"All is well, your excellency," Karl said, in answer to the look. "At least, if not altogether well, not so bad as it might be. The colonel was hit at Torgau. A cannonball took off his left arm at the elbow. Fortunately, there were surgeons at work a quarter of a mile away, and he was in their hands within a very few minutes of being hit; so they made a job of his wound, at once. They had not taken the bandages off, when I came away; but as there had been no bleeding, and no great pain or fever, they think it is going on well. They tell him that he will be fit for service, save for his half-empty sleeve, in the spring.
"Here is a letter for the Countess Thirza. It is not written by his own hand, except as to the signature; for the surgeons insist that he must lie perfectly quiet, for any exertion might cause the wound to break out afresh. He is quite cheerful, and in good spirits, as he always is. He bade me give this note into your hands, so that you might prepare the young countess a little, before giving it to her."
"'Tis bad news, Karl, but it might have been much worse; and it will, indeed, be a relief to us all; for since we heard of that desperate fight at Torgau, and how great was the slaughter on both sides, we have been anxious, indeed; and must have remained so, for we should have had little chance of seeing the list of the Prussian killed and wounded.
"Now, do you go into the kitchen. They all know you there. Make yourself comfortable. I will give orders that you shall be well served."
He then proceeded to the room where Thirza and her mother wore sitting. The former was pale, and had evidently been crying.
"Some news has come," he said. "Not the very best, and yet by no means the worst. Drummond is wounded--a severe wound, but not, it is confidently believed, a dangerous one."
Thirza ran to her father and threw her arms round his neck, and burst into a passion of tears. He did not attempt to check them for some little time.
"Now, my dear," he said at last, "you must be brave, or you won't be worthy of this lover of yours. There is one bad point about it."
She looked up in his face anxiously, but his smile reassured her.
"You must prepare yourself for his being somewhat disfigured."