“And you wish to do so now?” said the king.
“Yes, your majesty, I have something to ask.”
“Well, what is it?”
Fritz Kober drew up grandly and ceremoniously.
“I ask your majesty to allow me to marry officer Charles Henry Buschman—to marry him to-day!”
“Marry him!” said the king, amazed; “is, then, officer Buschman—”
“A woman, your majesty!” interrupted Fritz Kober, with joyful impatience. “He is a woman; his name is Anna Sophia Detzloff, from Brunen.”
Frederick’s sharp, piercing eye rested for a moment questioningly upon Charles Henry’s face; then nodding his head smilingly several times, he said:
“Your bride is a spruce lad and a brave officer, and knows how to blush in his soldier’s uniform. Officer Charles Henry Buschman, will you be the wife of officer Fritz Kober?”
“I will, if your majesty consents,” whispered Charles Henry.