There's Nagen, it's true," said Weisspriess,
as a man will say and feel that he has done his best to prevent a thing
inevitable.

Milan, and some of the journals of Milan, soon had Carlo Ammiani's name
up for challenging Weisspriess and failing to keep his appointment. It
grew to be discussed as a tremendous event. The captain received fifteen
challenges within two days; among these a second one from Luciano
Romara, whom he was beginning to have a strong desire to encounter. He
repressed it, as quondam drunkards fight off the whisper of their lips
for liquor. "No more blood," was his constant inward cry. He wanted
peace; but as he also wanted Countess Anna of Lenkenstein and her
estates, it may possibly be remarked of him that what he wanted he did
not want to pay for.

At this period Wilfrid had resumed the Austrian uniform as a common
soldier in the ranks of the Kinsky regiment. General Schoneck had
obtained the privilege for him from the Marshal, General Pierson
refusing to lift a finger on his behalf. Nevertheless the uncle was not
sorry to hear the tale of his nephew's exploits during the campaign, or
of the eccentric intrepidity of the white umbrella; and both to please
him, and to intercede for Wilfrid, the tatter's old comrades recited
his deeds as a part of the treasured familiar history of the army in it