Part 6 (2/2)

He pa.s.sed through the gate and went slowly along the high road towards the town. Then it was that the glad feeling of being in his native country a.s.serted itself in full force. He realised that it was just the tender green of those beeches and alders edging the brook that he had longed to see when, in Cairo, the fan-like palm-leaf hung motionless at his window; just this slope of meadow land that he had remembered on the arid veldt of South Africa. It was this mild suns.h.i.+ne of his native land, this blue German sky that he had pined for in the glowing furnace of the Red Sea. The tiny engine which puffed along asthmatically up the valley, dragging its little carriages and ringing its bell from time to time when a browsing sheep strayed between the rails, had been ever present in his mind during his journeyings to and fro.

As he walked along, the young officer thought of his comrades whom he would now meet again.

In this glad moment he could tolerate them all. Their various defects, whether small or great, now appeared less offensive than of yore; and in any case it was kind of them and a great compliment to him that on this very day of his return they should have arranged a feast. It is true he rather dreaded this feast, which was sure to end in the usual way--general drunkenness--but it was well meant, and there was at least one advantage in it, that he would at once be made acquainted with all the details of garrison gossip; for, though altogether beneath contempt, they must be known in order to avoid giving unintentional offence.

At the door of his quarters he found waiting the gunner who had been appointed as his servant.

”Gunner Gahler, as servant to Lieutenant Reimers,” he announced himself.

Reimers took a good look at the man. The sergeant-major seemed to have done well for him in this respect. Gahler was a smart fellow, not exactly tall, but well proportioned, and very clean. His hair smelt a little too strongly of pomade, and wax had not been spared on his fas.h.i.+onably-stiffened moustache.

When Reimers drew his bunch of keys out of his pocket to unlock the door, Gahler hastened to take them from his hand, and opened the door for the lieutenant to pa.s.s in before him. He quickly laid his bundle of clothes upon a chair, and at once helped to take off Reimer's helmet, shoulder-belt, and scarf.

The officer smiled at such excessive zeal.

”How is it that you are so well up in this work?”

”I was for a time servant to Captain von Wegstetten, sir.”

”Indeed? And why did you leave him?”

Gahler hesitated a little; then he resumed glibly: ”Please do not think badly of me, sir. There were difficulties; the servant-girl slandered me; you will understand, sir.”

He stood there embarra.s.sed, polis.h.i.+ng the chin-piece of the helmet with the sleeve of his coat.

Reimers felt amused at his choice manner of expressing himself. ”So you can't leave the women alone?” he asked. ”Well, with me you will not be led into temptation.”

Gahler modestly demurred: ”I beg your pardon, sir; but in that case it was really not at all my fault.”

The lieutenant laughed. ”Oh, all right!” he said; ”but before that, where were you?”

The gunner drew himself up proudly, and replied with dignity: ”I was groom to Count Vocking, in Dresden.”

”Aha, that accounts for it!”

Reimers was no longer surprised. The aristocratic cavalry-officer was considered the richest and smartest sportsman in Germany.

First, Reimers asked for his smoking-jacket, and then told Gahler to help him in unpacking the case of books which had just arrived from Suez.

Gahler handed him the volumes, and could not help remarking: ”You have an awful lot of books, sir!”

The lieutenant did not look offended, so he went on: ”The count hadn't so many, and none at all of this sort.”

He stole another glance to a.s.sure himself that he had not displeased his master, and then added: ”The count only had books about horses, and a few about women, and the Regulations for cavalry-exercise.”

At this Reimers could not help laughing, and his ”Hold your tongue,”

did not sound to Gahler particularly angry.

But if Count Vocking possessed fewer books than the lieutenant, he apparently surpa.s.sed him greatly in other respects.

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