The two stood back from each other, but with arms still entwined.
"Perhaps, Hans, I did not watch you closely enough in those days."
"And what has become of the principal cause?"
"The cause?"
"Tekla."
"Bah! She is fat and homely and the mother of seven squalling children."
"What a world! To think that Tekla should be at the bottom of all this tangle! What irony! I ruin my life, I break the heart of the grand duke, I nearly cause war between two friendly states--why? Tekla, now fat and homely and the mother of seven, would not marry me. The devil rides strange horses."
"Good night, Hans."
"Good night, Hermann, and God bless you for your forgiveness. Always come at night if you wish to see me, but do not come often; they might remark it."
A rap on the door startled them. Hans, a finger of warning on his lips, opened the door. Carmichael stood outside.
"Ah, Captain!" Hans took Carmichael by the hand and drew him into the room.
Carmichael, observing Hermann, was rather confused as to what to do.
"Good evening, Hermann," he said.
"Good evening, Herr Carmichael."
Hermann passed into the hail and softly closed the door after him. It was better that the American should not see the emotion which still illumined his face.
"What's the good word, Captain?" inquired Hans.
Carmichael put in a counter-query: "What was your brother doing here?"
"I have told him who I am."
"Was it wise?"
"Hermann sleeps soundly; he will talk neither in his sleep nor in his waking hours. He has forgiven me."
"For what?" thoughtlessly.
"The time for explanations has not yet come, Captain."
"Pardon me, Grumbach; I was not thinking. But I came to bring you the invitation to the military ball."
The broad white envelope, emblazoned with the royal arms, fascinated Hans, not by its resplendency, but by the possibilities which it afforded.
"Thank you; it was very good of you."
"It was a pleasure, comrade. What do you say to an hour or two at the Black Eagle? We'll drown our sorrows together."
"Have you any sorrows, Captain?"
"Who hasn't? Life is a patchwork with the rounding-out pieces always missing. Come along. I'm lonesome to-night."
"So am I," said Hans.
The Black Eagle was lively as usual; and there were some familiar faces. The vintner was there and so was Gretchen. Carmichael hailed her.
"This is my last night here, Herr Carmichael," she said.
"Somebody has left you a fortune?" There was a jest in Carmichael's eyes.
"Yes," replied Gretchen, her lips unsmiling.
"The poor lady who lived on the top floor of my grandmother's house was rich. She left me a thousand crowns."