GOOD BLOOD

By Ernst Von Wildenbruch

Is it possible that there are people quite free from curiosity? Peoplewho can pass on behind any one they see gazing earnestly and intentlytoward some unknown object without feeling an impulse to stop, to followthe direction of the other's eyes, to discover what odd thing he may belooking at?

For my part, if I were asked whether I counted myself among that classof cold natures, I do not know that I could honestly answer "Yes. " Atany rate, there was once a moment in my life when I was not only goadedby such an impulse, but when I actually yielded to the temptation andfell into the way of any mere curiosity seeker. 

The place in which it happened was in a wine-room in the old town whereas Referendar {1} I was practising at court; the time was an afternoonin summer. 

 1 The title conferred in Prussia on the candidate who has passed the first of the two examinations held before appointment as judge. 

The wine-room, situated on the ground floor of a house in the greatsquare which from the window one could look out upon in every direction, was at this hour nearly empty. To me this was all the more agreeable, for I have ever been a lover of solitude. 

There were three of us: the fat waiter, who from a gray, dust-coveredbottle was pouring out the golden-yellow Muscatel into my glass; thenmyself, who sat in a nook of the cozy, odd-cornered room and smacked thefragrant wine; and still another guest, who had taken his place at oneof the two open windows, a tumbler of red wine lying before him onthe window-sill, in his mouth a long brown, smoke-seasoned meerschaumcigar-holder, out of which he wrapped himself in a cloud of smoke. 

This man, who had a long gray beard framing a ruddy face tinged bluishin places, was an old retired colonel, whom every one in town knew. Hebelonged to that colony of the Superannuated who had settled down inthis pleasant place to wearily drag out the end of their days. 

Toward noon they could be seen strolling deliberately in groups of twosor threes down the street, shortly to disappear into the wine-room, where between twelve and one they assembled at the round table togossip. On the table stood pint bottles of sourish Moselle, over thetable floated a thick mist of cigar smoke, and through the mist camevoices, peevish, grating, discussing the latest event in the ArmyRegister. 

The old colonel, too, was a regular patron of the wine-room, but henever came at the hour of general assembly, but later, in the afternoon. 

He was a man of lonely disposition. Rarely was he seen in the company ofothers; his lodging was in the suburbs on the other side of the river, and from the window of his room one could look out over a wide stretchof meadow land which the river regularly inundated every spring, when itoverflowed its banks. Many a time have I passed by his lodging and seenhim standing at the window, his bloodshot eyes, rimmed with deep bagsbeneath, thoughtfully gazing out toward the gray waste of water beyondthe embankment. 

And now he sits there at the window of the wine-room and gazes out uponthe square, over whose surface the wind sweeps along in a whirl of dust. 

But what is he looking at, I wonder?

The fat waiter, bored to death over his two silent fees, had hisattention already drawn toward the colonel's behavior; he stood in themiddle of the room, his hands clasped behind the tail of his coat, andwas gazing through the other window out on to the square. 

Something must surely be going on there. 

Quietly as possible, so as not to break the interest of the other two, I rose from my seat. But there was really nothing to be seen. The squarewas nearly empty; only in the center, under the great street lamps, I noticed two schoolboys who were facing each other in threateningattitude. 

Could it be this, then, that so fixed the attention of the old colonel?

But having once begun, such is the nature of man, I could not withdrawmy attention before knowing whether this threat of a fight would reallyswell to an outbreak. The boys had just come from afternoon schoolsession; they were still carrying their portfolios under their arms. They may have been of equal age, but one was a head taller than theother. This bigger one, a tall, lank, overgrown schoolboy, with anunpleasant look in his freckled face, was blocking the way of the other, who was short and plump and had an honest face with chubby, red cheeks. The-bigger boy seemed to be nagging at the other with taunting words, but by reason of the distance it was impossible to understand what hesaid. After this had been going on for a while, the quarrel suddenlybroke out. Both boys dropped their portfolios to the ground; the littlechubby boy lowered his head, as though to ram his opponent in thestomach, and then rushed at him. 

"The big fellow there will soon have him in a fix, " now said thecolonel, who was earnestly following the movements of the enemy, and whoseemed not to approve the tactics of the little chubby boy. 

For whom he intended these words it would be hard to say; he spoke themto himself without addressing any one of us. 

His prediction was at once justified. 

The big fellow dodged the onset of his enemy; the next moment he hadhis left arm squeezed around the other's neck, so that the head of thelatter was caught as in a noose; he had him, as they say, "in chancery. "With his right hand he gripped the right fist of his opponent, who wastrying to pummel him with it on the back, and when he had regularlytrapped him and brought him completely under his power he dragged himagain and again round and about the lamp-post. 

"Clumsy lad, " muttered the old colonel, continuing his monologue, "always to let himself get caught in that way. " He was plainlydisappointed in the little chubby boy, and could not endure the long, lanky one. 

"They fight that way every day, " he explained, noticing the waiter, towhom he seemed willing to account for his interest in the matter. 

Then he turned his face again toward the window. "Wonder if the littleone will turn up. "

Scarcely had he mumbled this to the end when there came rushing from thecity park that adjoined the square a slender little slip of a lad. 

"There he is, " said the old colonel. He swallowed a mouthful of red wineand stroked his beard. 

The little fellow, who one felt sure by the resemblance must be abrother of little Chubby Cheeks, but a finer and improved edition, ranup, lifted high his portfolio with both hands and gave Long-Shanks ablow on the back that resounded away over to where we sat. 

"Bravo!" said the old colonel. 

Long-Shanks kicked like a horse at this new assailant. Little-Boydodged, and the same instant Long-Shanks got a second blow, this time onthe head, that sent his cap flying. 

