"'What is his name?'
"Gottlieb was about to answer, when the adjutant said, with a mild voice and good-humored smile, pointing to the kitchen—
"'Young man, your father wants you.'
"This was only a pretext to be alone with me, and Gottlieb left. I was alone, and found myself face to face with whom—friend Beppo, think you? With the very recruiter whom we met so unfortunately in the Boehmer-wald, two years ago. It was Mayer. I could not mistake him, for, except that he had become fat, he was unchanged. He was the same man, with his pleasant manners, his simple bearing, his false face, his perfidious good humor, and his broum, broum, as if he was imitating the trumpet. From the band, he had been promoted to the department of finding food for powder, and as a recompense for his good service in that position, had been made a garrison officer, or rather a military jailer, for which he was as well calculated as he was for his old position of travelling turnkey, which he had discharged so well.
"'Mademoiselle, (he spoke French), I am your humble servant. You have a very pleasant place to walk in—air, room, and a fine view, I congratulate you, for you have an easy time in prison. The weather is magnificent, and it is a real pleasure to be at Spandau, when the sun is so bright. Broum, broum.'
"These insolent jests so disgusted me, that I did not speak. He was not disconcerted and said—
"'I ask your pardon for speaking to you in a tongue which perhaps you do not understand. I forgot that you are an Italian—an Italian singer—a superb voice, they say. I have a passion for music, and therefore wish to make your time as pleasant as my order will permit. Ah! where the devil did I have the honor of seeing you? I know your face perfectly—perfectly.'
"'At the Berlin Theatre, probably, for I sang there during the winter which has just passed.'
"'No; I was in Silesia. I was sub-adjutant at Glatz. Luckily, that devil Trenck made his escape while I was away, on duty, near the frontiers of Saxony. Otherwise I would not have been promoted, or been here, which, in consequence of its proximity to Berlin, I like very much. The life of a garrison officer, madame, is very melancholy. You may imagine how ennuyé one is when in a lonely country, and far from any large town, especially when one loves music as I do. Where had I the honor to meet you?'
"'I do not remember, sir, ever to have had that honor.'