heavy jests so unmercifully that all his brother officers noticed it. Alick alone remarked nothing. Then something else happened; Mr. von so and so from whom Alick had learnt so much farming when riding, or with his gun in his hand, had a wonderfully beautiful daughter--I am not exaggerating, she was really a lovely girl. The lieutenant of "very old family" paid her great attention, but she would have nothing to say to him, and rather showed a preference for her other admirer, Alick. Whether it was that the lady was so stupid as to dislike the lieutenant of "very old family," or whether she wanted to marry a man who was really a man, or whether Alick's good-nature and his gentle deference to women pleased her, cannot be known, but before long Alick was as happy as a king, and the lieutenant of "very old family" was left out in the cold. It chanced about this time that the officers of the cavalry-regiment gave a great ball, and that the lieutenant of very old family got a pair of false calves made for the occasion. His own comrades scarcely recognised him--his nether man was so changed, and as was natural when so many young people were together, such a good opportunity for playing a practical joke could not be allowed to pass, more especially when a mischief-maker like the adjutant was amongst them. The adjutant managed, unperceived by his victim, to pin a number of butterflies on the false calves of the lieutenant of "very old family" who danced away with them quite happily. Everyone looked and laughed and pointed him out to their friends, till at last he himself caught sight of the decorations on his false calves, and turning in a rage upon the first laughing face he saw, which, as chance would have it, was Alick's, growled: "If you had not been properly described already in the colonel's report, I should have had all the pleasure in the world in characterising you in the same way."--Alick did not take in the meaning of the words, but he heard the contemptuous tone in which they were uttered, and, being an extremely fiery young gentleman, said angrily in reply to his rival, that he had not the remotest idea of what he meant, but that his tone was most insulting, and that he must answer for what he had said. He then went and asked his captain, with whom he was on very friendly terms, what it all meant, and the explanation he received was not exactly calculated to lessen his resentment. He challenged the lieutenant of "very old family," and then challenged the adjutant for making known the colonel's mistake; and the lieutenant of "very old family" also challenged the adjutant because of the butterflies. So, a few days later, on a beautiful Sunday afternoon, they all three drove out to a cool and shady wood attended by their seconds and witnesses, doctors and surgeons, and there they slashed at each other's faces with their swords, and shot at each other, and after that peace was once more established amongst them.