Nevertheless, he still kept his prisoner held in the trap and fast bythe right hand. 

Then Little-Boy tore open his portfolio with frantic haste; from theportfolio he drew out a pen-case, from the pen-case a pen-holder, whichall at once he began jabbing into the hand of Long-Shanks that held hisbrother prisoner. 

"Clever lad!" said the colonel to himself. "Fine lad!" His red eyesfairly gleamed with delight. 

The affair was now becoming too hot for Long-Shanks. Stung with pain, he released his first opponent to throw himself with furious blows onLittle-Boy. 

But the latter was now transformed into a veritable little wild-cat. His hat had flown from his head, his curly hair clung round his fine, deathly pale face, out of which his eyes fairly burned; the portfoliowith all its contents was lying on the ground--over cap, portfolio andall he went for the anatomy of Long-Shanks. 

He threw himself on the enemy, and with little, clenched, convulsivefists belabored him so on stomach and body that Long-Shanks began toretreat step by step. 

In the mean while Chubby-Cheeks had recovered himself, snatched uphis portfolio, and with blow after blow on the sides and back of hisoppressor, pushed into the fight again. 

Long-Shanks at last threw off Little-Boy, took two steps backward andpicked up his cap from the ground. The fight was drawing to a finish. Panting and out of breath, the three stood looking at one another. Long-Shanks showed an ugly grin, behind which he tried to hide the shameof his defeat; Little-Boy, with fists still doubled, followed everyone of his movements with blazing eyes, ready at a moment to spring oncemore upon the enemy should the latter renew the attack. But Long-Shanksdid not advance again; he had had enough. Sneering and shrugging hisshoulders, he kept drawing away farther and farther until he had reacheda safe distance, when he began to call out names. The two brothers nowcollected the belongings of Little-Boy that lay scattered about, stuffedthem into the portfolio, picked up their caps, whipped the dust fromthem, and turned home ward. On the way they passed the windows of ourwine-room. I could now plainly see the brave little fellow; he was athoroughbred, every inch of him. Long-Shanks was again approachingfrom behind and bawling after them through the length of the square. Little-Boy shrugged his shoulders with fine contempt. "You great, cowardly bully, " said he, and stopping suddenly, turned right about andfaced the enemy. At once Long-Shanks stopped too, and the two brothersbroke out into derisive laughter. 

They were now standing directly under the window at which the oldcolonel was sitting. He leaned out. 

"Bravo, youngster!" said he, "you are a plucky one--here--drink this onthe strength of it. " He had taken up the tumbler and was holding itout of the window toward Little-Boy. The boy looked up, surprised, thenwhispered something to his older brother, gave him his portfolio tohold, and gripped the big glass in his two little hands. 

When he had drunk all he wanted, with one hand he held the glass byits stem, with the other took back the portfolio from his brother, andwithout asking by your leave, handed the glass over to him. 

Chubby-Cheeks then took a long swallow. 

"The blessed boy, " muttered the colonel to himself. "I give him myglass, and without further ado he makes his _cher frère_ drink out ofit, too. "

But by the face of Little-Boy, who now reached the glass up to thewindow again, one could see that he had only been doing something whichseemed to him quite a matter of course. 

"Do you like the bouquet?" asked the old colonel. 

"Yes, thanks, very well, " said the boy, who snatched at his cappolitely, and went on his way with his brother. 

The colonel looked after them until they had turned a corner of thestreet and disappeared from his sight. 

"With boys like that"--then said the colonel, returning to hissoliloquizing--"it is often an odd thing about boys like that. "

"That they should fight so in the public streets!" said the fat waiterwith disapproval, still standing at his post. "One wonders how theteacher can allow it; and they seem to belong to good family, too. "

"It isn't that that does the harm, " grunted the old colonel. "Youngpeople must have their liberty, teachers can't always be keeping an eyeon them. Boys all fight--must fight. "

He rose heavily from his place so that the chair creaked beneath him, scraped the cigar butt out of its holder into the ash-tray, and walkedstiffly over to the wall where his hat hung on a nail. At the same timehe continued his reverie. 

"In young blood like that nature will show itself--everything, just asit _really_ is--afterward, when older, things look all much alike--thenone is able to study more carefully--young blood like that. "

The waiter had put his hat into his hand; the colonel took up histumbler again, in which there were still a few drops of the red wine. 

"God bless the youngsters, " he murmured; "they have hardly left me adrop. " He looked, almost sadly, into what remained of the wine, then setthe tumbler down again without drinking. 

The fat waiter became suddenly alive. 

"Will the colonel, perhaps, have another glass?"

The old man, standing at the table, had opened the wine list and wasmumbling to himself. 

"H'm--another sort, maybe--but one can't buy it by the glass--only bythe bottle--somewhat too much. "

Slowly his gaze wandered over in my direction; I read in his eyes thedumb inquiry a man sometimes throws his neighbor when he wants to gohalves with him over a bottle of wine. 

"If the colonel will allow me, " I said, "it would give me great pleasureto drink a bottle with him. "

He agreed, plainly not unwilling. He pushed the wine list over tothe waiter, lining with his finger the sort he wanted, and said in acommanding tone: "A bottle of that. "

"That is a brand I know well, " he said, turning to me, while he threwhis hat on a chair and sat down at one of the tables--"it's good blood. "

I had placed myself at a table with him so that I could see his face inprofile. His look was again turned toward the window, and as he gazedpast me up into the heavens, the glow of the sunset was reflected in hiseyes. 

It was the first time I had seen him at such close quarters. 

