The Marquis of Bolibar by Leo Perutz Read Free Book Online Page A

him, when he appears, on behalf of the officers of the regiment."
    "To hell with all counts and marquises - liberty for ever!" roared Brockendorf. "Devil take the perfumed puppets with their bag-wigs and chapeaux bas!"
    "I have to visit the pickets and the men detailed to guard the flour mills and bakehouses, but no matter, they can wait," said Eglofstein, and joined us at the table.
    "Sit by me, Eglofstein!" Brockendorf bellowed drunkenly. "You've grown proud — you've forgotten how the two of us picked grains of corn out of horse dung to keep from starving in Prussia." Wine had made the big, strong man lachrymose and melancholy. He propped his forehead on his fists and began to sob. "Do you never think, of that any more? Ah, what a worm-eaten thing is friendship!"
    "The war isn't done yet, comrade," said Eglofstein. "We may yet make another midday meal of nettles and leaves stewed in salt water, as we did at Küstrin."
    "And when the war's over," said Donop, "the Emperor will be quick to start another."
    "All the better!" cried Brockendorf, who had suddenly regained his high spirits. "My purse is empty, comrade, and I still have to win myself the Légion d'Honneur."
    He proceeded to recite the engagements in which he had taken part during the Spanish campaign — Zorzola, Almaraz, Talavera, Mesa de Ibor - but got stuck halfway through, even though he enlisted his fingers as an aid to enumeration and had to begin all over again. The heat in the cramped little room had become unbearable. Donop opened the window, and the chill night air streamed in and cooled our brows.
    "There's snow on the roofs," Donop said softly, and our hearts ached and melted at the words, for they conjured up memories of winters gone by - German winters. We rose and went to the window and gazed at the benighted streets through a dense veil of dancing snowflakes. Brockendorf alone remained seated, still counting on his fingers.
    "Brockendorf!" Eglofstein called over his shoulder. "How many homeward miles from here to Dietkirchen?"
    "That I couldn't tell you." Brockendorf gave up counting. "Arithmetic never was my strong suit. I learned my algebra from innkeepers and potboys."
    He got up and tottered over to the window. The snow had wrought a strange transformation in the Spanish town. All at once, the people in the streets had taken on a familiar and well- remembered appearance. A peasant was trudging through the snow to the church with a little waxen ox in his hand. Two old crones stood squabbling in a doorway. A milkmaid came out of a byre with a lantern in one hand and a pail in the other.
    "It was a night like this," Donop said suddenly. "The snow lay ankle-deep in the streets. A year ago, it was. I had been sick that day and was lying in bed, reading Virgil's Georgics, when I heard a light footfall on the stairs. Then came a gentle knock on the door of my bedchamber. 'Who's there?' I called, and again, 'Who's there?' — 'It is I, dear friend!' And then she came in. Ah, comrades, her hair was as red as beech leaves in autumn. 'Are you sick, my poor friend?' she asked with tender concern. 'Yes,' I cried, 'I'm sick, and you alone, my beautiful angel, can cure me. ' And I sprang out of bed and kissed her hands."
    "And then?" Lieutenant Günther demanded hoarsely.
    "Ah, then . . ." whispered Donop, far away in spirit. "There was snow on the roofs. The night was as cold as her flesh and blood were warm."
    Günther said not a word. He strode up and down the room, glaring at Donop and the rest of us with hatred in his eyes.
    "Long live the colonel!" cried Brockendorf. "He had the best wine and the fairest wife in all Germany."
    "The first time we were alone together in my room . . ."
    Eglofstein began. "Why should I recall it today of all days? Perhaps because a man could barely keep his eyes open in the street, the snow was driving so hard. I was seated at the piano while she stood beside me. Her bosom rose and fell as I played, ever more rapidly, and I