[With Frederick the Great by G. A. Henty]@TWC D-Link book
With Frederick the Great

CHAPTER 6: A Prisoner
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By this time it was getting dark, snowflakes were beginning to fall thickly, and he was very glad, after sitting for a time listening to the talk in the parlour of the inn, to turn in for the night.
In the morning the ground was covered with snow.

He was glad to put on his thick coat, for the cold outside was bitter.
For some hours he walked about Vienna, and the contrast between that city and Berlin struck him greatly.

The whole bearing and manner of the people was brighter, and gayer.

The soldiers, of whom there were great numbers in the streets--Austrians, Croats, and Hungarians--had none of the formal stiffness of the Prussians, but laughed and joked as they went, and seemed as easy and light hearted as the civilians around them.

They were, for the most part, inferior in size and physique to the Prussians; but there was a springiness in their walk, and an alertness and intelligence which were wanting in the more solid soldier of the north.
He spent the day in making himself acquainted with the town, the position of the gates, and other particulars which might be important to him; as he could not feel sure of the reception that he would meet with, when he presented his letter.
In the afternoon the city was particularly gay.


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