By the look of his eyes he was lost in dreams, and as his hand playedmechanically through his long beard, there seemed to rise before him outof the flood of the years that had rushed behind, forms that were onceyoung when he was young, and which were now--who can say where? Thebottle which the waiter had brought and placed at a table before uscontained a rare wine. An old Bordeaux, brown and oily, poured into ourglasses. I recalled the expression which the old man had used a shorttime before. 

"I must admit, colonel, that this is indeed 'good blood. '"

His flushed eyes came slowly back from the far away, turned upon me, andremained fixed there, as if he would say: "What do you know about it?"

He took a deep draft, wiped his beard, and gazed at his glass. "Strange, " he said, "when a man grows old--he recalls the earliest daysfar easier than those that come later. "

I was silent; I felt that I ought neither to speak nor question. Whena man is lost in recollections he is making poetry, and one must notquestion a poet. 

A long pause followed. "What an assortment of people one has to meetwith, " he continued. "When one thinks of it--many who live on and on--itwere often better they did not live at all--and others have to go somuch too early. " He passed the palm of his hand over the surface of thetable. "Beneath that lies much. "

It seemed as if the table had become to him as the surface of the earth, and that he was thinking of those lying beneath the ground. 

"Had to keep thinking of this a little while ago"--his voice soundedhollow--"when I saw that little fellow. With a boy like that naturecomes right out, fairly gushes out--thick as your arm. You can see bloodin it. Pity, though, that good blood flows so freely--more freely thanthe other. I once knew a little chap like that. "

And there it was. 

The waiter had seated himself in a back corner of the room; I keptperfectly quiet; the heavy voice of the old colonel went laboringthrough the stillness of the room like a gust of wind that precedes astorm or some serious outbreak in nature. 

His eyes turned toward me as if to search me, whether I could bear tolisten. He did not ask, I did not speak, but I looked at him, and mylook eagerly replied: "Go on. "

But not yet did he begin; first he drew from the breast pocket of hiscoat a large cigar-case of hard, brown leather, took out a cigar andslowly lighted it. 

"You know Berlin, of course, " said he, as he blew out the match andpuffed the first cloud of smoke over the table. "No doubt you havetraveled before this on the street railway--"

"Oh, yes; often. "

"H'm--well, then, as you go along behind the New Friedrich Street fromAlexander Square to the Jannowiz Bridge, there stands there on theright-hand side in new Friedrich Street, a great ugly old building; itis the old military school. "

I nodded. 

"The new one over there in Lichterfelde I do not know, but the old one, that I do know--yes--h'm--was even a cadet there in my time--yes--thatone I do know. "

This repetition of words gave me the feeling that he knew not only thehouse, but probably many an event that had taken place in it. 

"As you come from Alexander Square, " he continued, "there first comesa court with trees. Now grass grows in the court; in my time it was notso, for the drills took place there and the cadets went walking thereduring the hours of recreation. After that comes the great main buildingthat encloses a square court, which is called the 'Karreehof, ' andthere, too, the cadets used to walk. Passing by from the outside, youcan't see into the court. "

I nodded again in confirmation. 

"And then comes still a third court; it is smaller, and on it standsa house. Don't know what it is used for now; at that time it was theinfirmary. You can still see there the roof of the gymnasium as you passby; then next to the infirmary was the principal outdoor gymnasium. Init was a jumping ditch and a climbing apparatus and every other possiblething--now it has all gone. From the infirmary a door led out into thegymnasium, but it was always kept locked. When one wanted to go into theinfirmary, one had to cross the court and enter in front. The doorthen, as I said, was always locked; that is, it was opened only on somespecial occasion, and that, indeed, was always a very mournful occasion. For behind the door was the mortuary, and when a cadet died he was laidtherein, and the door remained open until the other cadets had filed by, and looked at him once more--and he was then taken out--yes--h'm. "

A long pause followed. 

"Concerning the new house over there in Lichterfelde, " continued the oldcolonel in* a somewhat disparaging tone, "I know nothing, as I said, buthave heard that it is become a big affair with a great number ofcadets. Here in New Friedrich Street there were not so many, only fourcompanies, and they divided themselves into two classes: Sekundanerand Primaner, and to these two were added the Selektaner, or specialstudents, who afterward entered the army as officers, and who werenicknamed 'The Onions, ' because they had authority over the others andwere barely tolerated in consequence. 

"Now in the company to which I belonged--it was the fourth--therewere two brothers who sat together in the same class with me, theSekun-daner. Their name is of no consequence--but--well, they werecalled, then, von L; the older of the two was called by the superiorsL No. I, and the smaller, who was a year and a half younger than theother, L No. II. Among the cadets, however, they were called Big andLittle L. Little L, indeed--h'm--"

He moved in his chair, his eyes gazed out into vacancy. It appeared thathe had reached the subject of his reveries. 

"Such a contrast between brothers I have never seen, " he continued, blowing a thick cloud from his meerschaum pipe. "Big L was a strappingfellow, with clumsy arms and legs and a big fat head; [1] Little L was likea willow switch, so slender and supple. He had a small, fine head, andlight, wavy hair that curled of itself, and a delicate nose like a youngeagle's, but above all--he was a lad--"

 1 "Die Bollen, " a term of dislike among the Berlin cadets. 

The old colonel drew a deep sigh. "Now you must not think that allthis was a matter of indifference to the cadets; on the contrary. Thebrothers had scarcely entered the Berlin Cadet. School from thepreparatory school (they came from the one at Wahlstatt, I believe) whentheir status was at once fixed: Big L was neglected, and Little L wasthe universal favorite. 

"Now with such boys it is an odd thing: the big and the strong, they arethe leaders, and on whomsoever these bestow their favor, with that boyall goes well. It also procures for him respect from the others, and noone ventures lightly to attack him. Such boys--here again nature standsright out--much as it is with the animals, before the biggest andstrongest all the rest must crouch. "

Fresh, vigorous puffs from the meerschaum accompanied these words. 

