The young officer opened it. His face expressed happy pride.
"On the staff of General Gablenz!" he cried joyfully.
"Where is the general?" he asked.
"In the Hôtel zur Stadt Frankfurt, Herr Lieutenant."
"All right; I come!"
And with a quick step he hurried along the shores of the Danube, not dreamily, as he had come, but with head proudly raised, sparkling eyes, smiling lips, and his sword clattering on the pavement.
Suddenly he walked more slowly. A cloud passed over his brow.
"I am to march out to this merry war at which every soldier's heart beats higher, and at the side of a general, whom every Austrian rider regards with pride and admiration, and yet--what a scarcely tasted happiness I leave behind--shall I ever find it more?"
Slower and slower grew his steps, until at last he stood quite still; and lost in thought he gazed into the Danube, where the bright lamps on the bridge were reflected.
"The shining light up there," he murmured, "below cold, grey death!"