CHAPTER LIII.
The reddish, flickering glow of a wood fire lighted up the interior of a small, isolated house which had formerly served as a dwelling to a station-keeper, but was now pressed into service for the sentinels of the outpost. The room did not bear an expression of cosiness with its bare, smoked walls, low ceiling and small, barricaded windows, but the tremendous logs which flared and burned in the uncouth stone fireplace offered a very welcome warmth, for it was bitterly cold out of doors, and the whole country was buried in the snow of a severe winter.
The regiment here was hardly better off than their comrades before Paris, although they belonged to the Southern army corps.
At present two young officers were entering, and the one who still held the door open called laughingly to the one preceding: "Please bend down, Herr Comrade, or you might take our door frame along, for our villa is in rather a dilapidated condition, as you see."
The warning was not without need, for the giant figure of the guest--a Prussian Lieutenant of the Reserve--was not at all in proportion to the door. Nevertheless, he succeeded in entering safely and looked around at the four walls, while his companion, who wore the uniform of a South German regiment, continued: "Permit me to offer you a seat in our 'salon,' which is not so bad considering the circumstances. We have already had it worse during the campaign. So you are looking for Stahlberg? He is with my comrade out at the post, but will probably return directly. You will have to be patient for a quarter of an hour."
"With pleasure," assured the Prussian. "I see from that that Eugene's injury is really as slight as he reported. I looked for him in the hospital, and heard that he was making a visit to the outposts, but as we shall probably march on by to-morrow, I did not wish to let this opportunity pass by unimproved, and therefore came to see him now."
"His wound was indeed only slight--a shot in the arm, which is already far advanced toward healing, but will, nevertheless, disable him for service for a short time. You are a friend of Stahlberg?"
"Yes, and connected besides through the marriage of his sister. I see that you do not remember me, Your Highness. Let me give you my name--Willibald von Eschenhagen. We met last year----"
"At Furstenstein," interrupted Egon von Adelsberg quickly. "Certainly, now I remember you perfectly. It is remarkable how the uniform changes one; I really did not know you at first."
He glanced with a half-admiring look at the once awkward country squire who had appeared so ridiculous to him, but who now possessed a stately, military appearance.