"How old are you?"
"I am nineteen."
"You wear the uniform of an officer of the life-guard; the king has, therefore, already promoted you?"
"I was a cadet but eight days," said Trenck, proudly. "My step- father, Count Lottum, came with me from Dantzic, and presented me to the king. His majesty received me graciously, and remembered well that I had received, at the examination at Konigsberg, the first prize from his hand."
"Go on, go on," said Pollnitz; "you see I am all ear, and I must know your present position in order to be useful to you."
"The king, as I have said, received me graciously, even kindly; he made me a cadet in his cavalry corps, and three weeks after, I was summoned before him; he had heard something of my wonderful memory, and he wished to prove me."
"Well, how did you stand the proof?"
"I stood with the king at the window, and he called over to me quickly the names of fifty soldiers who were standing in the court below, pointing to each man as he called his name. I then repeated to him every name in the same succession, but backward."
"A wonderful memory, indeed," said Pollnitz, taking a pinch of Spanish snuff; "a terrible memory, which would make me shudder if I were your sweetheart!"
"And why?" said the young officer.