"What do you want?"
"The General requests the Lieutenant to come to him at once."
"Is Father sick?"
August shook his head. "The General is still in his uniform and doesn't look sick, only a little——"
"Only a little what?"
The man ran his fingers through his hair. "A little strange, Lieutenant! I think, Lieutenant, the General——"
"The devil! Will you speak?"
August came a step nearer, and said in a whisper, "I think the General received a bad letter a while ago—it may have been half-past eleven. I didn't see the one who brought it, and Friedrich didn't know him, and he probably went away immediately. But I had to take the letter to the General myself, and the General made a curious face as he read the letter——"
"From a lady?"