'What?' asked the captain, softly.
'Treacherous.'
'And so the Herr Lieutenant has been idling here,' said Guebhard, 'while we were enjoying ourselves by the Morava?'
'Enjoying yourselves?' asked Margarita.
'Yes—cutting up the Turkish dogs. Life is too short to let slip any opportunity nowadays.'
'Especially life in Servia—it is full of perils; and so you were solicitous for his safety? How kind!'
'I was solicitous to see you. I heard that he had been seen in the vicinity of Palenka.'
'By whom.'
'Some wood-cutters—so I made the excuse and came here.'
'Thus shunning your duties in the field?'