"When the cadets came down at recreation time those who were goodfriends together met and would go walking arm in arm around the'Karreehof and toward the court where the trees stood, and so it wasalways until the trumpet sounded for return to work. 

"Big L--well--he attached himself just wherever he could findattachment, and stalked sullenly ahead by himself--Little L, on thecontrary, almost before he could reach the court was seized under thearm by two or three big fellows and compelled to walk with them. Andthey were Primaners at that. For ordinarily, you must know, it neveroccurred to a Primaner to go with a 'Knapsack, ' or Plebe, from theSekunda; it was far beneath his dignity; but with Little L it wasdifferent, there an exception was made. And yet he was no less loved bythe Sekundaner than by the Primaner. One could see that in class, wherewe Sekundaner boys, you know, were by ourselves. In class we were rangedaccording to alphabet, so that the two L's sat together very nearly inthe centre. 

"In their lessons they stood pretty nearly even. Big L had a good headfor mathematics; in other things he was not of much account, but inmathematics he was, as you might say, a "shark, " and Little L, who wasnot strong in mathematics, used to "crib" from his brother. In all otherrespects Little L was ahead of his older brother, and in fact one of thebest in his class. And right here appeared the difference between thebrothers; Big L kept his knowledge to himself, and never prompted;Little L, _he_ prompted, he fairly shouted--yes, to be sure he did--"

A tender smile passed over the face of the old man. 

"If any one on the front form was called upon and did not know theanswer--Little L hissed right across all the forms what he ought tosay: when it came the turn of the back benches little L spoke the answerhalf-aloud to himself. 

"There was there an old professor from whom we took Latin. During nearlyevery lesson he would stop short in the middle of the class; 'L No. II, ' he would say, 'you are prompting again! And that, too, in a mostshameless fashion. Have a care, L No. II, next time I will make anexample of you. I say it to you now for the last time!"

The old colonel laughed to himself. "But it always remained the next tolast time, and the example was never made. For though Little L was nomodel boy, more often quite the contrary, he was loved by both teachersand officers as well--but how indeed could it have been otherwise? Hewas always in high spirits, as if receiving a new present every day, yet nothing ever got sent to him, for the father of the two was indesperately poor circumstances, a major in some infantry regiment orother, and the boys received hardly a groschen (2. 4 cents) for pocketmoney. And always as if just peeled out of the egg, so fresh, --withoutand within--eh, eh, altogether--"

Here the colonel paused, as if searching for an expression that wouldcontain the whole of his love for this former little comrade. 

"As if Nature had been for once in a proudly good-humor, " he said, "andhad stood that little follow upright on his feet and cried: 'There youhave him!'

"Now this was to be observed, " he continued, "that just so much as thebrothers differed, one from the other, the more they seemed to clingto each other. In Big L, indeed, one did not notice it so much; he wasalways sullen and displayed no feeling; but Little L could never concealanything. And because Little L felt conscious of this, how much betterhe himself was treated by the other cadets, it made him sorry for hisbrother. When we took our walks around the courtyard, then one could seehow Little L would look at his brother from time to time, to see if he, too, had some one to walk with. That he prompted his brother in classand allowed him to copy from himself when sight-exercises were dictatedwas all a matter of course; but he also took care that no one teasedhis brother, and when he observed him quietly from the side, as he oftendid, without drawing his brother's attention to it, then his little facewas quite noticeably sad, almost as if he were a great care to him--"

The old man pulled hard at his pipe. "All that I put together for myselfafterward, " said he, "when everything happened that was to happen; heknew at the time much better than we did how matters stood with Big L, and what was his brother's character. 

"This was, of course, understood among the cadets, and it helped Big Lnone the more, for he remained disliked after it as before, yet it madeLittle L all the more popular, and he was generally called 'BrotherLove. '

"Now the two lived together in one room, and Little L, as I said, wasvery clean and neat; the big one, on the contrary, was very slovenly. And so Little L fairly made himself servant to his brother, and itturned out that he even cleaned the brass buttons on his uniform forhim, and just before the ranks formed for roll-call would place himself, with clothes-brush in hand, in front of his brother, and once moreregularly brush and scrub him--especially on those days when the 'crosslieutenant' was on duty and received roll-call. 

"Well, in the morning the cadets had to go down into the court forroll-call, and there the officer on duty went up and down between thelines and inspected their uniforms to see if they were in order. 

"And when the 'cross lieutenant' attended to this, then there reignedthe most woful anxiety throughout the company, for he always foundsomething. He would go behind the cadets and flip at their coats withhis finger to make the dust fly, and if none came, then he would lifttheir coat-pockets and snap at them, and so, beat our coats as much aswe would, there was sure to be left some dust lying on them, and as soonas the 'cross lieutenant' saw it, he would sing out in a voice like thatof an old bleating ram: 'Write him down for Sunday report, ' and thenSunday's day off might go to the devil, and then that got to be a veryserious matter. "

The old colonel paused, took a vigorous swallow of wine, and with thepalm of his hand squeezed the beard from his upper lip into his mouthand sucked off the wine drops that sparkled on the hair. Recollection ofthe "cross lieutenant" made him plainly furious. 

"When one considers what sort of meanness it takes to so deprive a poorlittle fellow of the Sunday holiday he has been hugging for a wholeweek, and all for a trifle--bah! it's downright--whenever I have seenany one annoying my men--in later days that sort of thing didn't happenin my regiment; they knew this, that I was there and would not tolerateit. --To be rough at times, ay, even to the extreme if necessary, tothrow one into the guard-house, that does no harm--: but to nag--forthat it takes a mean skunk!"

