"Vignerte!" I screamed frantically. "Lie down! For God's sake, lie down!"
I saw him for one second more. He had not moved. Drawn to his full height, and facing the approaching storm with a gentle smile of acquiescence and ecstasy, he was gazing in rapt attention towards the dawn.
Then came the crash.
A shower of stones and steel fragments fell on the roof of the dug-out into which my chief had hastily pulled me at the last moment. When the dreadful rain had ceased, we looked out, our eyes starting from our heads with horror.
At the edge of the slope an enormous black crater now yawned with some pathetic red and blue fragments on the far side.
Thus died Lieutenant Vignerte on October 31st, 1914, for love of the Grand Duchess Aurora of Lautenburg-Detmold.