Barlasch of the Guard

end que ce qu'i

ter she was destined to speak to another King of Prussia, who said a prayer by her tomb before departing on a journey that was to end i

encourage virtue and discipline and patriotism. And now, in 1812, four years later, the memory of Luisa still lingered in those narrow streets that run by the banks

ide that carries before it a certain flotsam of quick and active men, keen-eyed, restless, rising-men who speak with a shar

arms. So the soldiers slept where they could. They bivouacked in the timber-yards by the riverside. The country-women found the Neuer Markt transformed into a camp when th

f it were o

dings with dormer windows in the roof. There are trees in front. In front of that which is now Number Thirteen, at the right-hand corner, facing west, sideways to the river, the trees grow quite close to the windows,

the shady boughs, and noted their growth with the light of interest in his eye. It would almost seem that the house had been described to him as that one in the Neuer Markt

ing head in the shade. The man himself wore a dark uniform, white with

n Poland-a frontier country, as in frontier cities where many tongues are heard-it is the custom to paint a picture rather than write

an, who looked, not at his face, but at his boots. As these wanted no

you want?

odgi

seem, tentative gesture with his left hand. All the fingers were clenched,

," said the bootmaker. Bu

hin. He had quick, blue eyes beneath the shaggy hair that

u?" asked t

n. He leant against the doorpost w

swig regiment, in ch

have co

zig withou

f there were something about him that was not quite clear and

to me, anyway?

or another, I forget. It was Koch the locksmith in the Schmiedegasse. See, I have mo

ch do y

e. Among friends, on

tation the shoemaker opened

shall have to take to the stable of the wood-merchant at

earily on a bench in the workshop among the ancient boots, pas

icion. Had it suggested itself to his mind, and had it been within the power of one so halt and heavy-footed to turn back noiselessly, he would have found his visitor

rned, the soldier was asleep, and had to

u go to bed?" asked the

eet," was the reply. "No, I wi

even o'clock-

r. To-morrow I must

ur money's worth. The bed is a good one. It is m

beneath his tread. The room was that attic in the roof which has a dormer window overhanging the linden tree. I

s, but sat down instantly, with the abando

le you sleep," said the host casually. "The th

his belt he snapped the sewing at the join of the leg and the u

ound for the boot-jack, lacking which,

sed door. Without boots he was a prisoner in the house. He could hear his host at work already, downstairs in the shop

g of the stairs told of the surreptitious approach of the unwilling host. He listened outside, and even tried the door, but found it bolted. The soldier, o

be eating-houses. The basement, which has a separate door, gives forth odours of simple Pomeranian meats, and every other house bears to this day the curt but co

was preparing his own evening meal. He was, it seemed, an unsociab

aversack, which was well supplied, and finding paper, pens and ink, fell to writing with

as thinking of some one in the west. It was assuredly not of war that this soldier wrote. Then, again, his attention would be attracted to some passer in the street below. He only gave half of his attention to his letter. He

y to the window which stood open. The shoemaker

e town and the Langgasse, but it was in the direction of the river that

eet out on to the roof. By lying on his face below the window he could just distinguish the shadowy form of a lame man by the river edge. He was moving to and fro, unchaining a

red: high-prowed, square-sterned vessels of a Dutch

the edge of the roof, and after carefully measuring his distance, with quick eyes aglow with excitement, he leapt

se, and went to the window, where his clothes were hanging from a rafter. The water was still dripping from

of his work he broke off to read again the letter that he had written the night before. W

he papers together. By way of a p

stening at the open stern-window of a Reval pink to every word they said. His Majesty can safely come to Konigsberg. Indeed, he is better out of Dantzig. For the whole country is riddled with that which they call patriotism, and we treason. But I can only repeat what his Majesty disbelieved the da

a wafer) which did not deal with war or its alarms, were all placed in one large envelope. He did not seal it, however, but s

play us false suddenly, and cut us off from France-I should say nothing else than

is own misery as he drew on his wet clothes. The shoema

e soldier crie

ed it. He had unrolled his long cavalry

shoemaker. A suspicious man is always mo

other carelessly. "Oh!