Part 50 (2/2)

”I was thinking the same, last night, count. Certainly one man, more or less, will make no difference to Frederick; but I thought that, unless you spoke of it, I should let matters go on as they are, except that I thought of asking for three months' leave to go home.”

”That you should go home for a few months is an excellent plan, Drummond; but I think it would be better that, when you were there, you should be able to stay five or six months, if so inclined. Go to the king, tell him frankly that you feel that you want rest and quiet for a time, that you have no longer any occasion in the pecuniary way for remaining in the army, and that you want to get married--all good reasons for resigning a commission. You see, we have now some sort of right to have a voice in the matter. You had a narrow escape at Torgau, and next time you might not be so fortunate; and, anxious as we are for Thirza's happiness, we do think it is high time that you retired from the service.”

”That decides it, count. I myself have had quite enough of this terrible work. Were I a Prussian, I should owe my first duty to the country, and as long as the war continued should feel myself bound to set aside all private considerations to defend her to the last; but it is not so, and my first duty now is a.s.suredly to Thirza, to you, and to the countess. Therefore I will, this morning, go to the king and ask him to allow me to resign my commission.”

”Do so, Drummond. I thought of saying as much to you, last year; but the anxiety of those terrible three or four days after Torgau decided me. If I thought that your honour was concerned in remaining longer in the army, I should be the last to advise you to leave it, even for the sake of my daughter's happiness; but as it is not so, I have no hesitation in urging you to retire.”

”'Tis a good time for me to leave, now. My cousin, the Earl Marischal Keith, returned here three days ago, and I will get him to go with me to the king.”

”I shall say nothing to my wife and Thirza about it, till I see you again, Drummond. Of course the king cannot refuse, but I should like him to take it in good part; as indeed, I doubt not that he will.”

”I have no doubt that he will, too, count. You may think it absurd, and perhaps vain of me; but indeed it is of the king that I am thinking, rather than of myself. During the past three years he has been good enough to treat me with singular kindness. He has had trouble and care which would have broken down most men, and I think that it has been some relief to him to put aside his cares and troubles, for an hour or two of an evening, and to talk to a young fellow like myself on all sorts of matters; just as he does to Sir John Mitch.e.l.l, and my cousin, the Earl Marischal.”

”I have no doubt of it, Drummond, and I quite understand your feeling in the matter. Still, we are selfish enough to think of our feelings, too.”

As soon as the count left, Fergus put on his full uniform and went to the king's quarters. He first saw the Earl Marischal, and told him his errand.

”You are quite right,” the old man said heartily. ”You have done more than enough fighting, and there is no saying how long this war may drag on. I told you, when I first heard of your engagement to the young countess, that I was glad indeed that you were not always to remain a soldier of fortune; and I am sure that the king will consider that you have more than done your duty, by remaining in his service for a year, after having so splendid a prospect before you. Frederick is disengaged at present, and I will go over with you to him, and will myself open the matter.”

Fergus had not seen the king since his arrival at Leipzig.

”I am truly glad to see you on your feet again,” the latter said, as Fergus followed his cousin into the room. ”I felt by no means sure that I should ever see you again, on that day after Torgau; but you still look very thin and pulled down. You want rest, lad.

We all want rest, but it is not all of us that can get it.”

”That is what he has come to speak to you about, your majesty,”

Keith said. ”I told you, a year ago, that he was engaged to be married to the daughter of Count Eulenfurst.”

The king nodded.

”I remember her, the bright little lady who received me, when I went to her father's house.”

”The same, sire. He thinks that the warning he had at Torgau was sufficient; and that, having done his best in your majesty's cause, he has now earned a right to think of himself and her; and so he would beg your majesty to allow him to resign his commission, and to retire from the service.”

”He has certainly well earned the right,” the king said gravely.

”He has done me right good and loyal service, even putting aside that business at Zorndorf; and not the least of those services has been that he has often cheered me, by his talk, when I sorely needed cheering. That empty sleeve of his, that scar won at Zorndorf, are all proofs how well he has done his duty; and his request, now that fortune has smiled upon him in other ways, is a fair and reasonable one.

”I hope, Colonel Drummond,” he went on in a lighter tone, ”that as you will be settled in Saxony--and this war cannot go on for ever--I shall someday see you and your bride at Berlin. None will be more welcome.”

”He is going home to Scotland for a few months, in the first place,” Keith said. ”It is only right that he should visit his mother and people there, before he settles here. He will, like enough, be back again before the campaign opens in the spring.”

Fergus, whose heart was very full, said a few words of thanks to the king for the kindness that he had always shown him, and for what he had now said; and a.s.sured him that he should not only come to Berlin, as soon as peace was made; but that, as long as the war lasted, he would pay his respects to him every year, when he was in winter quarters. He then withdrew, and made his way to the hotel.

”It is done,” he said to the count as he entered. ”I have resigned my commission, and the king has accepted it. He was most kind. I am glad that I have done it, and yet it was a very hard thing to do.”

Thirza uttered an exclamation of joy.

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