Rock Island Argus

DAILY STORY
HIS FIANCEE'S RELATIVE.

[Original]

"Hey, cabman: Hold on!"

"I've got a fare, sir," pulling up.

"What is it?" asked a gentleman from inside the cab.

"The rain is spoiling my uniform," said the man who had called the cab from the curb of a street in Berlin. "Can't hire a conveyance for love or money."

"Where do you go?" asked the gentleman.

"Anywhere till you alight."

"Very well: step in."
A young lieutenant of artillery got into the cab and sat down beside the gentleman, who was quite old and whose civilian's clothes and quiet demeanor were in marked contrast with the lieutenant's uniform and self-confident air. The latter had been lunching with friends, and the wine he had drunk had imparted a rosy hue to his cheeks and stimulated his tongue.

"Well, well, my venerable friend," he said gayly. "I'm in luck, and you are very good to let me in your cab. I have an engagement to meet a young lady. I don't mind telling you—you who have been so good to me—that she is my fiancée. How would I look going into her presence all bedraggled? And she a relative of one of the first men in the empire."

"Whom would you call one of the first men in the empire?" asked the old gentleman.

"That would be telling a stranger the name of the lady to whom I am engaged. However, you may guess."

"A member of the reichstag?" was the first guess.

"A bigger man than that."

"A colonel in the army."

"A great deal bigger man than a colonel, but I will admit he is a soldier."
The gentleman guessed a number of generals, going higher and higher with each guess. Not having guessed aright, he gave it up.

"But you have not guessed high enough. There is one still higher than all, the commander in chief."

"I thought you said he was one of the first men in the empire."

"I should call Field Marshal von Moltke a pretty big man. He is a great man, one of the greatest who have ever lived."

"Yes, a very great man in the estimation of the people. But if he should lose a battle those who hurrah for him loudest would decry him loudest. It's hero worship."

"My friend, if the law of lese majesty were applicable to him I would report you. I have a good mind to do so any way. Who are you to speak so disrespectfully of the man next in importance to the emperor?"

"I have guessed to whom your fiancée is related. Suppose you guess who I am."

"A merchant?"

"No."

"A lawyer?"

"No."

"Better than those?"

"I suppose so."

"You have a position in the government?"

"Yes."

"In what department?"

"The army."
This sobered the lieutenant, but not enough to prevent his guessing further.

"A retired colonel?"

"Higher rank than that."

"A general of brigade?"

"Higher."
The lieutenant guessed successively all ranks except general in chief, then said:

"You're fooling me."

"No. You have not guessed high enough."

"Nonsense. There only remains Field Marshal von Moltke."
At that moment the cab drew up at a house, and the gentleman got out, expressing himself pleased at having saved the young man's uniform and a bedraggled appearance before his fiancée. Then the cab was driven on.
The lieutenant, who believed the man had been chaffing him, thought no more about the matter and, having told the cabman where to take him, took a nap. Presently he was awakened by stopping before his fiancée's residence, got out, paid the cabman and sent him about other business. The next morning the lieutenant, who was on leave from his corps, stationed in the provinces, returned to his post.
When he again visited Berlin it was to be married. The ceremony had been performed and the guests were seated at the wedding breakfast when a small, slight old man in uniform entered the room.
Every guest rose at once except the groom. His bride pulled at his coat sleeve. He did not move, but sat with his eyes starting from their sockets and fixed on the approaching officer.

"For heaven's sake, Heinrich, what is it?" exclaimed the frightened bride. "Get up. It is the field marshal, my cousin's uncle."

"Gott im himmel!" gasped the groom. "It is the old man in the cab!"
The marshal advanced straight to the bride, kissed her and offered his hand to her husband, who by this time was standing straight as a ramrod and looking as if he expected to have his epaulets torn off and himself confined in a fortress for the rest of his natural life.
But the old man pressed his hand, looking at him kindly, and said:

"Ach! You are the gentleman who paid me such high compliments. I hope you will have as high an appreciation for your wife as you have for the head of the army."

F. A. MITCHEL.