Wilhelm tried hard to fight against the feeling. After
all, he was the better man of the two, and if human nature alone had
been put in the scale--that is to say, the value both of body and
mind--Herr von Pechlar would have flown up light as a feather. But
just now they did not stand together as man to man, but as the
bourgeois second lieutenant in his plain infantry uniform, against
the aristocratic first lieutenant--the smart hussar, and the first
place was not to be contested.
In Fraulein Malvine's kind heart there lurked a vague feeling that
she must come to Wilhelm's help, and overcoming her natural shyness,
she said to him:
"It must be very hard for you to tear yourself away under the
circumstances."
She was thinking of his attachment to Loulou, which in her innocence
she quite envied.
Oppressed and distracted as his mind was, he found nothing to say
but the banal response:
"When duty calls, fraulein." But while he spoke he was conscious of
the kindness of her manner, and to show her that he was grateful he
went on, "My friend Haber wishes to say good-by to you before he
leaves Berlin. He thinks a great deal of you, and is very happy in
having made your acquaintance."
Malvine threw him a quick glance from her blue eyes and looked down
again.
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