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Volume I
Original Short

Guy de Maupassant
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"I entered literary life as a meteor, and I shall

leave it like a thunderbolt." These words of
Maupassant to Jose Maria de Heredia on the
occasion of a memorable meeting are, in spite
of their morbid solemnity, not an inexact sum-
ming up of the brief career during which, for
ten years, the writer, by turns undaunted and
sorrowful, with the fertility of a master hand
produced poetry, novels, romances and travels,
only to sink prematurely into the abyss of mad-
ness and death.....

In the month of April, 1880, an article appeared

in the "Le Gaulois" announcing the publication
of the Soirees de Medan. It was signed by a
name as yet unknown: Guy de Maupassant.
After a juvenile diatribe against romanticism
and a passionate attack on languorous litera-
ture, the writer extolled the study of real life,

"I entered literary life as a meteor, and I shall

leave it like a thunderbolt." These words of
Maupassant to Jose Maria de Heredia on the
occasion of a memorable meeting are, in spite
of their morbid solemnity, not an inexact sum-
ming up of the brief career during which, for
ten years, the writer, by turns undaunted and
sorrowful, with the fertility of a master hand
produced poetry, novels, romances and travels,
only to sink prematurely into the abyss of mad-
ness and death.....

In the month of April, 1880, an article appeared

in the "Le Gaulois" announcing the publication
of the Soirees de Medan. It was signed by a
name as yet unknown: Guy de Maupassant.
After a juvenile diatribe against romanticism
and a passionate attack on languorous litera-
ture, the writer extolled the study of real life,
and announced the publication of the new
work. It was picturesque and charming. In the
quiet of evening, on an island, in the Seine, be-
neath poplars instead of the Neapolitan cy-
presses dear to the friends of Boccaccio, amid
the continuous murmur of the valley, and no
longer to the sound of the Pyrennean streams
that murmured a faint accompaniment to the
tales of Marguerite's cavaliers, the master and
his disciples took turns in narrating some strik-
ing or pathetic episode of the war. And the is-
sue, in collaboration, of these tales in one vol-
ume, in which the master jostled elbows with
his pupils, took on the appearance of a mani-
festo, the tone of a challenge, or the utterance of
a creed.

In fact, however, the beginnings had been

much more simple, and they had confined
themselves, beneath the trees of Medan, to de-
ciding on a general title for the work. Zola had
contributed the manuscript of the "Attaque du
Moulin," and it was at Maupassant's house that
the five young men gave in their contributions.
Each one read his story, Maupassant being the
last. When he had finished Boule de Suif, with a
spontaneous impulse, with an emotion they
never forgot, filled with enthusiasm at this
revelation, they all rose and, without superflu-
ous words, acclaimed him as a master.

He undertook to write the article for the Gau-

lois and, in cooperation with his friends, he
worded it in the terms with which we are fa-
miliar, amplifying and embellishing it, yielding
to an inborn taste for mystification which his
youth rendered excusable. The essential point,
he said, is to "unmoor" criticism.

It was unmoored. The following day Wolff

wrote a polemical dissertation in the Figaro and
carried away his colleagues. The volume was a
brilliant success, thanks to Boule de Suif. De-
spite the novelty, the honesty of effort, on the
part of all, no mention was made of the other
stories. Relegated to the second rank, they pas-
sed without notice. From his first battle, Mau-
passant was master of the field in literature.

At once the entire press took him up and said

what was appropriate regarding the budding
celebrity. Biographers and reporters sought
information concerning his life. As it was very
simple and perfectly straightforward, they re-
sorted to invention. And thus it is that at the
present day Maupassant appears to us like one
of those ancient heroes whose origin and death
are veiled in mystery.

I will not dwell on Guy de Maupassant's youn-

ger days. His relatives, his old friends, he him-
self, here and there in his works, have fur-
nished us in their letters enough valuable reve-
lations and touching remembrances of the
years preceding his literary debut. His worthy
biographer, H. Edouard Maynial, after collect-
ing intelligently all the writings, condensing
and comparing them, has been able to give us
some definite information regarding that early

I will simply recall that he was born on the 5th

of August, 1850, near Dieppe, in the castle of
Miromesnil which he describes in Une Vie....

Maupassant, like Flaubert, was a Norman,

through his mother, and through his place of
birth he belonged to that strange and adven-
turous race, whose heroic and long voyages on
tramp trading ships he liked to recall. And just
as the author of "Education sentimentale"
seems to have inherited in the paternal line the
shrewd realism of Champagne, so de Maupas-
sant appears to have inherited from his
Lorraine ancestors their indestructible disci-
pline and cold lucidity.

His childhood was passed at Etretat, his beauti-

ful childhood; it was there that his instincts
were awakened in the unfoldment of his pre-
historic soul. Years went by in an ecstasy of
physical happiness. The delight of running at
full speed through fields of gorse, the charm of
voyages of discovery in hollows and ravines,
games beneath the dark hedges, a passion for
going to sea with the fishermen and, on nights
when there was no moon, for dreaming on
their boats of imaginary voyages.

Mme. de Maupassant, who had guided her

son's early reading, and had gazed with him at
the sublime spectacle of nature, put, off as long
as possible the hour of separation. One day,
however, she had to take the child to the little
seminary at Yvetot. Later, he became a student
at the college at Rouen, and became a literary
correspondent of Louis Bouilhet. It was at the
latter's house on those Sundays in winter when
the Norman rain drowned the sound of the
bells and dashed against the window panes
that the school boy learned to write poetry.

Vacation took the rhetorician back to the north

of Normandy. Now it was shooting at Saint
Julien l'Hospitalier, across fields, bogs, and
through the woods. From that time on he
sealed his pact with the earth, and those "deep
and delicate roots" which attached him to his
native soil began to grow. It was of Normandy,
broad, fresh and virile, that he would presently
demand his inspiration, fervent and eager as a
boy's love; it was in her that he would take ref-
uge when, weary of life, he would implore a
truce, or when he simply wished to work and
revive his energies in old-time joys. It was at
this time that was born in him that voluptuous
love of the sea, which in later days could alone
withdraw him from the world, calm him, con-
sole him.

In 1870 he lived in the country, then he came to

Paris to live; for, the family fortunes having
dwindled, he had to look for a position. For
several years he was a clerk in the Ministry of
Marine, where he turned over musty papers, in
the uninteresting company of the clerks of the

Then he went into the department of Public

Instruction, where bureaucratic servility is less
intolerable. The daily duties are certainly scar-
cely more onerous and he had as chiefs, or col-
leagues, Xavier Charmes and Leon Dierx, Hen-
ry Roujon and Rene Billotte, but his office loo-
ked out on a beautiful melancholy garden with
immense plane trees around which black circles
of crows gathered in winter.

Maupassant made two divisions of his spare

hours, one for boating, and the other for litera-
ture. Every evening in spring, every free day,
he ran down to the river whose mysterious
current veiled in fog or sparkling in the sun
called to him and bewitched him. In the islands
in the Seine between Chatou and Port-Marly,
on the banks of Sartrouville and Triel he was
long noted among the population of boatmen,
who have now vanished, for his unwearying
biceps, his cynical gaiety of good-fellowship,
his unfailing practical jokes, his broad witti-
cisms. Sometimes he would row with frantic
speed, free and joyous, through the glowing
sunlight on the stream; sometimes, he would
wander along the coast, questioning the sailors,
chatting with the ravageurs, or junk gatherers,
or stretched at full length amid the irises and
tansy he would lie for hours watching the frail
insects that play on the surface of the stream,
water spiders, or white butterflies, dragon flies,
chasing each other amid the willow leaves, or
frogs asleep on the lily-pads.

The rest of his life was taken up by his work.

Without ever becoming despondent, silent and
persistent, he accumulated manuscripts, po-
etry, criticisms, plays, romances and novels.
Every week he docilely submitted his work to
the great Flaubert, the childhood friend of his
mother and his uncle Alfred Le Poittevin. The
master had consented to assist the young man,
to reveal to him the secrets that make chefs-
d'oeuvre immortal. It was he who compelled
him to make copious research and to use direct
observation and who inculcated in him a horror
of vulgarity and a contempt for facility.

Maupassant himself tells us of those severe

initiations in the Rue Murillo, or in the tent at
Croisset; he has recalled the implacable didac-
tics of his old master, his tender brutality, the
paternal advice of his generous and candid
heart. For seven years Flaubert slashed, pulver-
ized, the awkward attempts of his pupil whose
success remained uncertain.

Suddenly, in a flight of spontaneous perfection,

he wrote Boule de Suif. His master's joy was
great and overwhelming. He died two months

Until the end Maupassant remained illumi-

nated by the reflection of the good, vanished
giant, by that touching reflection that comes
from the dead to those souls they have so pro-
foundly stirred. The worship of Flaubert was a
religion from which nothing could distract him,
neither work, nor glory, nor slow moving
waves, nor balmy nights.

At the end of his short life, while his mind was

thinking of my poor Flaubert, and I say to my-
self that I should like to die if I were sure that
anyone would think of me in the same man-

During these long years of his novitiate Mau-

passant had entered the social literary circles.
He would remain silent, preoccupied; and if
anyone, astonished at his silence, asked him
about his plans he answered simply: "I am lear-
ning my trade." However, under the pseudo-
nym of Guy de Valmont, he had sent some arti-
cles to the newspapers, and, later, with the ap-
proval and by the advice of Flaubert, he pub-
lished, in the "Republique des Lettres," poems
signed by his name.

These poems, overflowing with sensuality,

where the hymn to the Earth describes the
transports of physical possession, where the
impatience of love expresses itself in loud mel-
ancholy appeals like the calls of animals in the
spring nights, are valuable chiefly inasmuch as
they reveal the creature of instinct, the fawn
escaped from his native forests, that Maupas-
sant was in his early youth. But they add noth-
ing to his glory. They are the "rhymes of a
prose writer" as Jules Lemaitre said. To mould
the expression of his thought according to the
strictest laws, and to "narrow it down" to some
extent, such was his aim. Following the exam-
ple of one of his comrades of Medan, being
readily carried away by precision of style and
the rhythm of sentences, by the imperious rule
of the ballad, of the pantoum or the chant royal,
Maupassant also desired to write in metrical
lines. However, he never liked this collection
that he often regretted having published. His
encounters with prosody had left him with that
monotonous weariness that the horseman and
the fencer feel after a period in the riding
school, or a bout with the foils.

Such, in very broad lines, is the story of Mau-

passant's literary apprenticeship.

The day following the publication of "Boule de

Suif," his reputation began to grow rapidly. The
quality of his story was unrivalled, but at the
same time it must be acknowledged that there
were some who, for the sake of discussion, de-
sired to place a young reputation in opposition
to the triumphant brutality of Zola.

From this time on, Maupassant, at the solicita-

tion of the entire press, set to work and wrote
story after story. His talent, free from all influ-
ences, his individuality, are not disputed for a
moment. With a quick step, steady and alert, he
advanced to fame, a fame of which he himself
was not aware, but which was so universal,
that no contemporary author during his life
ever experienced the same. The "meteor" sent
out its light and its rays were prolonged with-
out limit, in article after article, volume on vol-


all the more as they believe him to be rich and
happy. But they do not know that this young
fellow with the sunburnt face, thick neck and
salient muscles whom they invariably compare
to a young bull at liberty, and whose love af-
fairs they whisper, is ill, very ill. At the very
moment that success came to him, the malady
that never afterwards left him came also, and,
seated motionless at his side, gazed at him with
its threatening countenance. He suffered from
terrible headaches, followed by nights of in-
somnia. He had nervous attacks, which he
soothed with narcotics and anesthetics, which
he used freely. His sight, which had troubled
him at intervals, became affected, and a cele-
brated oculist spoke of abnormality, asymme-
try of the pupils. The famous young man trem-
bled in secret and was haunted by all kinds of

The reader is charmed at the saneness of this

revived art and yet, here and there, he is sur-
prised to discover, amid descriptions of nature
that are full of humanity, disquieting flights
towards the supernatural, distressing conjura-
tions, veiled at first, of the most commonplace,
the most vertiginous shuddering fits of fear, as
old as the world and as eternal as the un-
known. But, instead of being alarmed, he thinks
that the author must be gifted with infallible
intuition to follow out thus the taints in his
characters, even through their most dangerous
mazes. The reader does not know that these
hallucinations which he describes so minutely
were experienced by Maupassant himself; he
does not know that the fear is in himself, the
anguish of fear "which is not caused by the
presence of danger, or of inevitable death, but
by certain abnormal conditions, by certain mys-
terious influences in presence of vague dan-
gers," the "fear of fear, the dread of that horrible
sensation of incomprehensible terror."