"Very true!" observed the waiter from the back part of the room, andthus made it known that he was following the colonel's story. 

The old man calmed himself and went on with his story. 

"Things went on this way for a year, and then came the time forexaminations, always a very special occasion. 

"The Primaners took their ensign's examination, and the Selektaners, who, as I have said, Were called 'Onions, ' the officer's examination, and as fast as any had passed the examination, they were dismissedfrom the cadet corps and sent home, and it came about that the secondclassmen, or Sekundaner, who were to be promoted to first class, stillremained Sekundaner for a time. 

"Well, this state of affairs lasted until the new Sekundaner enteredfrom the preparatory school and the newly dubbed 'Onions' returned, andthen once more the wheelbarrow trudged along its accustomed way. But inthe meantime a kind of disorder prevailed, more especially just afterthe last of the Primaners had left--they were examined in sections, youknow, and then despatched, after which everything went pretty much atsixes and sevens. 

"There was now in the dormitory where the two brothers lived a certainPrimaner, a 'swell, ' as he was called by the cadets, and because he hadmade up his mind, as soon as he should pass the examination and breathethe fresh air again, to conduct himself like a fine gentleman, he hadhad made for himself, instead of a sword-belt like those the cadetsprocured from the institution and wore, a special patent-leather belt ofhis own, thinner and apparently finer than the ordinary regulation belt. He was able to afford this much, you see, for he had money sent to himfrom home. He had displayed this belt about everywhere, for he wasinordinately proud of it, and the other cadets admired it. 

"Now as the day arrived for the Primaner to pack together his scatteredbelongings in order to go home, he looked to buckle on his finebelt--and all at once the thing was missing. 

"A great to-do followed; search was made everywhere; the belt was not tobe found. The Primaner had not locked it in his wardrobe, but had put itwith his helmet in the dormitory behind the curtain where the helmets ofthe other cadets lay openly--and from there it had disappeared. 

"It could not possibly have disappeared in any other way;--some one musthave taken it. 

"But who?

"First they thought of the old servant who was accustomed to blacken theboots of the cadets, and keep the dormitory in order--but he was an oldtrusty non-commissioned officer, who had never during the course of hislong life allowed himself to be guilty of the least irregularity. 

"It surely could not be one of the cadets? But who could possibly thinksuch a thing? So the matter remained a mystery, and truly an unpleasantone. The Primaner swore and scolded because he must now leave wearingthe ordinary institution belt; the other cadets in the room werealtogether silent and depressed; they had at once unlocked all theirwardrobes and offered to let the Primaner search them, but he had merelyreplied: 'That's nonsense, of course; who could think of such a thing?'

"And now something remarkable happened, and caused more sensation thanall that went before; all at once the Primaner got back the belt. 

"He had just left his room with his portmanteau in his hand, and hadreached the stairs, when he was hastily called from behind, and ashe turned about, Little L came running up, holding something in hishand--it was the Primaner's belt. 

"Two others happened to be passing at the time, and they afterward toldhow deathly pale Little L was, and how every member of his body wasliterally shaking. He had whispered something into the ear of thePrimaner, and the two had exchanged all quietly a couple of words, andthen the Primaner affectionately stroked the other's head, took off hisregulation belt, buckled on the fine one and was gone; he had handedthe regulation belt over to Little L to carry back. Naturally the storycould now no longer be concealed, and it all came out accordingly. 

"A new assignment of rooms was ordered; Big L was transferred; and justat the time all this was taking place, he had completed his removal tothe new quarters. 

"Afterward it occurred to the cadets that he had kept strangely quietabout the whole affair--but one always hears the grass growing after ithas grown. So much, however, was certain; he had allowed no one to helphim, and when Big L put his hands to the work, he became quite roughtoward his little brother. But Little L, ready to help as he always was, did not allow himself to be deterred by this, and as he was taking outof his brother's locker the gymnasium drill jacket that was lying neatlyfolded together, he felt all at once something hard within--and it wasthe belt of the Primaner. 

"What the brothers said to each other at the moment, or whether theyspoke at all, no one has ever learned; for Little L had still so muchpresence of mind that he went noiselessly from the room. 

"But hardly was he out of the door and in the corridor, when he threwthe jacket on the ground, and without once thinking of what might bemade out of the affair, he ran up behind the Primaner with the belt. 

"But now, of course, it could no longer be helped; in five minutes thestory was the property of the whole company. 

"Big L had allowed himself to be driven by the devil and had becomelight-fingered. Half an hour later it was whispered softly from room toroom: 'To-night, when the lamps are turned out, general consultation inthe company hall!'

"In every company quarters, you must know, there was a larger room, where marks were given out, and certain public actions proceeded with, in what was called the company hall. 

"So that evening, when the lamps were out, and everything was quitedark, there was a general movement from all the rooms, through thecorridor; not a door ventured to slam, all were in stocking feet, forthe captain and the officers still knew nothing and were allowed to knownothing of the meeting, else we would have brought a storm about ourears. 

"As we came to the door of the company hall, there stood near the dooragainst the wall one as white as the plaster on the wall--it was LittleL. At the same moment a couple took him by the hands. 'Little L cancome in with us, ' they said; 'he is not to blame. ' Only one of them allwished to oppose this; he was a long, big fellow--he was called--nameof no consequence--well, then, he was called K. But he was overruled atonce; Little L was taken in with us, a couple of tallow candles were litand placed on the table, and now the consultation began. "

The colonel's glass was empty again. I filled it for him, and he tooka long swallow. "Over all this, " he went on, "one can laugh now if onewills; but this much I can say for us, we were not in a laughing mood, but altogether dismal. A cadet a rascal--to us that was somethingincomprehensible. All faces were pale, all speaking was but half aloud. Ordinarily it was considered the most despicable piece of meanness ifone cadet reported another to the authorities--but when a cadet had donesuch a thing as to steal, then he was for us no longer a cadet, and itwas for this reason that the consultation was being held, whether weought to report to the captain what Big L had done. 

