“Your conduct, sir, is a scandal and a disgrace to the regiment,” was the greeting which he offered to the young lieutenant, as the latter stepped into his room. “You appear to be lost to all sense of decency and shame.”
Frederick, pale to the very lips, stepped rapidly forward and looked his chief defiantly in the face, exclaiming as he did so:
“I am at a loss to understand, colonel, in what manner I have merited such a torrent of abuse.”
“You know perfectly well to what I am alluding,” retorted the colonel. “How dare you bring that infernal woman to this place, and install her right under our very nose here at the inn? I don't intend to have any of these Berlin ways here. If you can't do without her, have the good taste, at least, to keep her at Biala, where there are houses for women of that class.”
With almost superhuman efforts to remain calm, the young officer murmured hoarsely:
“I must insist, sir, on your speaking of the lady——”
“Lady, indeed!” fairly yelled the colonel, who was becoming black in the face with rage; “that vile——”
As he uttered these words he was felled to the ground by a terrific blow in the face from Frederick, who exclaimed as he struck him:
“She is my wife, you scoundrel!”