Hartmut, who was on the point of starting, turned back suddenly. The
words brought forcibly to his mind, what he had forgotten in the last
hour, the compulsion and severity of the hated regimen he would again
have to endure. He had never ventured openly to avow his aversion for
the army, but this hour, which took from him all shyness towards his
father, also removed the seal from his lips. After a moment's hesitation
he returned to his father, and putting his arm around his neck, said:

"I have a request, a most earnest request to make of you, which I know
you will grant, as a proof of your love for me."

The Major's brows contracted as he asked, reprovingly:

"Do you need any proof? Well, let's hear it."

Hartmut clung still closer to him and his voice assumed its sweetest
and most flattering tones, and the dark eyes were almost irresistible in
their look of entreaty, as he said beseechingly:

"Do not let me become a soldier, father. I do not like the profession
you have chosen for me, and I shall never learn to like it. If I have
until now, bowed to your will, it has been with repugnance and secret
hatred, for I have been wretchedly unhappy; but I have never dared until
now, to tell you of it."

The frown on Falkenried's brow deepened, and he unfolded his son's arms
from his neck.

"In other words you will not obey," he said in a bitter tone, "and for