"Dear me, do stop these political and military discussions! I'll make George my cavalier; he will at least try to entertain me, and not bore me with accounts of the insurrection."
The threat was probably not seriously meant, but Gerald seemed to understand it so, for he answered coldly:
"If you prefer George's company to mine I must of course submit."
Again that shrug of the shoulders and compassionate smile, which always enraged her. They did not fail to produce their effect to-day. She hastily drew bridle, turned, and called loudly:
"George, come here! We'll ride on before."
With these words she turned into a steep path that saved a long bend of the mountain road.
George did not wait to be asked twice. He quickly put his mule into a trot and overtook her the next instant.
A very familiar relation had already been formed between him and the young lady. Edith liked the somewhat rough but comical and zealous fellow, saw in him her lover's former play-fellow rather than his subaltern, and had instantly granted his entreaty that she would address him with the "Du" used in his native Tyrol. George, on his side, was not a little proud of this confidential position, and felt an even more enthusiastic admiration for his lieutenant's fiancée than for the lieutenant himself.
They rode up the mountain for about ten minutes, then reached the main road again, and were now far ahead of the others. Edith stopped her mule, and George did the same.
"I suppose we are to wait here for the lieutenant?" he asked.