speaking countenance; a typical German in form and feature. Yet
something like a shadow lay upon the man's face, and there were,
wrinkles, on his brow which surely were not the result of age, for he
was yet in the prime of life.

"The birds have started already on their journey to the south," said he,
after watching the flight attentively until they had finally disappeared
in the cloud of mist. "The autumn has come to nature and to our lives as
well."

"Not to yours yet," objected his companion. "You are just in the hey-day
of life, in the full strength of your manhood."

"True enough, as to years, but I have a feeling that age will overtake
me sooner than others. I often feel as if it were autumn with me now."

The other man, who might have been a few years the speaker's senior, was
slender, and of middle height, and clad in civilian's dress. He shook
his head impatiently at his companion's last observation. He appeared
insignificant when compared with the strong, well-built officer near
him; but his pale, sharply cut face wore a look of cold, superior
repose, and the sarcastic expression around the thin lips, together with
his aristocratic air and bearing, suggested a hidden strength behind a
feeble exterior.

"You take life too hard, Falkenried," he said reprovingly. "You have
changed strangely in the last few years. Who would recognize in you now,
the gay young officer of other days? And what's the reason of it all?
The shadow which once darkened your life has long since disappeared. You
are a soldier, heart and soul, and have repeatedly distinguished