Accordingly, at half-past six he presented himself at a big balconied house in the Market Square. A simple meal was spread for two in the dining-room,--a low pitched apartment panelled from floor to ceiling in dark pine, and garnished with a wealth of cumbrous, antique furniture. He waited alone for a few moments, cheered by a most appetising and savoury odour of cooking, and then Gloria entered, smiling, cordial, eminently composed. "I am so glad you have come," she began. He took her outstretched hand and kissed it. "I am a soldier, and I obey," he said. "When it pleases you," she laughed. "And I hope it does please you to dine tête-à-tête with me." "I can conceive no greater felicity." "None?" "None," he answered. "I have the excitement of a military campaign, my eyes are continually feasted with magnificent scenery, and my lungs with matchless air. Then, on the top of a day of most exhilarating exercise comes an invitation from the lady who is my wife on paper, and whom I have sworn to make my wife in the sight of all men." Gloria looked him fully in the face and pressed a small hand-bell that reposed on the table at her side. "Gaspar," she said to the orderly who had entered, "bring in the dinner. You know that our friend Bernhardt has forbidden us to meet," Gloria continued, after a dish of _yungfernbraten_--roast pork and juniper berries--had been set before them. "I know," said Trafford, "and he was right." "Why?" Trafford hesitated. "Von Hügelweiler seems to have coupled our names in an unpleasant manner," he said at length. Gloria flushed. "Then you should not have come," she said. "You gave me no option. As your husband I might have refused. As your officer I had to obey." "You might have exercised your discretion." "I might if I had any," he replied. "But I am a most indiscreet man. To-morrow, so I understand, I am going into action. I may win fame or I may be shot through the head. As the latter alternative is not unlikely, I am anxious to spend what may be my last evening on earth with the one woman whom I really----" A forcible ring from Gloria interrupted the sentence's conclusion. "Gaspar, fill this gentleman's glass. As you were remarking, Captain, Grimland is a very beautiful country." "It is a very cold country," Trafford growled, plunging his fork into the steaming viands. "To-morrow night I shall be sleeping in my ancestral home--the Marienkastel," Gloria pursued, as the orderly withdrew. "It is a fine old place, and Karl forfeited it when my father failed to carry out his projects in 1904." "That is the place you wish me to win back for you?" "If you will be so kind?" "And suppose I am killed in the process, will you think kindly of me?" "Very." The callousness of the affirmation horrified him. "I believe you were right when you said you had no heart!" he cried indignantly. "That is what I want you to believe," she returned calmly.