Von Hügelweiler regarded the cynical Jewish face in silence. General Meyer was a man whom few understood and many feared. The greatcoat,--thrown open at the breast,--half revealed a number of famous Orders, none of them won by prowess on the field of battle. The spurred boots and the riding whip that occasionally flicked them suggested the horseman, though all knew that General Meyer was never so ill at ease as when on horseback. The dreamy eye, the slothful pose, the drawled speech, suggested anything but the ruler of a fiery soldiery, but for all that Meyer had won his way and held his post by something more formidable than a courtly tongue and a capacity for epigrammatic badinage. Those who served Meyer well were served well in return; those who flouted the Jew,--even in secret,--had a curious habit of being superannuated at an early period in their career. "Pray be seated, Captain," pursued the visitor suavely. Von Hügelweiler drew up a chair, and sat stiffly thereon, awaiting developments. "You are competing for the King's prize on the Rundsee to-morrow?" "Yes, General." "Ah! I happen to be judge of the competition." To this the Captain offered no comment. He was wondering what on earth was coming. "You are exceedingly keen, of course, on winning this very important trophy?" pursued the elder man, with a swift glance. "Yes, General--exceedingly keen," admitted Von Hügelweiler. "As a lad," went on the Commander-in-Chief dreamily, "I once entered an examination for horsemanship at the military school at Gleis. My uncle knew the officer who was examining the candidates, and thoughtfully sent him a dozen of champagne and a box of cigars on the eve of the examination. The champagne was,--if I mistake not,--Perrier Jouet of a vintage year, and the cigars the finest that are grown in the island of Cuba. I was not a particularly good horseman in those days, but I passed the examination--with honours." The Captain received the information in stolid silence. The history of the remote and somewhat disgraceful episode did not particularly interest him. The General deposited his finished cigarette in a porcelain tray, and extracted a fresh one from a tin box on the table. "Your cigarettes are really excellent, Captain," he mused. "Pray keep me company." Von Hügelweiler acceded to the invitation. "You draw, I presume, certain inferences from the incident I have just mentioned?" the Commander-in-Chief went on. "No, General." "None whatever?" Von Hügelweiler smiled. "None," he said, "unless you suggest that I should be wise to send you a dozen of champagne and a box of cigars." The General vouchsafed no answering smile to his subordinate's facetious suggestion. He merely shook his head in pensive silence. "I am a rich man," he said insinuatingly, "and my cellars are the best stocked in Weidenbruck--not excepting his Majesty's. You cannot help me that way."