"Long K was the first to speak. He declared that we ought to go atonce to the captain and tell him everything, for at such meanness allconsideration ceases. Now Long K was the biggest and strongest boyin the company; his words, therefore, made a marked impression, andbesides, we were all of his opinion at bottom. 

"No one knew anything to object to this, and so there fell a generalsilence. All at once, however, the circle that had formed around thetable opened and Little L, who had till now been flattening himselfagainst the farthest corner of the room, came forward into the centre. His arms hung limp at the side of his body, and his face he kept loweredto the ground; one saw that he wished to say something, but could notfind the courage. 

"Long K was again laying down the law. 'L No. II, ' said he, 'has noright to speak here. '

"But this time he was not so fortunate. He had always been hostile tothe two, no one quite knew why, especially Little L. Moreover, hewas not a bit popular, for as such youngsters have once and for all atremendously fine instinct, they may have felt that in this long gawklay hidden a perfectly mean, cowardly, wretched spirit. He was one ofthose who never venture to attack their equals in size, but bully thesmaller and weaker ones. 

"At that broke out a whispering on all sides: 'Little L _shall_ speak!All the more reason for him to speak. '

"As the little fellow, who was still standing there, ever motionlessand rigid, heard how his comrades were taking his part, suddenly thebig tears rolled down his cheeks; he doubled his two little fists andscrewed them into his eyes and sobbed so heart-breakingly that his wholebody shook from top to bottom and he could not utter a word. 

"One of them went up to him and patted him on the back. 

"'Take it easy, ' said he; 'what is it you wish to say?'

"Little L still kept on sobbing. 

"'If--he is shown up--' he then broke out at long intervals--'he will bedismissed from the corps--and then what will become of him?'

"There was silence everywhere; we knew that the young one was perfectlyright, and that such would be the consequence if we reported him. Addedto this we also knew that the father was poor, and involuntarily eachthought of what his own father would say if he should learn the same ofhis son. 

"'But you must see yourself/ continued the cadet to Little L, 'that yourbrother has done a very contemptible thing and deserves punishment forit. '

"Little L nodded silently; his feelings were entirely with those whowere censuring his brother. The cadet reflected a moment, then he turnedto the others. 

"'I make a proposition, ' said he; 'and if it be accepted we will notdisgrace L No. I for life. We will prove on his body whether he has anyhonorable feelings left. L No. I. Himself shall choose whether he wishesus to report him or whether we shall keep the matter to ourselves cudgelhim thoroughly for it, and then let the affair be buried. '

"That was an admirable way out. All agreed eagerly. 

"The cadet laid his hand on Little L's shoulder. 'Go along, then, ' saidhe, 'and call your brother here. '

"Little L dried his tears and nodded his head quickly--then he was outof the door and a moment after was back again, bringing his brother withhim. 

"Big L ventured to look at no one; like an ox that has been felled onthe forehead, he stood before his comrades. Little L stood behind him, and never once did his eyes leave his brother's slightest movement. 

"The cadet who had made the foregoing proposition began the trial of LNo. I. 

"'Does he admit that he took the belt?'

"'He admits it. '

"'Does he feel that he has done something that has made him absolutelyunworthy of being a cadet any longer?'

"'He feels it. '

"'Does he choose that we report him to the captain or that we thrash himsoundly and that the matter shall then be buried?'

"'He prefers to be soundly thrashed. '

"A sigh of relief went through the whole hall. 

"It was determined to finish the matter at once then and there. 

"One of the boys was sent out to fetch a rattan, such as we used forbeating our clothes. 

"While he was gone we tried to induce Little L to leave the hall, sothat he should not be present at the execution. 

"But he shook his head silently; he wished to remain on hand. 

"As soon as the rattan came, Big L was made to lie face down on thetable, two cadets seized his hands and drew him forward, two otherstook him by the feet so that his body lay stretched out lengthwise. Thetallow candles were taken from the table and lifted up high, and thewhole affair had an absolutely gruesome look. 

"Long K, because he was the strongest, was to perform the execution; hetook the rattan in his hand, stepped to one side, and with the forceof his whole body let the cane come whistling down on to Big L, who wasclothed only in drill jacket and trousers. 

"The young fellow fairly rose under the fearful blow and would havecried out; but in a second Little L rushed up to him, took his head inboth hands and smothered it against himself. 

"'Don't scream, ' he whispered to him; 'don't scream, else the wholeaffair will get out!'

"Big L swallowed down the cry and choked and groaned to himself. 

"Long K again lifted up the cane, and a second swish resounded throughthe hall. 

"The body of the culprit actually writhed on the table, so that thecadets were scarcely able to hold him down by his hands and feet. LittleL had wrapped both arms around the head of his brother, and was crushingit with convulsive force against himself. His eyes were wide open, hisface like the plaster on the wall, his whole body was quivering. 

"Throughout the hall was a stillness like death, so that one could onlyhear the wheezing and puffing of the victim whom the little brother wassmothering against his breast. 

"All eyes were hanging on the little fellow; we all had a feeling thatwe could not look on at it any longer. 

"When, therefore, the third blow had fallen and the whole performancerepeated itself just as before, a general excited whisper followed:'Now, it is enough--strike no more!'

"Long K, who had become quite red from the exertion, was raising hisarm again for the fourth blow, but with one accord, three or four threwthemselves between him and Big L, tore the rattan from his grasp, andthrust him back. 