How can one explain these physical sufferings

and this morbid distress that were known for
some time to his intimates alone? Alas! the ex-
planation is only too simple. All his life, con-
sciously or unconsciously, Maupassant fought
this malady, hidden as yet, which was latent in

As his malady began to take a more definite

form, he turned his steps towards the south,
only visiting Paris to see his physicians and
publishers. In the old port of Antibes beyond
the causeway of Cannes, his yacht, Bel Ami,
which he cherished as a brother, lay at anchor
and awaited him. He took it to the white cities
of the Genoese Gulf, towards the palm trees of
Hyeres, or the red bay trees of Antheor.

After several tragic weeks in which, from in-

stinct, he made a desperate fight, on the 1st of
January, 1892, he felt he was hopelessly van-
quished, and in a moment of supreme clearness
of intellect, like Gerard de Nerval, he attempted
suicide. Less fortunate than the author of Syl-
via, he was unsuccessful. But his mind, hence-
forth "indifferent to all unhappiness," had en-
tered into eternal darkness.

He was taken back to Paris and placed in Dr.

Meuriot's sanatorium, where, after eighteen
months of mechanical existence, the "meteor"
quietly passed away.

For several days in succession fragments of a

defeated army had passed through the town.
They were mere disorganized bands, not disci-
plined forces. The men wore long, dirty beards
and tattered uniforms; they advanced in listless
fashion, without a flag, without a leader. All
seemed exhausted, worn out, incapable of
thought or resolve, marching onward merely
by force of habit, and dropping to the ground
with fatigue the moment they halted. One saw,
in particular, many enlisted men, peaceful citi-
zens, men who lived quietly on their income,
bending beneath the weight of their rifles; and
little active volunteers, easily frightened but
full of enthusiasm, as eager to attack as they
were ready to take to flight; and amid these, a
sprinkling of red-breeched soldiers, the pitiful
remnant of a division cut down in a great bat-
tle; somber artillerymen, side by side with non-
descript foot-soldiers; and, here and there, the
gleaming helmet of a heavy-footed dragoon
who had difficulty in keeping up with the
quicker pace of the soldiers of the line. Legions
of irregulars with high-sounding names
"Brethren in Death"—passed in their turn, look-
ing like banditti. Their leaders, former drapers
or grain merchants, or tallow or soap chan-
dlers—warriors by force of circumstances, offi-
cers by reason of their mustachios or their
money—covered with weapons, flannel and
gold lace, spoke in an impressive manner, dis-
cussed plans of campaign, and behaved as
though they alone bore the fortunes of dying
France on their braggart shoulders; though, in
truth, they frequently were afraid of their own
men—scoundrels often brave beyond measure,
but pillagers and debauchees.

Rumor had it that the Prussians were about to

enter Rouen.
The members of the National Guard, who for
the past two months had been reconnoitering
with the utmost caution in the neighboring
woods, occasionally shooting their own senti-
nels, and making ready for fight whenever a
rabbit rustled in the undergrowth, had now
returned to their homes. Their arms, their uni-
forms, all the death-dealing paraphernalia with
which they had terrified all the milestones
along the highroad for eight miles round, had
suddenly and marvellously disappeared.

The last of the French soldiers had just crossed

the Seine on their way to Pont-Audemer,
through Saint-Sever and Bourg-Achard, and in
their rear the vanquished general, powerless to
do aught with the forlorn remnants of his army,
himself dismayed at the final overthrow of a
nation accustomed to victory and disastrously
beaten despite its legendary bravery, walked
between two orderlies.
Then a profound calm, a shuddering, silent
dread, settled on the city. Many a round-
paunched citizen, emasculated by years de-
voted to business, anxiously awaited the con-
querors, trembling lest his roasting-jacks or
kitchen knives should be looked upon as

Life seemed to have stopped short; the shops

were shut, the streets deserted. Now and then
an inhabitant, awed by the silence, glided
swiftly by in the shadow of the walls. The an-
guish of suspense made men even desire the
arrival of the enemy.

In the afternoon of the day following the depar-

ture of the French troops, a number of uhlans,
coming no one knew whence, passed rapidly
through the town. A little later on, a black mass
descended St. Catherine's Hill, while two other
invading bodies appeared respectively on the
Darnetal and the Boisguillaume roads. The ad-
vance guards of the three corps arrived at pre-
cisely the same moment at the Square of the
Hotel de Ville, and the German army poured
through all the adjacent streets, its battalions
making the pavement ring with their firm,
measured tread.

Orders shouted in an unknown, guttural

tongue rose to the windows of the seemingly
dead, deserted houses; while behind the fast-
closed shutters eager eyes peered forth at the
victors-masters now of the city, its fortunes,
in their darkened rooms, were possessed by
that terror which follows in the wake of cata-
clysms, of deadly upheavals of the earth,
against which all human skill and strength are
vain. For the same thing happens whenever the
established order of things is upset, when secu-
rity no longer exists, when all those rights usu-
ally protected by the law of man or of Nature
are at the mercy of unreasoning, savage force.
The earthquake crushing a whole nation under
falling roofs; the flood let loose, and engulfing
in its swirling depths the corpses of drowned
peasants, along with dead oxen and beams torn
from shattered houses; or the army, covered
with glory, murdering those who defend them-
selves, making prisoners of the rest, pillaging in
the name of the Sword, and giving thanks to
God to the thunder of cannon—all these are
appalling scourges, which destroy all belief in
eternal justice, all that confidence we have been
taught to feel in the protection of Heaven and
the reason of man.

Small detachments of soldiers knocked at each

door, and then disappeared within the houses;
for the vanquished saw they would have to be
civil to their conquerors.

At the end of a short time, once the first terror

had subsided, calm was again restored. In
many houses the Prussian officer ate at the
same table with the family. He was often well-
bred, and, out of politeness, expressed sympa-
thy with France and repugnance at being com-
pelled to take part in the war. This sentiment
was received with gratitude; besides, his pro-
tection might be needful some day or other. By
the exercise of tact the number of men quar-
tered in one's house might be reduced; and
why should one provoke the hostility of a per-
son on whom one's whole welfare depended?
Such conduct would savor less of bravery than
of fool-hardiness. And foolhardiness is no
longer a failing of the citizens of Rouen as it
was in the days when their city earned renown
by its heroic defenses. Last of all-final argument
based on the national politeness—the folk of
Rouen said to one another that it was only right
to be civil in one's own house, provided there
was no public exhibition of familiarity with the
foreigner. Out of doors, therefore, citizen and
soldier did not know each other; but in the
house both chatted freely, and each evening the
German remained a little longer warming him-
self at the hospitable hearth.
Even the town itself resumed by degrees its
ordinary aspect. The French seldom walked
abroad, but the streets swarmed with Prussian
soldiers. Moreover, the officers of the Blue
Hussars, who arrogantly dragged their instru-
ments of death along the pavements, seemed to
hold the simple townsmen in but little more
contempt than did the French cavalry officers
who had drunk at the same cafes the year be-

But there was something in the air, a something

strange and subtle, an intolerable foreign at-
mosphere like a penetrating odor—the odor of
invasion. It permeated dwellings and places of
public resort, changed the taste of food, made
one imagine one's self in far-distant lands, amid
dangerous, barbaric tribes.

The conquerors exacted money, much money.

The inhabitants paid what was asked; they
were rich. But, the wealthier a Norman trades-
man becomes, the more he suffers at having to
part with anything that belongs to him, at hav-
ing to see any portion of his substance pass into
the hands of another.

Nevertheless, within six or seven miles of the

town, along the course of the river as it flows
onward to Croisset, Dieppedalle and Biessart,
boat-men and fishermen often hauled to the
surface of the water the body of a German,
bloated in his uniform, killed by a blow from
knife or club, his head crushed by a stone, or
perchance pushed from some bridge into the
stream below. The mud of the river-bed swal-
lowed up these obscure acts of vengeance—
savage, yet legitimate; these unrecorded deeds
of bravery; these silent attacks fraught with
greater danger than battles fought in broad
day, and surrounded, moreover, with no halo
of romance. For hatred of the foreigner ever
arms a few intrepid souls, ready to die for an
At last, as the invaders, though subjecting the
town to the strictest discipline, had not commit-
ted any of the deeds of horror with which they
had been credited while on their triumphal
march, the people grew bolder, and the necessi-
ties of business again animated the breasts of
the local merchants. Some of these had impor-
tant commercial interests at Havre —occupied
at present by the French army—and wished to
attempt to reach that port by overland route to
Dieppe, taking the boat from there.

Through the influence of the German officers

whose acquaintance they had made, they ob-
tained a permit to leave town from the general
in command.

A large four-horse coach having, therefore,

been engaged for the journey, and ten passen-
gers having given in their names to the proprie-
tor, they decided to start on a certain Tuesday
morning before daybreak, to avoid attracting a
The ground had been frozen hard for some
time-past, and about three o'clock on Monday
afternoon—large black clouds from the north
shed their burden of snow uninterruptedly all
through that evening and night.

At half-past four in the morning the travellers

met in the courtyard of the Hotel de Nor-
mandie, where they were to take their seats in
the coach.

They were still half asleep, and shivering with

cold under their wraps. They could see one
another but indistinctly in the darkness, and
the mountain of heavy winter wraps in which
each was swathed made them look like a gath-
ering of obese priests in their long cassocks. But
two men recognized each other, a third ac-
costed them, and the three began to talk. "I am
too." The first speaker added: "We shall not
return to Rouen, and if the Prussians approach
Havre we will cross to England." All three, it
turned out, had made the same plans, being of
similar disposition and temperament.

Still the horses were not harnessed. A small

lantern carried by a stable-boy emerged now
and then from one dark doorway to disappear
immediately in another. The stamping of
horses' hoofs, deadened by the dung and straw
of the stable, was heard from time to time, and
from inside the building issued a man's voice,
talking to the animals and swearing at them. A
faint tinkle of bells showed that the harness
was being got ready; this tinkle soon developed
into a continuous jingling, louder or softer ac-
cording to the movements of the horse, some-
times stopping altogether, then breaking out in
a sudden peal accompanied by a pawing of the
ground by an iron-shod hoof.

The door suddenly closed. All noise ceased.

The frozen townsmen were silent; they re-

mained motionless, stiff with cold.
A thick curtain of glistening white flakes fell
ceaselessly to the ground; it obliterated all out-
lines, enveloped all objects in an icy mantle of
foam; nothing was to be heard throughout the
length and breadth of the silent, winter-bound
city save the vague, nameless rustle of falling
snow—a sensation rather than a sound—the
gentle mingling of light atoms which seemed to
fill all space, to cover the whole world.

