"See," said Knaak, "there is our friend Stielow and his beautiful fiancée."
And he pointed out an elegant open carriage which drove slowly along the broad alley. Countess Frankenstein and her daughter sat facing the horses, Lieutenant von Stielow in his rich Uhlan uniform opposite to them. His face beamed with happiness as he talked to the young countess, and pointed out to her the different encampments in the park.
"A handsome pair," said old Grois benevolently, as he looked at the two smiling young creatures.
"Oh! that it may remain green for ever! the lovely period of youthful love!" exclaimed the Gallmeyer. "That is what my friend Wolter would say," she added laughingly; "but I am very angry with him, for I made him a declaration of love, and he despised me; but I shall console myself!"
They passed on.
The countess's carriage, when it had left the thick throng of pedestrians behind it, drove rapidly towards the town.
At that time long trains, filled with sick and wounded, arrived daily at the northern station; they were brought from the bandaging sheds and field hospitals, to Vienna and other places more in the interior, that they might receive more regular nursing.
The rooms belonging to the station were fitted up for the reception of the wounded; many arrived in so weak a condition that they could not be moved immediately, nearly all required to rest for a time, and the further transport had to be arranged.
It was the regular custom of the ladies of Vienna in every grade, from the highest aristocracy to the simple shopkeeper's wife, to go to the railway station when such a train arrived, to refresh the wounded with cooling drinks and light nourishment, to have linen and lint ready, and to assist the surgeons as far as they could in any needful operation, or fresh bandaging. Here was richly shown that beautiful, truly patriotic spirit of self-denial, so abundant in the Austrian people, that spirit which the imperial government so frequently misunderstood, so frequently repressed; but which it scarcely ever directed aright in its lively desire to benefit the whole nation.
"Some wounded soldiers are coming in," said the young Countess Frankenstein to her mother, as the carriage arrived at the end of the Prater, and drew near the northern railway station; "shall we not go? I have brought some bandages, some raspberry vinegar, and some wine. I want," she said, turning to her lover with a charming smile, "to help all the poor wounded soldiers that I can, to show my gratitude to God for helping me so graciously in my own trouble and sorrow."