own breast, and had surrendered himself to the hope that it was newly
awakened love for him which had deprived her of her calm bearing.

True, she had refused his company on the way home, but this was probably
because she was afraid of being gossipped about in connection with him.

Well satisfied with his success, he had gone to Red Cock Street the next
morning to renew his suit. On the way he met her father, and in the
Black Bear had tried on the old warrior, with excellent success, the art
of winning other men, in which, as a recruiting officer, he had become an
adept.

Joyously confident of victory, he had accepted Blomberg's invitation, and
now had experienced an unprecedentedly mortifying rebuff.

With a face blanched to the pallor of death, he stood before the old man.
The wound which he had received burned so fiercely, and paralyzed his
will so completely, that the clumsy graybeard found fitting words sooner
than the ready, voluble trapper of men.

"You see," the captain began, "what is to be expected from one's own
child in these days of insubordination and rebellion, though my Wawerl is
as firm in her faith as the tower at Tunis of which I was telling you.
But trust experience, Sir Pyramus! It is easier, far easier for you to
exact obedience from a refractory squad of recruits than for a father to
guide his little daughter according to his own will. For look! If it
gets beyond endurance, you can seize the lash, or, if that won't do, a
weapon; but where a fragile girl like that is concerned, we can't give
vent to our rage, and, though she spoils the flavour of our food and
drink by her pouting and fretting, we must say kind words to her into the