The man reappeared with his lantern, leading

by a rope a melancholy-looking horse, evi-
dently being led out against his inclination. The
hostler placed him beside the pole, fastened the
traces, and spent some time in walking round
him to make sure that the harness was all right;
for he could use only one hand, the other being
engaged in holding the lantern. As he was
about to fetch the second horse he noticed the
motionless group of travellers, already white
with snow, and said to them: "Why don't you
get inside the coach? You'd be under shelter, at

This did not seem to have occurred to them,

and they at once took his advice. The three men
seated their wives at the far end of the coach,
then got in themselves; lastly the other vague,
snow-shrouded forms clambered to the remain-
ing places without a word.

The floor was covered with straw, into which

the feet sank. The ladies at the far end, having
brought with them little copper foot-warmers
heated by means of a kind of chemical fuel,
proceeded to light these, and spent some time
in expatiating in low tones on their advantages,
saying over and over again things which they
had all known for a long time.

At last, six horses instead of four having been

harnessed to the diligence, on account of the
heavy roads, a voice outside asked: "Is every
one there?" To which a voice from the interior
replied: "Yes," and they set out.

The vehicle moved slowly, slowly, at a snail's

pace; the wheels sank into the snow; the entire
body of the coach creaked and groaned; the
horses slipped, puffed, steamed, and the coach-
man's long whip cracked incessantly, flying
hither and thither, coiling up, then flinging out
its length like a slender serpent, as it lashed
some rounded flank, which instantly grew
tense as it strained in further effort.

But the day grew apace. Those light flakes

which one traveller, a native of Rouen, had
compared to a rain of cotton fell no longer. A
murky light filtered through dark, heavy
clouds, which made the country more daz-
zlingly white by contrast, a whiteness broken
sometimes by a row of tall trees spangled with
hoarfrost, or by a cottage roof hooded in snow.
Within the coach the passengers eyed one an-
other curiously in the dim light of dawn.

Right at the back, in the best seats of all, Mon-

sieur and Madame Loiseau, wholesale wine
merchants of the Rue Grand-Pont, slumbered
opposite each other. Formerly clerk to a mer-
chant who had failed in business, Loiseau had
bought his master's interest, and made a for-
tune for himself. He sold very bad wine at a
very low price to the retail-dealers in the coun-
try, and had the reputation, among his friends
and acquaintances, of being a shrewd rascal a
true Norman, full of quips and wiles. So well
established was his character as a cheat that, in
the mouths of the citizens of Rouen, the very
name of Loiseau became a byword for sharp

Above and beyond this, Loiseau was noted for

his practical jokes of every description—his
tricks, good or ill-natured; and no one could
mention his name without adding at once:
"He's an extraordinary man—Loiseau." He was
undersized and potbellied, had a florid face
with grayish whiskers.

His wife-tall, strong, determined, with a loud

voice and decided manner —represented the
spirit of order and arithmetic in the business
house which Loiseau enlivened by his jovial

Beside them, dignified in bearing, belonging to

a superior caste, sat Monsieur Carre-Lamadon,
a man of considerable importance, a king in the
cotton trade, proprietor of three spinning-mills,
officer of the Legion of Honor, and member of
the General Council. During the whole time the
Empire was in the ascendancy he remained the
chief of the well-disposed Opposition, merely
in order to command a higher value for his
devotion when he should rally to the cause
which he meanwhile opposed with "courteous
weapons," to use his own expression.
Madame Carre-Lamadon, much younger than
her husband, was the consolation of all the offi-
cers of good family quartered at Rouen. Pretty,
slender, graceful, she sat opposite her husband,
curled up in her furs, and gazing mournfully at
the sorry interior of the coach.

Her neighbors, the Comte and Comtesse

Hubert de Breville, bore one of the noblest and
most ancient names in Normandy. The count, a
nobleman advanced in years and of aristocratic
bearing, strove to enhance by every artifice of
the toilet, his natural resemblance to King Hen-
ry IV, who, according to a legend of which the
family were inordinately proud, had been the
favored lover of a De Breville lady, and father
of her child —the frail one's husband having, in
recognition of this fact, been made a count and
governor of a province.

A colleague of Monsieur Carre-Lamadon in the

General Council, Count Hubert represented the
Orleanist party in his department. The story of
his marriage with the daughter of a small shi-
powner at Nantes had always remained more
or less of a mystery. But as the countess had an
air of unmistakable breeding, entertained fault-
lessly, and was even supposed to have been
loved by a son of Louis-Philippe, the nobility
vied with one another in doing her honor, and
her drawing-room remained the most select in
the whole countryside—the only one which
retained the old spirit of gallantry, and to
which access was not easy.

The fortune of the Brevilles, all in real estate,

amounted, it was said, to five hundred thou-
sand francs a year.

These six people occupied the farther end of the

coach, and represented Society—with an in-
come—the strong, established society of good
people with religion and principle.

It happened by chance that all the women were

seated on the same side; and the countess had,
moreover, as neighbors two nuns, who spent
the time in fingering their long rosaries and
murmuring paternosters and aves. One of them
was old, and so deeply pitted with smallpox
that she looked for all the world as if she had
received a charge of shot full in the face. The
other, of sickly appearance, had a pretty but
wasted countenance, and a narrow, consump-
tive chest, sapped by that devouring faith
which is the making of martyrs and visionaries.

A man and woman, sitting opposite the two

nuns, attracted all eyes.

The man—a well-known character—was Cor-

nudet, the democrat, the terror of all respect-
able people. For the past twenty years his big
red beard had been on terms of intimate ac-
quaintance with the tankards of all the republi-
can cafes. With the help of his comrades and
brethren he had dissipated a respectable for-
tune left him by his father, an old-established
confectioner, and he now impatiently awaited
the Republic, that he might at last be rewarded
with the post he had earned by his revolution-
ary orgies. On the fourth of September—
possibly as the result of a practical joke—he
was led to believe that he had been appointed
prefect; but when he attempted to take up the
duties of the position the clerks in charge of the
office refused to recognize his authority, and he
was compelled in consequence to retire. A good
sort of fellow in other respects, inoffensive and
obliging, he had thrown himself zealously into
the work of making an organized defence of the
town. He had had pits dug in the level country,
young forest trees felled, and traps set on all
the roads; then at the approach of the enemy,
thoroughly satisfied with his preparations, he
had hastily returned to the town. He thought
he might now do more good at Havre, where
new intrenchments would soon be necessary.

The woman, who belonged to the courtesan

class, was celebrated for an embonpoint un-
usual for her age, which had earned for her the
and round, fat as a pig, with puffy fingers con-
stricted at the joints, looking like rows of short
sausages; with a shiny, tightly-stretched skin
and an enormous bust filling out the bodice of
her dress, she was yet attractive and much
sought after, owing to her fresh and pleasing
appearance. Her face was like a crimson apple,
a peony-bud just bursting into bloom; she had
two magnificent dark eyes, fringed with thick,
heavy lashes, which cast a shadow into their
depths; her mouth was small, ripe, kissable,
and was furnished with the tiniest of white

As soon as she was recognized the respectable

matrons of the party began to whisper among
themselves, and the words "hussy" and "public
scandal" were uttered so loudly that Boule de
Suif raised her head. She forthwith cast such a
challenging, bold look at her neighbors that a
sudden silence fell on the company, and all
lowered their eyes, with the exception of
Loiseau, who watched her with evident inter-

But conversation was soon resumed among the

three ladies, whom the presence of this girl had
suddenly drawn together in the bonds of
friendship—one might almost say in those of
intimacy. They decided that they ought to com-
bine, as it were, in their dignity as wives in face
of this shameless hussy; for legitimized love
always despises its easygoing brother.

The three men, also, brought together by a cer-

tain conservative instinct awakened by the pre-
sence of Cornudet, spoke of money matters in a
tone expressive of contempt for the poor. Count
Hubert related the losses he had sustained at
the hands of the Prussians, spoke of the cattle
which had been stolen from him, the crops
which had been ruined, with the easy manner
of a nobleman who was also a tenfold million-
aire, and whom such reverses would scarcely
inconvenience for a single year. Monsieur
Carre-Lamadon, a man of wide experience in
the cotton industry, had taken care to send six
hundred thousand francs to England as provi-
sion against the rainy day he was always an-
ticipating. As for Loiseau, he had managed to
sell to the French commissariat department all
the wines he had in stock, so that the state now
owed him a considerable sum, which he hoped
to receive at Havre.

And all three eyed one another in friendly,

well-disposed fashion. Although of varying
social status, they were united in the brother-
hood of money—in that vast freemasonry made
up of those who possess, who can jingle gold
wherever they choose to put their hands into
their breeches' pockets.

The coach went along so slowly that at ten o'-

clock in the morning it had not covered twelve
miles. Three times the men of the party got out
and climbed the hills on foot. The passengers
were becoming uneasy, for they had counted
on lunching at Totes, and it seemed now as if
they would hardly arrive there before nightfall.
Every one was eagerly looking out for an inn
by the roadside, when, suddenly, the coach
foundered in a snowdrift, and it took two hours
to extricate it.

As appetites increased, their spirits fell; no inn,

no wine shop could be discovered, the ap-
proach of the Prussians and the transit of the
starving French troops having frightened away
all business.

The men sought food in the farmhouses beside

the road, but could not find so much as a crust
of bread; for the suspicious peasant invariably
hid his stores for fear of being pillaged by the
soldiers, who, being entirely without food,
would take violent possession of everything
they found.
About one o'clock Loiseau announced that he
positively had a big hollow in his stomach.
They had all been suffering in the same way for
some time, and the increasing gnawings of
hunger had put an end to all conversation.

Now and then some one yawned, another fol-

lowed his example, and each in turn, according
to his character, breeding and social position,
yawned either quietly or noisily, placing his
hand before the gaping void whence issued
breath condensed into vapor.

Several times Boule de Suif stooped, as if sear-

ching for something under her petticoats. She
would hesitate a moment, look at her
neighbors, and then quietly sit upright again.
All faces were pale and drawn. Loiseau de-
clared he would give a thousand francs for a
knuckle of ham. His wife made an involuntary
and quickly checked gesture of protest. It al-
ways hurt her to hear of money being squan-
dered, and she could not even understand jokes
on such a subject.


count. "Why did I not think of bringing provi-
sions?" Each one reproached himself in similar

Cornudet, however, had a bottle of rum, which

he offered to his neighbors. They all coldly re-
fused except Loiseau, who took a sip, and re-
turned the bottle with thanks, saying: "That's
good stuff; it warms one up, and cheats the
appetite." The alcohol put him in good humor,
and he proposed they should do as the sailors
did in the song: eat the fattest of the passengers.
This indirect allusion to Boule de Suif shocked
the respectable members of the party. No one
replied; only Cornudet smiled. The two good
sisters had ceased to mumble their rosary, and,
with hands enfolded in their wide sleeves, sat
motionless, their eyes steadfastly cast down,
doubtless offering up as a sacrifice to Heaven
the suffering it had sent them.

At last, at three o'clock, as they were in the

midst of an apparently limitless plain, with not
a single village in sight, Boule de Suif stooped
quickly, and drew from underneath the seat a
large basket covered with a white napkin.

From this she extracted first of all a small eart-

henware plate and a silver drinking cup, then
an enormous dish containing two whole chick-
ens cut into joints and imbedded in jelly. The
basket was seen to contain other good things:
pies, fruit, dainties of all sorts-provisions, in
fine, for a three days' journey, rendering their
owner independent of wayside inns. The necks
of four bottles protruded from among the food.
She took a chicken wing, and began to eat it
daintily, together with one of those rolls called
in Normandy "Regence."
All looks were directed toward her. An odor of
food filled the air, causing nostrils to dilate,
mouths to water, and jaws to contract pain-
fully. The scorn of the ladies for this disreputa-
ble female grew positively ferocious; they
would have liked to kill her, or throw, her and
her drinking cup, her basket, and her provi-
sions, out of the coach into the snow of the road

But Loiseau's gaze was fixed greedily on the

dish of chicken. He said:

"Well, well, this lady had more forethought

than the rest of us. Some people think of every-

She looked up at him.


fasting all day."

