“Du meine Güte!” said Anna, clasping her hands tightly together. “It is too terrible. What will happen to me if you get killed, my Karl?” and she could hardly see him for the tears that filled her large blue eyes. “I don’t feel a bit like getting killed, my little one, I assure you.” “That won’t stop those horrid bullets, all the same.” “Ach, my Nanna, don’t weep for me before it begins anyway! Let us talk of something else.... And you, Herr and Frau?--Fräulein?--you are married?--yes?--no?--or have you this same pleasant custom with you?” “Like you,” said Ray, “we are to be married very soon, and we are having our honeymoon in advance. You see, the Fräulein was in Leipsic, studying, when we heard this ill rumour of war. And her mother gave me permission to go and bring her home. And as they are mobilising in Germany----” “Ah--they are mobilising?” jerked Stecher with a nod. “We were advised to get back through Switzerland, and here we are.” “We also were in Switzerland,” sighed Anna, reminiscently. “You came over Flüela?” asked Ray. “How’s the walking there? That’s how we are going.” “It is a good enough road,” said Stecher, “but you will need a full day from this end. It is all up hill, you see, and pretty stiff. You must get as far as Süss to-morrow night and start early next day. We stayed at the Flüela. It is quite good and not dear. And you can rest and eat at the Hospice under the Weisshorn. Oh, it is all quite easy. I wish we were going that way too.” “Ach Gott--yes!” sighed Fräulein Anna. And Lois’s heart was sore for her, for her future and Karl’s was bound to contain possibilities of sorrow and misfortune, and she would have liked everyone to be as happy as she was herself. And next morning, in the strong fellow-feeling of somewhat similar circumstances, they shook hands and parted almost like old friends,--none of them knowing to what they were going. The four-and-twenty uphill miles from Martinsbruck to Süss were somewhat of a tax on Lois. They were on the road soon after seven, however, as Karl and Anna also had to be off early, and with occasional halts they made Schuls before mid-day, had a good dinner there and a long rest on the terrace of the hotel, with all the noble peaks, from Piz Lad opposite Martinsbruck to Piz Nuna opposite Süss, spread wide before them. They were at Ardetz in time for an early cup of tea and another rest, and reached Süss before sunset.