until he had regained his gold
shoulder-strap, he revolted her with an ejaculation of gladness, and
swore brutally that he desired to have no advancement; nothing but sleep
and drill; and, he added conscientiously, Havannah cigars. "He has
grown to be like a common soldier," Adela said to herself with an
amazed contemplation of the family tie. Still, she worked on his behalf,
having, as every woman has, too strong an instinct as to what is natural
to us to believe completely in any eccentric assertion. She carried the
tale of his grief and trials and his romantic devotion to the Imperial
flag, daily to Countess Lena; persisting, though she could not win a
responsive look from Lena's face.

One day on the review-ground, Wilfrid beheld Prince Radocky bending from
his saddle in conversation with Weisspriess. The prince galloped up to
General Pierson, and stretched his hand to where Wilfrid was posted
as marker to a wheeling column, kept the hand stretched out, and spoke
furiously, and followed the General till he was ordered to head his
regiment. Wilfrid began to hug his musket less desperately. Little
presents--feminine he knew by the perfumes floating round them,--gloves
and cigars, fine handkerchiefs, and silks for wear, came to his
barracks. He pretended to accuse his sister of sending them. She in
honest delight accused Lena. Lena then accused herself of not having
done so.

It was winter: Vittoria had been seen in Milan. Both Lena and Wilfrid
spontaneously guessed her to be the guilty one. He made a funeral pyre
of the gifts and gave his sister the ashes, supposing that she had
guessed with the same spirited intuition. It suited Adela to relate this
lover's performance to Lena. "He did well!" Lena said, and kissed Adela
for the first time. Adela was the bearer of friendly messages to the
poor private in the ranks. From her and from little Jenna, Wilfrid heard
that he was unforgotten by Countess Lena, and new hopes mingled with
gratitude caused him to regard his situation seriously. He confessed to
his sister that the filthy fellows, his comrades, were all but too much
for him, and asked her to kiss him, that he might feel he was not one
of them. But he would not send a message in reply to Lena. "That is also
well!" Lena said. Her brother Karl was a favourite with General Pierson.
She proposed that Adela and herself should go to Count Karl, and urge
him to use his influence with the General. This, however, Adela was