He bowed.
madame?" And, casting a glance on those
around, he added:

"At times like this it is very pleasant to meet

with obliging people."

He spread a newspaper over his knees to avoid

soiling his trousers, and, with a pocketknife he
always carried, helped himself to a chicken leg
coated with jelly, which he thereupon pro-
ceeded to devour.

Then Boule le Suif, in low, humble tones, in-

vited the nuns to partake of her repast. They
both accepted the offer unhesitatingly, and af-
ter a few stammered words of thanks began to
eat quickly, without raising their eyes. Neither
did Cornudet refuse his neighbor's offer, and,
in combination with the nuns, a sort of table
was formed by opening out the newspaper
over the four pairs of knees.
Mouths kept opening and shutting, ferociously
masticating and devouring the food. Loiseau,
in his corner, was hard at work, and in low
tones urged his wife to follow his example. She
held out for a long time, but overstrained Na-
ture gave way at last. Her husband, assuming
his politest manner, asked their "charming
companion" if he might be allowed to offer
Madame Loiseau a small helping.

"Why, certainly, sir," she replied, with an amia-

ble smile, holding out the dish.

When the first bottle of claret was opened some

embarrassment was caused by the fact that
there was only one drinking cup, but this was
passed from one to another, after being wiped.
Cornudet alone, doubtless in a spirit of gal-
lantry, raised to his own lips that part of the
rim which was still moist from those of his fair
Then, surrounded by people who were eating,
and well-nigh suffocated by the odor of food,
the Comte and Comtesse de Breville and Mon-
sieur and Madame Carre-Lamadon endured
that hateful form of torture which has perpetu-
ated the name of Tantalus. All at once the
manufacturer's young wife heaved a sigh
which made every one turn and look at her; she
was white as the snow without; her eyes closed,
her head fell forward; she had fainted. Her
husband, beside himself, implored the help of
his neighbors. No one seemed to know what to
do until the elder of the two nuns, raising the
patient's head, placed Boule de Suif's drinking
cup to her lips, and made her swallow a few
drops of wine. The pretty invalid moved,
opened her eyes, smiled, and declared in a fee-
ble voice that she was all right again. But, to
prevent a recurrence of the catastrophe, the nun
made her drink a cupful of claret, adding: "It's
just hunger —that's what is wrong with you."
Then Boule de Suif, blushing and embarrassed,
stammered, looking at the four passengers who
were still fasting:



She stopped short, fearing a snub. But Loiseau



brothers and sisters and ought to assist each
other. Come, come, ladies, don't stand on cere-
mony, for goodness' sake! Do we even know
whether we shall find a house in which to pass
the night? At our present rate of going we
sha'n't be at Totes till midday to-morrow."

They hesitated, no one daring to be the first to

accept. But the count settled the question. He
turned toward the abashed girl, and in his most
distinguished manner said:
"We accept gratefully, madame."

As usual, it was only the first step that cost.

This Rubicon once crossed, they set to work
with a will. The basket was emptied. It still con-
tained a pate de foie gras, a lark pie, a piece of
smoked tongue, Crassane pears, Pont-Leveque
gingerbread, fancy cakes, and a cup full of pick-
led gherkins and onions—Boule de Suif, like all
women, being very fond of indigestible things.

They could not eat this girl's provisions with-

out speaking to her. So they began to talk,
stiffly at first; then, as she seemed by no means
forward, with greater freedom. Mesdames de
Breville and Carre-Lamadon, who were ac-
complished women of the world, were gracious
and tactful. The countess especially displayed
that amiable condescension characteristic of
great ladies whom no contact with baser mor-
tals can sully, and was absolutely charming.
But the sturdy Madame Loiseau, who had the
soul of a gendarme, continued morose, speak-
ing little and eating much.

Conversation naturally turned on the war. Ter-

rible stories were told about the Prussians,
deeds of bravery were recounted of the French;
and all these people who were fleeing them-
selves were ready to pay homage to the cour-
age of their compatriots. Personal experiences
soon followed, and Bottle le Suif related with
genuine emotion, and with that warmth of lan-
guage not uncommon in women of her class
and temperament, how it came about that she
had left Rouen.


she said. "My house was well stocked with pro-
visions, and it seemed better to put up with
feeding a few soldiers than to banish myself
goodness knows where. But when I saw these
Prussians it was too much for me! My blood
boiled with rage; I wept the whole day for very
them from my window—the fat swine, with
their pointed helmets!—and my maid held my
hands to keep me from throwing my furniture
down on them. Then some of them were quar-
tered on me; I flew at the throat of the first one
who entered. They are just as easy to strangle
as other men! And I'd have been the death of
that one if I hadn't been dragged away from
soon as I could get an opportunity I left the
place, and here I am."

She was warmly congratulated. She rose in the

estimation of her companions, who had not
been so brave; and Cornudet listened to her
with the approving and benevolent smile of an
apostle, the smile a priest might wear in listen-
ing to a devotee praising God; for long-bearded
democrats of his type have a monopoly of pa-
triotism, just as priests have a monopoly of re-
ligion. He held forth in turn, with dogmatic
self-assurance, in the style of the proclamations
daily pasted on the walls of the town, winding
up with a specimen of stump oratory in which
he reviled "that besotted fool of a Louis-

But Boule de Suif was indignant, for she was an

ardent Bonapartist. She turned as red as a che-
rry, and stammered in her wrath: "I'd just like
to have seen you in his place—you and your
yes! It was you who betrayed that man. It
would be impossible to live in France if we
were governed by such rascals as you!"

Cornudet, unmoved by this tirade, still smiled

a superior, contemptuous smile; and one felt
that high words were impending, when the
count interposed, and, not without difficulty,
succeeded in calming the exasperated woman,
saying that all sincere opinions ought to be re-
spected. But the countess and the manufac-
turer's wife, imbued with the unreasoning ha-
tred of the upper classes for the Republic, and
instinct, moreover, with the affection felt by all
women for the pomp and circumstance of des-
potic government, were drawn, in spite of
themselves, toward this dignified young
woman, whose opinions coincided so closely
with their own.

The basket was empty. The ten people had fin-

ished its contents without difficulty amid gen-
eral regret that it did not hold more. Conversa-
tion went on a little longer, though it flagged
somewhat after the passengers had finished

Night fell, the darkness grew deeper and

deeper, and the cold made Boule de Suif shiver,
in spite of her plumpness. So Madame de Bre-
ville offered her her foot-warmer, the fuel of
which had been several times renewed since
the morning, and she accepted the offer at once,
for her feet were icy cold. Mesdames Carre-
Lamadon and Loiseau gave theirs to the nuns.
The driver lighted his lanterns. They cast a
bright gleam on a cloud of vapor which hov-
ered over the sweating flanks of the horses, and
on the roadside snow, which seemed to unroll
as they went along in the changing light of the

All was now indistinguishable in the coach; but

suddenly a movement occurred in the corner
occupied by Boule de Suif and Cornudet; and
Loiseau, peering into the gloom, fancied he saw
the big, bearded democrat move hastily to one
side, as if he had received a well-directed,
though noiseless, blow in the dark.

Tiny lights glimmered ahead. It was Totes. The

coach had been on the road eleven hours,
which, with the three hours allotted the horses
in four periods for feeding and breathing, made
fourteen. It entered the town, and stopped be-
fore the Hotel du Commerce.
The coach door opened; a well-known noise
made all the travellers start; it was the clanging
of a scabbard, on the pavement; then a voice
called out something in German.

Although the coach had come to a standstill, no

one got out; it looked as if they were afraid of
being murdered the moment they left their
seats. Thereupon the driver appeared, holding
in his hand one of his lanterns, which cast a
sudden glow on the interior of the coach, light-
ing up the double row of startled faces, mouths
agape, and eyes wide open in surprise and ter-

Beside the driver stood in the full light a Ger-

man officer, a tall young man, fair and slender,
tightly encased in his uniform like a woman in
her corset, his flat shiny cap, tilted to one side
of his head, making him look like an English
hotel runner. His exaggerated mustache, long
and straight and tapering to a point at either
end in a single blond hair that could hardly be
seen, seemed to weigh down the corners of his
mouth and give a droop to his lips.

In Alsatian French he requested the travellers

to alight, saying stiffly:

"Kindly get down, ladies and gentlemen."

The two nuns were the first to obey, manifest-

ing the docility of holy women accustomed to
submission on every occasion. Next appeared
the count and countess, followed by the manu-
facturer and his wife, after whom came
Loiseau, pushing his larger and better half be-
fore him.


his foot to the ground, acting on an impulse
born of prudence rather than of politeness. The
other, insolent like all in authority, merely sta-
red without replying.
Boule de Suif and Cornudet, though near the
door, were the last to alight, grave and digni-
fied before the enemy. The stout girl tried to
control herself and appear calm; the democrat
stroked his long russet beard with a somewhat
trembling hand. Both strove to maintain their
dignity, knowing well that at such a time each
individual is always looked upon as more or
less typical of his nation; and, also, resenting
the complaisant attitude of their companions,
Boule de Suif tried to wear a bolder front than
her neighbors, the virtuous women, while he,
feeling that it was incumbent on him to set a
good example, kept up the attitude of resis-
tance which he had first assumed when he un-
dertook to mine the high roads round Rouen.

They entered the spacious kitchen of the inn,

and the German, having demanded the pass-
ports signed by the general in command, in
which were mentioned the name, description
and profession of each traveller, inspected them
all minutely, comparing their appearance with
the written particulars.

Then he said brusquely: "All right," and turned

on his heel.

They breathed freely, All were still hungry; so

supper was ordered. Half an hour was required
for its preparation, and while two servants
were apparently engaged in getting it ready the
travellers went to look at their rooms. These all
opened off a long corridor, at the end of which
was a glazed door with a number on it.

They were just about to take their seats at table

when the innkeeper appeared in person. He
was a former horse dealer—a large, asthmatic
individual, always wheezing, coughing, and
clearing his throat. Follenvie was his patro-

He called:
"Mademoiselle Elisabeth Rousset?"

Boule de Suif started, and turned round.

"That is my name."

"Mademoiselle, the Prussian officer wishes to

speak to you immediately."

"To me?"

"Yes; if you are Mademoiselle Elisabeth Rous-


She hesitated, reflected a moment, and then

declared roundly:

"That may be; but I'm not going."

They moved restlessly around her; every one

wondered and speculated as to the cause of this
order. The count approached:
"You are wrong, madame, for your refusal may
bring trouble not only on yourself but also on
all your companions. It never pays to resist
those in authority. Your compliance with this
request cannot possibly be fraught with any
danger; it has probably been made because
some formality or other was forgotten."

All added their voices to that of the count; Bou-

le de Suif was begged, urged, lectured, and at
last convinced; every one was afraid of the
complications which might result from head-
strong action on her part. She said finally:


The countess took her hand.

"And we are grateful to you."

She left the room. All waited for her return be-
fore commencing the meal. Each was distressed
that he or she had not been sent for rather than
this impulsive, quick-tempered girl, and each
mentally rehearsed platitudes in case of being
summoned also.

But at the end of ten minutes she reappeared

breathing hard, crimson with indignation.

"Oh! the scoundrel! the scoundrel!" she stam-


All were anxious to know what had happened;

but she declined to enlighten them, and when
the count pressed the point, she silenced him
with much dignity, saying:

"No; the matter has nothing to do with you,

and I cannot speak of it."

