rattled in his head. The orderly, white to the lips, hung limp in the
old man's grasp, muttering apologies: "Ach! Exzellenz! Exzellenz will
excuse me...."

It was a revolting spectacle, but it did not make the least impression
on the son, who, putting down his cap and great-coat and unhooking his
sword, led me into a kind of study. "These orderlies are such
thickheads!" he said.

"Rudi! Rudi!" a hoarse, strident voice screamed from the hall. The
lieutenant ran out.

"You've got to take the fellow to Berlin to-night. The message was here
all the time--that numskull Heinrich forgot it. And we've got to keep
the fellow here till then! An outrage, having the house used as a
barrack for a rascally detective!" Thus much I heard, as the door had
been left open. Then it closed and I heard no more.

As I had heard this much, there was a certain irony in the invitation to
dinner subsequently conveyed to me by the young Uhlan. There was nothing
for it but to accept. I knew I was caught deep in the meshes of Prussian
discipline, every one had his orders and blindly carried them out, from
the garrulous Major on the frontier to this preposterous _Exzellenz_,
this Imperial aide-de-camp of Potsdam. I was already a tiny cog in a
great machine. I should have to revolve or be crushed.

His Excellency left me in no doubt on this point. When I was ushered
into his study, after a much-needed wash and a shave, he received me
standing and said point-blank: "Your orders are to stay here until ten
o'clock to-night, when you will be taken to Berlin by Lieutenant Count