"Yes; the question of time is a serious point, but it is not only that. The serious thing is the resolution. Who made you take it? Is it because your grandfather called out 'Go away!' that you have decided to go?"
"No; he thought as I think, that is all."
"Is it the refusal of my friend Bastian which decided you?"
"Not more than the other. If he had said yes I should have had to tell him what I have told you this evening—I will live neither in Germany nor in Alsace."
"Then your sister's marriage?"
"Yes; that blow alone would have been enough to drive me away. What would my life be like at Alsheim now? Have you thought about that?"
"Be careful, Jean. You forsake your post as an Alsatian!"
"No; I can do nothing for Alsace! I could never gain the confidence of Alsatians now: with my father compromised, and my sister married to a Prussian."
"They will say you deserted!"
"Let them come to tell me so then, when I shall be serving with my regiment in France!"