Then they took their places round a high soup

tureen, from which issued an odor of cabbage.
In spite of this coincidence, the supper was
cheerful. The cider was good; the Loiseaus and
the nuns drank it from motives of economy.
The others ordered wine; Cornudet demanded
beer. He had his own fashion of uncorking the
bottle and making the beer foam, gazing at it as
he inclined his glass and then raised it to a posi-
tion between the lamp and his eye that he
might judge of its color. When he drank, his
great beard, which matched the color of his
favorite beverage, seemed to tremble with af-
fection; his eyes positively squinted in the en-
deavor not to lose sight of the beloved glass,
and he looked for all the world as if he were
fulfilling the only function for which he was
born. He seemed to have established in his
mind an affinity between the two great pas-
sions of his life—pale ale and revolution—and
assuredly he could not taste the one without
dreaming of the other.

Monsieur and Madame Follenvie dined at the

end of the table. The man, wheezing like a bro-
ken-down locomotive, was too short-winded to
talk when he was eating. But the wife was not
silent a moment; she told how the Prussians
had impressed her on their arrival, what they
did, what they said; execrating them in the first
place because they cost her money, and in the
second because she had two sons in the army.
She addressed herself principally to the count-
ess, flattered at the opportunity of talking to a
lady of quality.

Then she lowered her voice, and began to

broach delicate subjects. Her husband inter-
rupted her from time to time, saying:

"You would do well to hold your tongue, Ma-

dame Follenvie."

But she took no notice of him, and went on:

"Yes, madame, these Germans do nothing but

eat potatoes and pork, and then pork and pota-
toes. And don't imagine for a moment that they
are clean! No, indeed! And if only you saw
them drilling for hours, indeed for days, to-
gether; they all collect in a field, then they do
nothing but march backward and forward, and
wheel this way and that. If only they would
cultivate the land, or remain at home and work
on their high roads! Really, madame, these sol-
diers are of no earthly use! Poor people have to
feed and keep them, only in order that they
woman with no education, but when I see them
wearing themselves out marching about from
morning till night, I say to myself: When there
are people who make discoveries that are of
use to people, why should others take so much
trouble to do harm? Really, now, isn't it a terri-
ble thing to kill people, whether they are Prus-
sians, or English, or Poles, or French? If we re-
venge ourselves on any one who injures us we
do wrong, and are punished for it; but when
our sons are shot down like partridges, that is
all right, and decorations are given to the man
able to understand it."
Cornudet raised his voice:

"War is a barbarous proceeding when we attack

a peaceful neighbor, but it is a sacred duty
when undertaken in defence of one's country."

The old woman looked down:

"Yes; it's another matter when one acts in self-

defence; but would it not be better to kill all the
kings, seeing that they make war just to amuse

Cornudet's eyes kindled.

"Bravo, citizens!" he said.

Monsieur Carre-Lamadon was reflecting pro-

foundly. Although an ardent admirer of great
generals, the peasant woman's sturdy common
sense made him reflect on the wealth which
might accrue to a country by the employment
of so many idle hands now maintained at a
great expense, of so much unproductive force,
if they were employed in those great industrial
enterprises which it will take centuries to com-

But Loiseau, leaving his seat, went over to the

innkeeper and began chatting in a low voice.
The big man chuckled, coughed, sputtered; his
enormous carcass shook with merriment at the
pleasantries of the other; and he ended by buy-
ing six casks of claret from Loiseau to be deliv-
ered in spring, after the departure of the Prus-

The moment supper was over every one went

to bed, worn out with fatigue.

But Loiseau, who had been making his obser-

vations on the sly, sent his wife to bed, and
amused himself by placing first his ear, and
then his eye, to the bedroom keyhole, in order
to discover what he called "the mysteries of the
At the end of about an hour he heard a rustling,
peeped out quickly, and caught sight of Boule
de Suif, looking more rotund than ever in a
dressing-gown of blue cashmere trimmed with
white lace. She held a candle in her hand, and
directed her steps to the numbered door at the
end of the corridor. But one of the side doors
was partly opened, and when, at the end of a
few minutes, she returned, Cornudet, in his
shirt-sleeves, followed her. They spoke in low
tones, then stopped short. Boule de Suif seemed
to be stoutly denying him admission to her
room. Unfortunately, Loiseau could not at first
hear what they said; but toward the end of the
conversation they raised their voices, and he
caught a few words. Cornudet was loudly in-

"How silly you are! What does it matter to

you?" he said.

She seemed indignant, and replied:

"No, my good man, there are times when one
does not do that sort of thing; besides, in this
place it would be shameful."

Apparently he did not understand, and asked

the reason. Then she lost her temper and her
caution, and, raising her voice still higher, said:

"Why? Can't you understand why? When there

are Prussians in the house! Perhaps even in the
very next room!"

He was silent. The patriotic shame of this wan-

ton, who would not suffer herself to be ca-
ressed in the neighborhood of the enemy, must
have roused his dormant dignity, for after be-
stowing on her a simple kiss he crept softly
back to his room. Loiseau, much edified, ca-
pered round the bedroom before taking his
place beside his slumbering spouse.

Then silence reigned throughout the house. But

soon there arose from some remote part—it
might easily have been either cellar or attic—a
stertorous, monotonous, regular snoring, a
dull, prolonged rumbling, varied by tremors
like those of a boiler under pressure of steam.
Monsieur Follenvie had gone to sleep.

As they had decided on starting at eight o'clock

the next morning, every one was in the kitchen
at that hour; but the coach, its roof covered
with snow, stood by itself in the middle of the
yard, without either horses or driver. They
sought the latter in the stables, coach-houses
and barns —but in vain. So the men of the
party resolved to scour the country for him,
and sallied forth. They found them selves in the
square, with the church at the farther side, and
to right and left low-roofed houses where there
were some Prussian soldiers. The first soldier
they saw was peeling potatoes. The second,
farther on, was washing out a barber's shop. An
other, bearded to the eyes, was fondling a cry-
ing infant, and dandling it on his knees to quiet
it; and the stout peasant women, whose men-
means of signs, telling their obedient conquer-
ors what work they were to do: chop wood,
prepare soup, grind coffee; one of them even
was doing the washing for his hostess, an in-
firm old grandmother.

The count, astonished at what he saw, ques-

tioned the beadle who was coming out of the
presbytery. The old man answered:


are not Prussians, I am told; they come from
somewhere farther off, I don't exactly know
where. And they have all left wives and chil-
dren behind them; they are not fond of war
either, you may be sure! I am sure they are
mourning for the men where they come from,
just as we do here; and the war causes them
just as much unhappiness as it does us. As a
matter of fact, things are not so very bad here
just now, because the soldiers do no harm, and
work just as if they were in their own homes.
You see, sir, poor folk always help one another;
it is the great ones of this world who make

Cornudet indignant at the friendly understand-

ing established between conquerors and con-
quered, withdrew, preferring to shut himself
up in the inn.

"They are repeopling the country," jested Loi-


"They are undoing the harm they have done,"

said Monsieur Carre-Lamadon gravely.

But they could not find the coach driver. At last

he was discovered in the village cafe, fraterniz-
ing cordially with the officer's orderly.

"Were you not told to harness the horses at

eight o'clock?" demanded the count.


"What orders?"

"Not to harness at all."

"Who gave you such orders?"

"Why, the Prussian officer."

"But why?"


to harness the horses, so I don't harness them—
that's all."

"Did he tell you so himself?"

"No, sir; the innkeeper gave me the order from




The three men returned in a very uneasy frame

of mind.
They asked for Monsieur Follenvie, but the
servant replied that on account of his asthma he
never got up before ten o'clock. They were
strictly forbidden to rouse him earlier, except in
case of fire.

They wished to see the officer, but that also was

impossible, although he lodged in the inn.
Monsieur Follenvie alone was authorized to
interview him on civil matters. So they waited.
The women returned to their rooms, and occu-
pied themselves with trivial matters.

Cornudet settled down beside the tall kitchen

fireplace, before a blazing fire. He had a small
table and a jug of beer placed beside him, and
he smoked his pipe—a pipe which enjoyed
among democrats a consideration almost equal
to his own, as though it had served its country
in serving Cornudet. It was a fine meerschaum,
admirably colored to a black the shade of its
owner's teeth, but sweet-smelling, gracefully
curved, at home in its master's hand, and com-
pleting his physiognomy. And Cornudet sat
motionless, his eyes fixed now on the dancing
flames, now on the froth which crowned his
beer; and after each draught he passed his long,
thin fingers with an air of satisfaction through
his long, greasy hair, as he sucked the foam
from his mustache.

Loiseau, under pretence of stretching his legs,

went out to see if he could sell wine to the
country dealers. The count and the manufac-
turer began to talk politics. They forecast the
future of France. One believed in the Orleans
dynasty, the other in an unknown savior—a
hero who should rise up in the last extremity: a
Du Guesclin, perhaps a Joan of Arc? or another
Napoleon the First? Ah! if only the Prince Im-
perial were not so young! Cornudet, listening
to them, smiled like a man who holds the keys
of destiny in his hands. His pipe perfumed the
whole kitchen.
As the clock struck ten, Monsieur Follenvie
appeared. He was immediately surrounded
and questioned, but could only repeat, three or
four times in succession, and without variation,
the words:


Follenvie, you will forbid them to harness up
the coach for those travellers to-morrow. They
are not to start without an order from me. You
hear? That is sufficient.'"

Then they asked to see the officer. The count

sent him his card, on which Monsieur Carre-
Lamadon also inscribed his name and titles.
The Prussian sent word that the two men
would be admitted to see him after his lunch-
eon—that is to say, about one o'clock.

The ladies reappeared, and they all ate a little,

in spite of their anxiety. Boule de Suif appeared
ill and very much worried.
They were finishing their coffee when the or-
derly came to fetch the gentlemen.

Loiseau joined the other two; but when they

tried to get Cornudet to accompany them, by
way of adding greater solemnity to the occa-
sion, he declared proudly that he would never
have anything to do with the Germans, and,
resuming his seat in the chimney corner, he
called for another jug of beer.

The three men went upstairs, and were ushered

into the best room in the inn, where the officer
received them lolling at his ease in an armchair,
his feet on the mantelpiece, smoking a long
porcelain pipe, and enveloped in a gorgeous
dressing-gown, doubtless stolen from the de-
serted dwelling of some citizen destitute of
taste in dress. He neither rose, greeted them,
nor even glanced in their direction. He afforded
a fine example of that insolence of bearing
which seems natural to the victorious soldier.
After the lapse of a few moments he said in his
halting French:

"What do you want?"

"We wish to start on our journey," said the



"May I ask the reason of your refusal?"

"Because I don't choose."

"I would respectfully call your attention, mon-

sieur, to the fact that your general in command
gave us a permit to proceed to Dieppe; and I do
not think we have done anything to deserve
this harshness at your hands."

"I don't choose—that's all. You may go."

They bowed, and retired.

The afternoon was wretched. They could not
understand the caprice of this German, and the
strangest ideas came into their heads. They all
congregated in the kitchen, and talked the sub-
ject to death, imagining all kinds of unlikely
things. Perhaps they were to be kept as hos-
tages —but for what reason? or to be extradited
as prisoners of war? or possibly they were to be
held for ransom? They were panic-stricken at
this last supposition. The richest among them
were the most alarmed, seeing themselves for-
ced to empty bags of gold into the insolent sol-
dier's hands in order to buy back their lives.
They racked their brains for plausible lies whe-
reby they might conceal the fact that they were
rich, and pass themselves off as poor—very
poor. Loiseau took off his watch chain, and put
it in his pocket. The approach of night in-
creased their apprehension. The lamp was
lighted, and as it wanted yet two hours to din-
ner Madame Loiseau proposed a game of trente
et un. It would distract their thoughts. The rest
agreed, and Cornudet himself joined the party,
first putting out his pipe for politeness' sake.

