"It will be much more unpleasant when action really begins, when real fighting commences," said the Austrian diplomatist; "the king is certain to be in the midst, and we must of course be with him."
"Do you think we should really be in danger?" asked Persiany, "our diplomatic character----"
"Will scarcely preserve me from imprisonment," said Count Ingelheim; "for we are at war with Prussia. With you it is somewhat different: you are certain to be treated with consideration, so soon as you have identified yourself before a commander of troops. But in the mêlée!..." And he shrugged his shoulders.
"Should we really have cause to fear?" asked Persiany.
"My dear colleague," replied Count Ingelheim, sighing slightly, and casting a penetrating look at the Russian diplomatist, "a cannon ball, the pistol of an hussar, the sword of a cuirassier, little heed the diplomatic character."
"My God!" cried Persiany. "But if fighting begins I scarcely think I ought to remain here; we are at peace with Prussia."
"It will come suddenly, I think, and without much warning; there will be no choice," said Count Ingelheim drily. "I do not believe our lives will be actually in danger; but really it will be sufficiently unpleasant to hear the noise of battle--to see the blood--the corpses----"
Persiany fell back on the bench, and his white lips trembled as he thought of such a trial to his nerves.
"I wonder if they have some soda-water here?" he asked.
"I do not think so," said Count Ingelheim; "we do not find such things, and the small store they have is carefully put aside for the wounded in the approaching engagement. At the king's table we have thin beer, cold beef, and baked potatoes."