He held in his hand his master's cap and sabre.
"All right, give them to me!"
The lieutenant quickly completed his toilet, and hurried away to Waisenhaus Strasse.
His passion for Frau von Gropphusen increased day by day. He took no pains to combat it. True, his beloved was the wife of another, of a brother-officer; but he did not even in thought desire to draw nearer to her, and, should ever the temptation arise, he believed himself strong enough to resist it.
Indeed, no words passed between them that might not have been overheard by a third party. At their meeting and parting there was no meaning pressure of the hand; only their glances betrayed the secret understanding of a mighty, burning love: the deep sorrow of the one, and the sweet, tender consolation of the other.
Needless to say, the gossips of the garrison were soon busy over such a welcome morsel. Since the Gropphusen's flirtation with Major Schrader a winter ago, she had furnished no cause of scandal. All the busier now were the evil tongues.
It was not long before the subalterns began to make more or less pointed remarks, half jestingly, to Reimers.
Little Dr. von Fröben shook his finger at him, and let fly a solitary shaft: "Aye, aye, still waters run deep!" he said.
Landsberg actually congratulated him. "Happy you!" he cried with mock sorrow, "as for me----" And he proceeded crudely to extol the physical charms of Frau von Gropphusen--"that rattling fine woman," as he called her.
Reimers shut him up sharply.