The count shuffled the cards—dealt—and

Boule de Suif had thirty-one to start with; soon
the interest of the game assuaged the anxiety of
the players. But Cornudet noticed that Loiseau
and his wife were in league to cheat.

They were about to sit down to dinner when

Monsieur Follenvie appeared, and in his grat-
ing voice announced:

"The Prussian officer sends to ask Mademoi-

selle Elisabeth Rousset if she has changed her
mind yet."

Boule de Suif stood still, pale as death. Then,

suddenly turning crimson with anger, she gas-
ped out:
"Kindly tell that scoundrel, that cur, that car-
rion of a Prussian, that I will never consent—
you understand?—never, never, never!"

The fat innkeeper left the room. Then Boule de

Suif was surrounded, questioned, entreated on
all sides to reveal the mystery of her visit to the
officer. She refused at first; but her wrath soon
got the better of her.

"What does he want? He wants to make me his

mistress!" she cried.

No one was shocked at the word, so great was

the general indignation. Cornudet broke his jug
as he banged it down on the table. A loud out-
cry arose against this base soldier. All were
furious. They drew together in common resis-
tance against the foe, as if some part of the sac-
rifice exacted of Boule de Suif had been de-
manded of each. The count declared, with su-
preme disgust, that those people behaved like
ancient barbarians. The women, above all,
manifested a lively and tender sympathy for
Boule de Suif. The nuns, who appeared only at
meals, cast down their eyes, and said nothing.

They dined, however, as soon as the first in-

dignant outburst had subsided; but they spoke
little and thought much.

The ladies went to bed early; and the men, hav-

ing lighted their pipes, proposed a game of
ecarte, in which Monsieur Follenvie was in-
vited to join, the travellers hoping to question
him skillfully as to the best means of vanquish-
ing the officer's obduracy. But he thought of
nothing but his cards, would listen to nothing,
reply to nothing, and repeated, time after time:
"Attend to the game, gentlemen! attend to the
game!" So absorbed was his attention that he
even forgot to expectorate. The consequence
was that his chest gave forth rumbling sounds
like those of an organ. His wheezing lungs
struck every note of the asthmatic scale, from
deep, hollow tones to a shrill, hoarse piping
resembling that of a young cock trying to crow.

He refused to go to bed when his wife, over-

come with sleep, came to fetch him. So she
went off alone, for she was an early bird, al-
ways up with the sun; while he was addicted to
late hours, ever ready to spend the night with
other men saw that nothing was to be got out of
him they declared it was time to retire, and
each sought his bed.

They rose fairly early the next morning, with a

vague hope of being allowed to start, a greater
desire than ever to do so, and a terror at having
to spend another day in this wretched little inn.

Alas! the horses remained in the stable, the dri-

ver was invisible. They spent their time, for
want of something better to do, in wandering
round the coach.
Luncheon was a gloomy affair; and there was a
general coolness toward Boule de Suif, for
night, which brings counsel, had somewhat
modified the judgment of her companions. In
the cold light of the morning they almost bore a
grudge against the girl for not having secretly
sought out the Prussian, that the rest of the
party might receive a joyful surprise when they
awoke. What more simple?

Besides, who would have been the wiser? She

might have saved appearances by telling the
officer that she had taken pity on their distress.
Such a step would be of so little consequence to

But no one as yet confessed to such thoughts.

In the afternoon, seeing that they were all

bored to death, the count proposed a walk in
the neighborhood of the village. Each one
wrapped himself up well, and the little party
set out, leaving behind only Cornudet, who
preferred to sit over the fire, and the two nuns,
who were in the habit of spending their day in
the church or at the presbytery.

The cold, which grew more intense each day,

almost froze the noses and ears of the pedestri-
ans, their feet began to pain them so that each
step was a penance, and when they reached the
open country it looked so mournful and de-
pressing in its limitless mantle of white that
they all hastily retraced their steps, with bodies
benumbed and hearts heavy.

The four women walked in front, and the three

men followed a little in their rear.

Loiseau, who saw perfectly well how matters

stood, asked suddenly "if that trollop were go-
ing to keep them waiting much longer in this
Godforsaken spot." The count, always courte-
ous, replied that they could not exact so painful
a sacrifice from any woman, and that the first
move must come from herself. Monsieur Carre-
Lamadon remarked that if the French, as they
talked of doing, made a counter attack by way
of Dieppe, their encounter with the enemy
must inevitably take place at Totes. This reflec-
tion made the other two anxious.

"Supposing we escape on foot?" said Loiseau.

The count shrugged his shoulders.

"How can you think of such a thing, in this

snow? And with our wives? Besides, we should
be pursued at once, overtaken in ten minutes,
and brought back as prisoners at the mercy of
the soldiery."

This was true enough; they were silent.

The ladies talked of dress, but a certain con-

straint seemed to prevail among them.

Suddenly, at the end of the street, the officer

appeared. His tall, wasp-like, uniformed figure
was outlined against the snow which bounded
the horizon, and he walked, knees apart, with
that motion peculiar to soldiers, who are al-
ways anxious not to soil their carefully pol-
ished boots.

He bowed as he passed the ladies, then glanced

scornfully at the men, who had sufficient dig-
nity not to raise their hats, though Loiseau
made a movement to do so.

Boule de Suif flushed crimson to the ears, and

the three married women felt unutterably hu-
miliated at being met thus by the soldier in
company with the girl whom he had treated
with such scant ceremony.

Then they began to talk about him, his figure,

and his face. Madame Carre-Lamadon, who
had known many officers and judged them as a
connoisseur, thought him not at all bad-
looking; she even regretted that he was not a
Frenchman, because in that case he would have
made a very handsome hussar, with whom all
the women would assuredly have fallen in

When they were once more within doors they

did not know what to do with themselves.
Sharp words even were exchanged apropos of
the merest trifles. The silent dinner was quickly
over, and each one went to bed early in the
hope of sleeping, and thus killing time.

They came down next morning with tired faces

and irritable tempers; the women scarcely
spoke to Boule de Suif.

A church bell summoned the faithful to a bap-

tism. Boule de Suif had a child being brought
up by peasants at Yvetot. She did not see him
once a year, and never thought of him; but the
idea of the child who was about to be baptized
induced a sudden wave of tenderness for her
own, and she insisted on being present at the
As soon as she had gone out, the rest of the
company looked at one another and then drew
their chairs together; for they realized that they
must decide on some course of action. Loiseau
had an inspiration: he proposed that they
should ask the officer to detain Boule de Suif
only, and to let the rest depart on their way.

Monsieur Follenvie was intrusted with this

commission, but he returned to them almost
immediately. The German, who knew human
nature, had shown him the door. He intended
to keep all the travellers until his condition had
been complied with.

Whereupon Madame Loiseau's vulgar tem-

perament broke bounds.


cried. "Since it's that vixen's trade to behave so
with men I don't see that she has any right to
refuse one more than another. I may as well tell
you she took any lovers she could get at
Rouen—even coachmen! Yes, indeed, ma-
dame—the coachman at the prefecture! I know
now that it is a question of getting us out of a
difficulty she puts on virtuous airs, the drab!
For my part, I think this officer has behaved
very well. Why, there were three others of us,
any one of whom he would undoubtedly have
preferred. But no, he contents himself with the
girl who is common property. He respects mar-
ried women. Just think. He is master here. He

The two other women shuddered; the eyes of

pretty Madame Carre-Lamadon glistened, and
she grew pale, as if the officer were indeed in
the act of laying violent hands on her.

The men, who had been discussing the subject

among themselves, drew near. Loiseau, in a
state of furious resentment, was for delivering
up "that miserable woman," bound hand and
foot, into the enemy's power. But the count,
descended from three generations of ambassa-
dors, and endowed, moreover, with the linea-
ments of a diplomat, was in favor of more tact-
ful measures.

"We must persuade her," he said.

Then they laid their plans.

The women drew together; they lowered their

voices, and the discussion became general, each
giving his or her opinion. But the conversation
was not in the least coarse. The ladies, in par-
ticular, were adepts at delicate phrases and
charming subtleties of expression to describe
the most improper things. A stranger would
have understood none of their allusions, so
guarded was the language they employed. But,
seeing that the thin veneer of modesty with
which every woman of the world is furnished
goes but a very little way below the surface,
they began rather to enjoy this unedifying epi-
sode, and at bottom were hugely delighted —
feeling themselves in their element, furthering
the schemes of lawless love with the gusto of a
gourmand cook who prepares supper for an-

Their gaiety returned of itself, so amusing at

last did the whole business seem to them. The
count uttered several rather risky witticisms,
but so tactfully were they said that his audience
could not help smiling. Loiseau in turn made
some considerably broader jokes, but no one
took offence; and the thought expressed with
such brutal directness by his wife was upper-
most in the minds of all: "Since it's the girl's
trade, why should she refuse this man more
than another?" Dainty Madame Carre-
Lamadon seemed to think even that in Boule de
Suif's place she would be less inclined to refuse
him than another.

The blockade was as carefully arranged as if

they were investing a fortress. Each agreed on
the role which he or she was to play, the argu-
ments to be used, the maneuvers to be exe-
cuted. They decided on the plan of campaign,
the stratagems they were to employ, and the
surprise attacks which were to reduce this hu-
man citadel and force it to receive the enemy
within its walls.

But Cornudet remained apart from the rest,

taking no share in the plot.

So absorbed was the attention of all that Boule

de Suif's entrance was almost unnoticed. But
the count whispered a gentle "Hush!" which
made the others look up. She was there. They
suddenly stopped talking, and a vague embar-
rassment prevented them for a few moments
from addressing her. But the countess, more
practiced than the others in the wiles of the
drawing-room, asked her:

"Was the baptism interesting?"

The girl, still under the stress of emotion, told
what she had seen and heard, described the
faces, the attitudes of those present, and even
the appearance of the church. She concluded
with the words:

"It does one good to pray sometimes."

Until lunch time the ladies contented them-

selves with being pleasant to her, so as to in-
crease her confidence and make her amenable
to their advice.

As soon as they took their seats at table the at-

tack began. First they opened a vague conver-
sation on the subject of self-sacrifice. Ancient
examples were quoted: Judith and Holofernes;
then, irrationally enough, Lucrece and Sextus;
Cleopatra and the hostile generals whom she
reduced to abject slavery by a surrender of her
charms. Next was recounted an extraordinary
story, born of the imagination of these ignorant
millionaires, which told how the matrons of
Rome seduced Hannibal, his lieutenants, and
all his mercenaries at Capua. They held up to
admiration all those women who from time to
time have arrested the victorious progress of
conquerors, made of their bodies a field of bat-
tle, a means of ruling, a weapon; who have
vanquished by their heroic caresses hideous or
detested beings, and sacrificed their chastity to
vengeance and devotion.

All was said with due restraint and regard for

propriety, the effect heightened now and then
by an outburst of forced enthusiasm calculated
to excite emulation.

A listener would have thought at last that the

one role of woman on earth was a perpetual
sacrifice of her person, a continual abandon-
ment of herself to the caprices of a hostile sol-

The two nuns seemed to hear nothing, and to

be lost in thought. Boule de Suif also was silent.
During the whole afternoon she was left to her
reflections. But instead of calling her "madame"
as they had done hitherto, her companions ad-
dressed her simply as "mademoiselle," without
exactly knowing why, but as if desirous of ma-
king her descend a step in the esteem she had
won, and forcing her to realize her degraded

Just as soup was served, Monsieur Follenvie

reappeared, repeating his phrase of the evening

"The Prussian officer sends to ask if Mademoi-

selle Elisabeth Rousset has changed her mind."

Boule de Suif answered briefly:

"No, monsieur."