"The execution was at an end. 

"The cadet aforesaid raised his voice once more, but only half aloud. 

"'Now, the affair is over with and buried, ' said he, 'let each onegive his hand to L No. I. , and let him that breathes even a word of thematter be accounted a rascal. '

"A general 'Yes, yes, ' showed that he had spoken entirely in accord withthe mind of the others. They stepped up to Big L and stretched out theirhands to him, but then, as at a word of command, they threw themselvesupon Little L. There formed a regular knot about the lad, first oneand then another wished to grasp him by the hand and shake it. Thosestanding at the back stretched out their hands 'way across those infront, some even climbed on to the table to get at him; they strokedhis head, patted him on the shoulder, and with it all was a generalwhispering: 'Little L, you glorious rascal, you superb Little L. '"

The old colonel lifted his glass to his mouth--it was as if he wereforcing something down behind it. When he set it down again, he drew adeep sigh from the bottom of his heart. 

"Boys like that, " said he, "they have instinct--instinct and sentiment. 

"The lights were turned out, all stole hushed through the corridor backto their rooms. Five minutes later every boy was lying in his bed, andthe affair was ended. 

"The captain and the other officers had heard not a sound of the wholematter. 

"The affair was ended"--the voice of the speaker grew thick; he hadburied both hands in his trousers' pockets and was gazing before himthrough the fumes of the smoking cigar. 

"So we thought that night, as we lay in bed. --Did Little L sleep thatnight? In the days following, when we assembled in class, it did notseem so. Before, it had been as if an imp were sitting in the placewhere the lad sat, and, like a rooster, had crowed it over the wholeclass--now it was as if there were a void in the place--so still andpale he sat in his place. 

"As when a man flicks the dust from the wings of a butterfly--so was itwith the little lad--I can not describe it otherwise. 

"On afternoons one always saw him now walking with his brother. He mayhave felt that Big L would now find less companionship than ever amongthe others--so he provided company for him. And there the two went, then, arm in arm, always around about the Karreehof and across the courtwith the trees in it, one as well as the other with head bent to theground, so that one scarcely saw that they ever spoke a word. "

Again there came a pause in the narrative, again I had to fill the emptyglass of the colonel, who smoked his cigar faster and faster. 

"But all this, " he continued, "would perhaps have worn itself out incourse of time and everything have gone on as before--but for people!"

He laid his clenched fist on the table. 

"There are people, " said he, scowling, "who are like the poisonous weedin the field, at which beasts nibble themselves to death. With suchpeople the rest poison themselves!

"So, then, one day we were having lessons in physics. The teacher wasshowing us experiments on the electric machine, and an electric shockwas to be passed through the whole class. 

"To this end each one of us had to give his hand to his neighbor, so asto complete the circuit. 

"As now Big L, who was sitting next to Long K, held out his hand to him, the lubber made a grimace as if he were about to touch a toad and drewback his hand. 

"Big L quietly shrank into himself and sat there as if covered withshame. But at the same instant Little L is up and out of his place, overto his brother's side, at whose place, next to Long K, he seats himself, whose hand he grips and smashes with all the force of his body againstthe wooden form, so that the long gawk cries out with pain. 

"Then he grabbed Little L by the neck and the two now began regularly tofight in the middle of class. 

"The teacher, who had been tinkering all this time at his machine, nowrushed up with coat-tails flying. 

"'Now! Now! Now!' he cried. 

"He was, you must know, an old man for whom we had not exactly a greatrespect. 

"The two were so interlocked that they did not break away, even thoughthe professor was standing directly in front of them. 

"'What disgraceful conduct!' cried the professor. 'What disgracefulconduct! Will you separate at once!'

"Long K made a face as if he were about to cry. 

"'L No. II began it, ' he said, 'though I did nothing at all to provokehim. '

"Little L stood straight up in his place--for we always had to standwhen a professor spoke to us--big drops of perspiration coursed slowlydown either cheek; he said not a word; he had bitten his teeth togetherso hard that one could see the muscles of his jaw through the thincheeks. And as he heard what Long K said a smile passed over his face--Ihave never seen anything like it. 

"The old professor expatiated at some length in beautiful set phrasesover such disgraceful behavior, spoke of the 'utter depths of abysmalbestiality, which such conduct betrayed'--we let him talk on; ourthoughts were with Little L and Long K. 

"And scarcely was the lesson at an end and the professor out of thedoor, when from the back a book came flying through the air the wholelength of the class straight at the skull of Long K. And as he turnedangrily toward the aggressor, from the other side he received anotherbook on his head, and now there broke out a general howling: 'Knock himdown! Knock him down!' The whole class sprang up over tables and benchesand there was a rush for Long K, whose hide was now so thoroughly tannedthat it fairly smoked. "

The old colonel, pleased, smiled grimly to himself and contemplated hishand as it still lay with fist doubled on the table. 

"I helped, " said he, "and with hearty good-will--I can tell you. "

It was as if his hand had forgotten that it had grown fifty years older;as the fingers closed convulsively one could see that it was in spiritonce again pummeling Long K. 

"But as people must belong once and forever to their own kind, "he continued his narrative, "so this Long K had to be naturally arevengeful, spiteful, malicious, _canaille_. He would much rather havegone to the captain and resentfully told him everything, but in ourpresence he did not dare; for that he was too cowardly. 

"But that he had received a thrashing before the whole class, and thatLittle L was to blame for it, for that he did not forgive Little L. 

"One afternoon, then, as recreation hour came round again, the cadetswent walking in the courts; the two brothers, as usual, by themselves;Long K linked arm in arm with two others. 

