"So you see, mother, that I couldn't say anything then, could I?"
"Of course not, my boy; but I am quite sure now that you need not have been afraid."
"Do you really think so, mother, or are you saying that to soothe me?"
"I really mean it, dear."
"I was an ass, wasn't I?"
"No, my boy, for how should you have known the workings of a woman's mind?"
And, when I thought of it, how could I?
* * * * *
Some two weeks after our return, when the business I had been recalled for was completed, I spoke to Woolgast concerning Landsberg's appointment to the Guards.
"I am thinking--no, in fact I have promised a young officer of my acquaintance the vacant captaincy in the Guards. His name is Landsberg, do you know him?"