But at dinner the coalition weakened. Loiseau

made three unfortunate remarks. Each was
cudgeling his brains for further examples of
self-sacrifice, and could find none, when the
countess, possibly without ulterior motive, and
moved simply by a vague desire to do homage
to religion, began to question the elder of the
two nuns on the most striking facts in the lives
had committed acts which would be crimes in
our eyes, but the Church readily pardons such
deeds when they are accomplished for the glo-
ry of God or the good of mankind. This was a
powerful argument, and the countess made the
most of it. Then, whether by reason of a tacit
understanding, a thinly veiled act of complai-
sance such as those who wear the ecclesiastical
habit excel in, or whether merely as the result
of sheer stupidity—a stupidity admirably adap-
ted to further their designs—the old nun ren-
dered formidable aid to the conspirator. They
had thought her timid; she proved herself bold,
talkative, bigoted. She was not troubled by the
ins and outs of casuistry; her doctrines were as
iron bars; her faith knew no doubt; her con-
science no scruples. She looked on Abraham's
sacrifice as natural enough, for she herself
would not have hesitated to kill both father and
mother if she had received a divine order to
that effect; and nothing, in her opinion, could
displease our Lord, provided the motive were
praiseworthy. The countess, putting to good
use the consecrated authority of her unex-
pected ally, led her on to make a lengthy and
edifying paraphrase of that axiom enunciated
by a certain school of moralists: "The end justi-
fies the means."

"Then, sister," she asked, "you think God ac-

cepts all methods, and pardons the act when
the motive is pure?"

"Undoubtedly, madame. An action reprehensi-

ble in itself often derives merit from the
thought which inspires it."

And in this wise they talked on, fathoming the

wishes of God, predicting His judgments, de-
scribing Him as interested in matters which
assuredly concern Him but little.

All was said with the utmost care and discre-

tion, but every word uttered by the holy wo-
man in her nun's garb weakened the indignant
resistance of the courtesan. Then the conversa-
tion drifted somewhat, and the nun began to
talk of the convents of her order, of her Supe-
rior, of herself, and of her fragile little neighbor,
Sister St. Nicephore. They had been sent for
from Havre to nurse the hundreds of soldiers
who were in hospitals, stricken with smallpox.
She described these wretched invalids and their
malady. And, while they themselves were de-
tained on their way by the caprices of the Prus-
sian officer, scores of Frenchmen might be dy-
ing, whom they would otherwise have saved!
For the nursing of soldiers was the old nun's
specialty; she had been in the Crimea, in Italy,
in Austria; and as she told the story of her
campaigns she revealed herself as one of those
holy sisters of the fife and drum who seem de-
signed by nature to follow camps, to snatch the
wounded from amid the strife of battle, and to
quell with a word, more effectually than any
general, the rough and insubordinate troop-
ers—a masterful woman, her seamed and pit-
ted face itself an image of the devastations of

No one spoke when she had finished for fear of

spoiling the excellent effect of her words.

As soon as the meal was over the travellers

retired to their rooms, whence they emerged
the following day at a late hour of the morning.

Luncheon passed off quietly. The seed sown

the preceding evening was being given time to
germinate and bring forth fruit.

In the afternoon the countess proposed a walk;

then the count, as had been arranged before-
hand, took Boule de Suif's arm, and walked
with her at some distance behind the rest.

He began talking to her in that familiar, pater-

nal, slightly contemptuous tone which men of
his class adopt in speaking to women like her,
calling her "my dear child," and talking down
to her from the height of his exalted social posi-
tion and stainless reputation. He came straight
to the point.

"So you prefer to leave us here, exposed like

yourself to all the violence which would follow
on a repulse of the Prussian troops, rather than
consent to surrender yourself, as you have do-
ne so many times in your life?"

The girl did not reply.

He tried kindness, argument, sentiment. He

still bore himself as count, even while adopting,
when desirable, an attitude of gallantry, and
making pretty—nay, even tender—speeches.
He exalted the service she would render them,
spoke of their gratitude; then, suddenly, using
the familiar "thou":

"And you know, my dear, he could boast then

of having made a conquest of a pretty girl such
as he won't often find in his own country."

Boule de Suif did not answer, and joined the

rest of the party.

As soon as they returned she went to her room,

and was seen no more. The general anxiety was
at its height. What would she do? If she still
resisted, how awkward for them all!

The dinner hour struck; they waited for her in

vain. At last Monsieur Follenvie entered, an-
nouncing that Mademoiselle Rousset was not
well, and that they might sit down to table.
They all pricked up their ears. The count drew
near the innkeeper, and whispered:
"Is it all right?"


Out of regard for propriety he said nothing to

his companions, but merely nodded slightly
toward them. A great sigh of relief went up
from all breasts; every face was lighted up with

"By Gad!" shouted Loiseau, "I'll stand cham-

pagne all round if there's any to be found in
this place." And great was Madame Loiseau's
dismay when the proprietor came back with
four bottles in his hands. They had all suddenly
become talkative and merry; a lively joy filled
all hearts. The count seemed to perceive for the
first time that Madame Carre-Lamadon was
charming; the manufacturer paid compliments
to the countess. The conversation was ani-
mated, sprightly, witty, and, although many of
the jokes were in the worst possible taste, all
the company were amused by them, and none
offended—indignation being dependent, like
other emotions, on surroundings. And the men-
tal atmosphere had gradually become filled
with gross imaginings and unclean thoughts.

At dessert even the women indulged in dis-

creetly worded allusions. Their glances were
full of meaning; they had drunk much. The
count, who even in his moments of relaxation
preserved a dignified demeanor, hit on a much-
appreciated comparison of the condition of
things with the termination of a winter spent in
the icy solitude of the North Pole and the joy of
shipwrecked mariners who at last perceive a
southward track opening out before their eyes.

Loiseau, fairly in his element, rose to his feet,

holding aloft a glass of champagne.

"I drink to our deliverance!" he shouted.

All stood up, and greeted the toast with accla-

mation. Even the two good sisters yielded to
the solicitations of the ladies, and consented to
moisten their lips with the foaming wine,
which they had never before tasted. They de-
clared it was like effervescent lemonade, but
with a pleasanter flavor.


piano; we might have had a quadrille."

Cornudet had not spoken a word or made a

movement; he seemed plunged in serious
thought, and now and then tugged furiously at
his great beard, as if trying to add still further
to its length. At last, toward midnight, when
they were about to separate, Loiseau, whose
gait was far from steady, suddenly slapped him
on the back, saying thickly:


old man?"
Cornudet threw back his head, cast one swift
and scornful glance over the assemblage, and

"I tell you all, you have done an infamous


He rose, reached the door, and repeating: "In-

famous!" disappeared.

A chill fell on all. Loiseau himself looked fool-

ish and disconcerted for a moment, but soon
recovered his aplomb, and, writhing with
laughter, exclaimed:

"Really, you are all too green for anything!"

Pressed for an explanation, he related the "mys-

teries of the corridor," whereat his listeners we-
re hugely amused. The ladies could hardly con-
tain their delight. The count and Monsieur Ca-
rre-Lamadon laughed till they cried. They
could scarcely believe their ears.
"What! you are sure? He wanted——"


"And she refused?"

"Because the Prussian was in the next room!"

"Surely you are mistaken?"

"I swear I'm telling you the truth."

The count was choking with laughter. The ma-

nufacturer held his sides. Loiseau continued:

"So you may well imagine he doesn't think this

evening's business at all amusing."

And all three began to laugh again, choking,

coughing, almost ill with merriment.

Then they separated. But Madame Loiseau,

who was nothing if not spiteful, remarked to
her husband as they were on the way to bed
that "that stuck-up little minx of a Carre-
Lamadon had laughed on the wrong side of her
mouth all the evening."


uniforms it's all the same to them whether the
men who wear them are French or Prussian. It's
perfectly sickening!"

The next morning the snow showed dazzling

white tinder a clear winter sun. The coach, rea-
dy at last, waited before the door; while a flock
of white pigeons, with pink eyes spotted in the
centres with black, puffed out their white feat-
hers and walked sedately between the legs of
the six horses, picking at the steaming manure.

The driver, wrapped in his sheepskin coat, was

smoking a pipe on the box, and all the passen-
gers, radiant with delight at their approaching
departure, were putting up provisions for the
remainder of the journey.
They were waiting only for Boule de Suif. At
last she appeared.

She seemed rather shamefaced and embar-

rassed, and advanced with timid step toward
her companions, who with one accord turned
aside as if they had not seen her. The count,
with much dignity, took his wife by the arm,
and removed her from the unclean contact.

The girl stood still, stupefied with astonish-

ment; then, plucking up courage, accosted the
manufacturer's wife with a humble "Good-
morning, madame," to which the other replied
merely with a slight and insolent nod, accom-
panied by a look of outraged virtue. Every one
suddenly appeared extremely busy, and kept
as far from Boule de Suif as if her skirts had
been infected with some deadly disease. Then
they hurried to the coach, followed by the de-
spised courtesan, who, arriving last of all, si-
lently took the place she had occupied during
the first part of the journey.
The rest seemed neither to see nor to know
her—all save Madame Loiseau, who, glancing
contemptuously in her direction, remarked,
half aloud, to her husband:

"What a mercy I am not sitting beside that crea-


The lumbering vehicle started on its way, and

the journey began afresh.

At first no one spoke. Boule de Suif dared not

even raise her eyes. She felt at once indignant
with her neighbors, and humiliated at having
yielded to the Prussian into whose arms they
had so hypocritically cast her.

But the countess, turning toward Madame Ca-

rre-Lamadon, soon broke the painful silence:

"I think you know Madame d'Etrelles?"

"Yes; she is a friend of mine."

"Such a charming woman!"

"Delightful! Exceptionally talented, and an art-

ist to the finger tips. She sings marvellously
and draws to perfection."

The manufacturer was chatting with the count,

and amid the clatter of the window-panes a
word of their conversation was now and then
distinguishable: "Shares—maturity—

Loiseau, who had abstracted from the inn the

timeworn pack of cards, thick with the grease
started a game of bezique with his wife.

The good sisters, taking up simultaneously the

long rosaries hanging from their waists, made
the sign of the cross, and began to mutter in
unison interminable prayers, their lips moving
ever more and more swiftly, as if they sought
which should outdistance the other in the race
of orisons; from time to time they kissed a me-
dal, and crossed themselves anew, then re-
sumed their rapid and unintelligible murmur.

Cornudet sat still, lost in thought.

Ah the end of three hours Loiseau gathered up

the cards, and remarked that he was hungry.

His wife thereupon produced a parcel tied with

string, from which she extracted a piece of cold
began to eat.

"We may as well do the same," said the count-

ess. The rest agreed, and she unpacked the
provisions which had been prepared for her-
self, the count, and the Carre-Lamadons. In one
of those oval dishes, the lids of which are deco-
rated with an earthenware hare, by way of
showing that a game pie lies within, was a suc-
culent delicacy consisting of the brown flesh of
the game larded with streaks of bacon and fla-
vored with other meats chopped fine. A solid
wedge of Gruyere cheese, which had been
wrapped in a newspaper, bore the imprint:

The two good sisters brought to light a hunk of

sausage smelling strongly of garlic; and Cor-
nudet, plunging both hands at once into the
capacious pockets of his loose overcoat, pro-
duced from one four hard-boiled eggs and
from the other a crust of bread. He removed the
shells, threw them into the straw beneath his
feet, and began to devour the eggs, letting mor-
sels of the bright yellow yolk fall in his mighty
beard, where they looked like stars.

Boule de Suif, in the haste and confusion of her

departure, had not thought of anything, and,
stifling with rage, she watched all these people
placidly eating. At first, ill-suppressed wrath
shook her whole person, and she opened her
lips to shriek the truth at them, to overwhelm
them with a volley of insults; but she could not
utter a word, so choked was she with indigna-

No one looked at her, no one thought of her.