"To get from the Karreehof to the other court where the trees were, onehad to pass under one of the wings of the main building, and it wasa rule that the cadets must not pass through arm in arm, so as not toobstruct the passageway. 

"On this particular afternoon, as ill-luck would have it, Long K, as hewas about to pass through with his two chums from the Karreehof to theother court, met the two brothers at the corridor, and they, deep intheir thoughts, had forgotten to let go of one another. 

"Long K, although the affair was no concern of his, when he saw thisstood still, opened his eyes wide and his mouth still wider, and calledout to the two: 'What does this mean, ' said he, 'that you go throughhere arm in arm? Do you intend to block the way for honest people, youset of thieves?'"

Here the colonel interrupted himself. 

"That is now fifty years ago, " said he, "and more--but I remember it asif it had happened yesterday. 

"I was just going with two others from the Karreehof, and suddenly weheard a scream come from the corridor--I can not describe at all how itsounded--when a tiger or other wild beast breaks loose from his cage andthrows himself on some one, then, I think, one would hear something likeit. 

"It was so horrible that we three let our arms drop and stood therequite paralyzed. And not only we, but everything in the Karreehofstopped and suddenly grew quiet. And then everything that had two legsto run with kept rushing up at full speed toward the corridor, so thatit fairly swarmed and thickened black around the corridor. I, naturally, with the rest--and what I saw there--

"Little L had climbed on to Long K like a wildcat--nothing else--andwith his left hand hanging on by the latter's collar so that the tallgawk was half-choked, with his right fist he kept up a crack--crack--andcrack right in the middle of Long K's face, wherever it happenedto strike, so that the blood was pouring from Long K's nose like awaterfall. 

"Now from the other court came the officer who was on duty and brokehis way through the cadets. 'L No. II, will you leave off at once!' hethundered--for he was a man tall as a tree and had a voice that could beheard from one end of the Academy to the other, and we had a wholesomerespect for him. 

"But Little L neither heard nor saw, but kept on belaboring Long Kin the face still more, and with it came again and again that fearfuluncanny shriek that thrilled through us all, marrow and bone. 

"When the officer saw that he-took hold himself, gripped the littlefellow by both shoulders, and by main force tore him away from Long K. 

"As soon as he stood upon his feet, however, Little L rolled up thewhites of his eyes, fell his full length to the earth, and writhed onthe ground in a convulsion. 

"We had never yet seen anything like it, and were shocked and, stared atit in absolute terror. 

"But the officer, who had been bending down over him, now straightenedhimself: 'The lad certainly has a most serious convulsion, ' said he. 'Forward, two take hold of his feet'--he himself lifted him under thearms--'over to the infirmary!'

"And so they bore Little L over to the infirmary. 

"While they were carrying him there we went up to Big L to learn justwhat had happened, and from Big L and the other two who had been withLong K we then heard the whole story. 

"Long K was standing there like a whipped dog and wiping the blood fromhis nose, and had it not been for this nothing would have saved him fromreceiving another murderous thrashing. But now all turned silentlyaway from him, no one ever spoke another word to him; he made himself asocial outcast. "

The top of the table resounded as the old colonel struck it with hisfist. 

"How long the others kept him in Coventry, " said he, "I know not. I satin class with him for a whole year longer and spoke never a single wordmore to him. We entered the army at the same time as ensigns; I didnot give him my hand at parting; do not know whether he has become anofficer; have never looked for his name in the army register; don't knowwhether he has fallen in one of the wars, whether he still lives or isdead--for me he was no more, is no more--the only thing I regret is thatthe person ever came into my life at all and that I can not root out theremembrance of him forever, like a weed one flings into the oven!

"The next morning came bad news from the infirmary: Little L was lyingunconscious in a burning, nervous fever. In the afternoon his olderbrother was called in, but the little fellow no longer recognized him. 

"And in the evening, as we all sat at supper in the big commondining-hall, a rumor came--like a great black bird with muffled beat ofwings it passed through the hall--that Little L was dead. 

"As we came back from the dining-hall into company quarters, our captainwas standing at the door of the company hall; we were made to go in, andthere the captain announced to us that our little comrade, L No. II, hadfallen asleep that night, never to wake again. 

"The captain was a very good man--he fell in 1866, a brave hero--heloved his cadets, and as he gave us the news, he had to wipe the tearsfrom his beard. Then he ordered us all to fold our hands; one of us hadto step forward and before all say 'Our Father' out loud--"

The colonel bowed his head. 

"Then for the first time, " said he, "I felt how really beautiful is theLord's Prayer. 

"And so, the next afternoon, the door that led from the infirmary to theoutdoor gymnasium opened, the hateful, ominous door. 

"We were made to step down into the court of the infirmary; we were tosee once more our dead comrade. 

"Our steps shuffled with a dull and heavy sound as we were marched overthere; no one spoke a word; one heard only a heavy breathing. 

"And there lay little L, poor little L!

"In his white little shirt he lay there, his hands folded on his breast, his golden locks curled about his forehead, which was white like wax;the cheeks so sunken that the beautiful, delicate little nose projectedquite far--and in his face--the expression--"

The old colonel was silent, the breath came choking from his bosom. 

"I have grown to be an old man, " he went on falteringly--"I have seenmen lying on the field of battle--men on whose faces stood writtendistress and despair--such heart sorrow as I saw in the face of thischild I have never seen before or since--never--never--"

A deep stillness took possession of the wine-room where we were sitting. As the old colonel became silent and spoke no word more, the waiter rosesoftly from his corner and lit the gas-jet that hung over our heads; ithad grown quite dark. 

I took up the wine bottle once more, but it was now almost empty--justone tear still crept slowly out--one last drop of the good blood.