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.
"What a good thing that I was here when you came," he said softly; "I might certainly not have seen you but for this chance." "The fact is, gnadiges Fraulein," he stammered, "our duties demand so much of our time." "Is Herr Haber in your regiment ?" she asked.
"No; he has remained with our old Fusilier Guards." "Ah, what a pity! It would have been so nice for you to be side by side again, as in 1866." "How much she knows about us," thought Wilhelm, wondering.
"I often think of Uhland's comrades.

It must be a great comfort in war to have a friend by one." "Happily one makes friends quickly there." "On that point we are better off than the poor reserve forces," remarked Herr von Pechlar, not addressing himself to the speaker, but to Frau and Fraulein Ellrich.

"We regular officers pull together like old friends in danger and in death, while the others come among us unknown.

I imagine that must be very uncomfortable." Wilhelm felt that he had no answer to make, and a silence ensued.
Loulou broke it by moving her chair near Wilhelm, and began to chatter in a cheerful way over the occurrences of the last few days.