his sitting-room lit up, and that there were no signs of Trudschen in
the lower hall or passages. He made his way upstairs in the dark and
pushed open the door of his apartment. To his astonishment, Karl was
sitting comfortably in his own chair, his cap off before a student-lamp
on the table, deeply engaged in apparent study. So profound was his
abstraction that it was a moment before he looked up, and the consul had
a good look at his usually beaming and responsive face, which, however,
now struck him as wearing a singular air of thought and concentration.
When their eyes at last met, he rose instantly and saluted, and
his beaming smile returned. But, either from his natural phlegm or
extraordinary self-control he betrayed neither embarrassment nor alarm.
The explanation he gave was direct and simple. Trudschen had gone out
with the Corporal Fritz for a short walk, and had asked him to "keep
house" during their absence. He had no books, no papers, nothing to read
in the barracks, and no chance to improve his mind. He thought the Herr
Consul would not object to his looking at his books. The consul was
touched; it was really a trivial indiscretion and as much Trudschen's
fault as Karl's! And if the poor fellow had any mind to improve,--his
recent attitude certainly suggested thought and reflection,--the consul
were a brute to reprove him. He smiled pleasantly as Karl returned a
stubby bit of pencil and some greasy memoranda to his breast pocket, and
glanced at the table. But to his surprise it was a large map that Karl
had been studying, and, to his still greater surprise, a map of the
consul's own district.
"You seem to be fond of map-studying," said the consul pleasantly. "You
are not thinking of emigrating again?"
"Ach, no!" said Karl simply; "it is my cousine vot haf lif near here. I
find her."
But he left on Trudschen's return, and the consul was surprised to
see that, while Karl's attitude towards her had not changed, the girl
exhibited less effusiveness than before. Believing it to be partly
|