She felt herself swallowed up in the scorn of
these virtuous creatures, who had first sacri-
ficed, then rejected her as a thing useless and
unclean. Then she remembered her big basket
full of the good things they had so greedily
devoured: the two chickens coated in jelly, the
pies, the pears, the four bottles of claret; and
her fury broke forth like a cord that is over-
strained, and she was on the verge of tears. She
made terrible efforts at self-control, drew her-
self up, swallowed the sobs which choked her;
but the tears rose nevertheless, shone at the
brink of her eyelids, and soon two heavy drops
coursed slowly down her cheeks. Others fol-
lowed more quickly, like water filtering from a
rock, and fell, one after another, on her roun-
ded bosom. She sat upright, with a fixed ex-
pression, her face pale and rigid, hoping des-
perately that no one saw her give way.

But the countess noticed that she was weeping,

and with a sign drew her husband's attention to
Loiseau chuckled triumphantly, and mur-

"She's weeping for shame."

The two nuns had betaken themselves once

more to their prayers, first wrapping the re-
mainder of their sausage in paper:

Then Cornudet, who was digesting his eggs,

stretched his long legs under the opposite seat,
threw himself back, folded his arms, smiled like
a man who had just thought of a good joke, and
began to whistle the Marseillaise.
The faces of his neighbors clouded; the popular
air evidently did not find favor with them; they
grew nervous and irritable, and seemed ready
organ. Cornudet saw the discomfort he was
creating, and whistled the louder; sometimes
he even hummed the words:
Amour sacre de la patrie,
Conduis, soutiens, nos bras vengeurs,
Liberte, liberte cherie,
Combats avec tes defenseurs!
The coach progressed more swiftly, the snow
being harder now; and all the way to Dieppe,
during the long, dreary hours of the journey,
first in the gathering dusk, then in the thick
darkness, raising his voice above the rumbling
of the vehicle, Cornudet continued with fierce
obstinacy his vengeful and monotonous whis-
tling, forcing his weary and exasperated-
hearers to follow the song from end to end, to
recall every word of every line, as each was
repeated over and over again with untiring

And Boule de Suif still wept, and sometimes a

sob she could not restrain was heard in the
darkness between two verses of the song.


Besieged Paris was in the throes of famine.

Even the sparrows on the roofs and the rats in
the sewers were growing scarce. People were
eating anything they could get.

As Monsieur Morissot, watchmaker by profes-

sion and idler for the nonce, was strolling along
the boulevard one bright January morning, his
hands in his trousers pockets and stomach
empty, he suddenly came face to face with an
acquaintance—Monsieur Sauvage, a fishing

Before the war broke out Morissot had been in

the habit, every Sunday morning, of setting
forth with a bamboo rod in his hand and a tin
box on his back. He took the Argenteuil train,
got out at Colombes, and walked thence to the
Ile Marante. The moment he arrived at this pla-
ce of his dreams he began fishing, and fished
till nightfall.

Every Sunday he met in this very spot Mon-

sieur Sauvage, a stout, jolly, little man, a draper
in the Rue Notre Dame de Lorette, and also an
ardent fisherman. They often spent half the day
side by side, rod in hand and feet dangling over
the water, and a warm friendship had sprung
up between the two.

Some days they did not speak; at other times

they chatted; but they understood each other
perfectly without the aid of words, having
similar tastes and feelings.

In the spring, about ten o'clock in the morning,

when the early sun caused a light mist to float
on the water and gently warmed the backs of
the two enthusiastic anglers, Morissot would
occasionally remark to his neighbor:

"My, but it's pleasant here."

To which the other would reply:

"I can't imagine anything better!"

And these few words sufficed to make them

understand and appreciate each other.

In the autumn, toward the close of day, when

the setting sun shed a blood-red glow over the
western sky, and the reflection of the crimson
clouds tinged the whole river with red, brought
a glow to the faces of the two friends, and gil-
ded the trees, whose leaves were already turn-
ing at the first chill touch of winter, Monsieur
Sauvage would sometimes smile at Morissot,
and say:

"What a glorious spectacle!"

And Morissot would answer, without taking

his eyes from his float:

"This is much better than the boulevard, isn't


As soon as they recognized each other they

shook hands cordially, affected at the thought
of meeting under such changed circumstances.

Monsieur Sauvage, with a sigh, murmured:

"These are sad times!"

Morissot shook his head mournfully.

"And such weather! This is the first fine day of

the year."

They walked along, side by side, reflective and


"And to think of the fishing!" said Morissot.

"What good times we used to have!"

"When shall we be able to fish again?" asked

Monsieur Sauvage.

They entered a small cafe and took an absinthe

together, then resumed their walk along the

Morissot stopped suddenly.

"Shall we have another absinthe?" he said.

"If you like," agreed Monsieur Sauvage.

And they entered another wine shop.

They were quite unsteady when they came out,
owing to the effect of the alcohol on their emp-
ty stomachs. It was a fine, mild day, and a gen-
tle breeze fanned their faces.

The fresh air completed the effect of the alcohol

on Monsieur Sauvage. He stopped suddenly,

"Suppose we go there?"



"But where?"

"Why, to the old place. The French outposts are

close to Colombes. I know Colonel Dumoulin,
and we shall easily get leave to pass."

Morissot trembled with desire.

"Very well. I agree."

And they separated, to fetch their rods and

An hour later they were walking side by side

on the-highroad. Presently they reached the
villa occupied by the colonel. He smiled at their
request, and granted it. They resumed their
walk, furnished with a password.

Soon they left the outposts behind them, made

their way through deserted Colombes, and
found themselves on the outskirts of the small
vineyards which border the Seine. It was about
eleven o'clock.

Before them lay the village of Argenteuil, ap-

parently lifeless. The heights of Orgement and
Sannois dominated the landscape. The great
plain, extending as far as Nanterre, was empty,
quite empty-a waste of dun-colored soil and
bare cherry trees.
Monsieur Sauvage, pointing to the heights,

"The Prussians are up yonder!"

And the sight of the deserted country filled the

two friends with vague misgivings.

The Prussians! They had never seen them as

yet, but they had felt their presence in the
neighborhood of Paris for months past—
ruining France, pillaging, massacring, starving
them. And a kind of superstitious terror min-
gled with the hatred they already felt toward
this unknown, victorious nation.

"Suppose we were to meet any of them?" said


"We'd offer them some fish," replied Monsieur

Sauvage, with that Parisian light-heartedness
which nothing can wholly quench.
Still, they hesitated to show themselves in the
open country, overawed by the utter silence
which reigned around them.

At last Monsieur Sauvage said boldly:

"Come, we'll make a start; only let us be care-


And they made their way through one of the

vineyards, bent double, creeping along beneath
the cover afforded by the vines, with eye and
ear alert.

A strip of bare ground remained to be crossed

before they could gain the river bank. They ran
across this, and, as soon as they were at the
water's edge, concealed themselves among the
dry reeds.

Morissot placed his ear to the ground, to ascer-

tain, if possible, whether footsteps were coming
their way. He heard nothing. They seemed to
be utterly alone.

Their confidence was restored, and they began

to fish.

Before them the deserted Ile Marante hid them

from the farther shore. The little restaurant was
closed, and looked as if it had been deserted for

Monsieur Sauvage caught the first gudgeon,

Monsieur Morissot the second, and almost eve-
ry moment one or other raised his line with a
little, glittering, silvery fish wriggling at the
end; they were having excellent sport.

They slipped their catch gently into a close-

meshed bag lying at their feet; they were filled
with joy—the joy of once more indulging in a
pastime of which they had long been deprived.
The sun poured its rays on their backs; they no
longer heard anything or thought of anything.
They ignored the rest of the world; they were

But suddenly a rumbling sound, which seemed

to come from the bowels of the earth, shook the
ground beneath them: the cannon were resum-
ing their thunder.

Morissot turned his head and could see toward

the left, beyond the banks of the river, the for-
midable outline of Mont-Valerien, from whose
summit arose a white puff of smoke.

The next instant a second puff followed the

first, and in a few moments a fresh detonation
made the earth tremble.

Others followed, and minute by minute the

mountain gave forth its deadly breath and a
white puff of smoke, which rose slowly into the
peaceful heaven and floated above the summit
of the cliff.

Monsieur Sauvage shrugged his shoulders.

"They are at it again!" he said.

Morissot, who was anxiously watching his float

bobbing up and down, was suddenly seized
with the angry impatience of a peaceful man
toward the madmen who were firing thus, and
remarked indignantly:

"What fools they are to kill one another like


"They're worse than animals," replied Monsieur


And Morissot, who had just caught a bleak,


"And to think that it will be just the same so

long as there are governments!"
"The Republic would not have declared war,"
interposed Monsieur Sauvage.

Morissot interrupted him:

"Under a king we have foreign wars; under a

republic we have civil war."

And the two began placidly discussing political

problems with the sound common sense of
peaceful, matter-of-fact citizens—agreeing on
one point: that they would never be free. And
Mont-Valerien thundered ceaselessly, demol-
ishing the houses of the French with its cannon
balls, grinding lives of men to powder, destroy-
ing many a dream, many a cherished hope,
many a prospective happiness; ruthlessly caus-
ing endless woe and suffering in the hearts of
wives, of daughters, of mothers, in other lands.

"Such is life!" declared Monsieur Sauvage.


But they suddenly trembled with alarm at the

sound of footsteps behind them, and, turning
round, they perceived close at hand four tall,
bearded men, dressed after the manner of liv-
ery servants and wearing flat caps on their
heads. They were covering the two anglers
with their rifles.

The rods slipped from their owners' grasp and

floated away down the river.

In the space of a few seconds they were seized,

bound, thrown into a boat, and taken across to
the Ile Marante.

And behind the house they had thought de-

serted were about a score of German soldiers.
A shaggy-looking giant, who was bestriding a
chair and smoking a long clay pipe, addressed
them in excellent French with the words:

"Well, gentlemen, have you had good luck with

your fishing?"

Then a soldier deposited at the officer's feet the

bag full of fish, which he had taken care to
bring away. The Prussian smiled.


talk about. Listen to me, and don't be alarmed:


spies sent to reconnoitre me and my move-
ments. Naturally, I capture you and I shoot
you. You pretended to be fishing, the better to
disguise your real errand. You have fallen into
my hands, and must take the consequences.
Such is war.
"But as you came here through the outposts
you must have a password for your return. Tell
me that password and I will let you go."

The two friends, pale as death, stood silently

side by side, a slight fluttering of the hands
alone betraying their emotion.

"No one will ever know," continued the officer.

"You will return peacefully to your homes, and
the secret will disappear with you. If you re-
fuse, it means death-instant death. Choose!"

They stood motionless, and did not open their


The Prussian, perfectly calm, went on, with

hand outstretched toward the river:

"Just think that in five minutes you will be at

the bottom of that water. In five minutes! You
have relations, I presume?"

Mont-Valerien still thundered.

The two fishermen remained silent. The Ger-
man turned and gave an order in his own lan-
guage. Then he moved his chair a little way off,
that he might not be so near the prisoners, and
a dozen men stepped forward, rifle in hand,
and took up a position, twenty paces off.


second longer."

Then he rose quickly, went over to the two

Frenchmen, took Morissot by the arm, led him
a short distance off, and said in a low voice:

"Quick! the password! Your friend will know

nothing. I will pretend to relent."

Morissot answered not a word.

Then the Prussian took Monsieur Sauvage asi-

de in like manner, and made him the same

Monsieur Sauvage made no reply.

Again they stood side by side.

The officer issued his orders; the soldiers raised

their rifles.

Then by chance Morissot's eyes fell on the bag

full of gudgeon lying in the grass a few feet
from him.

A ray of sunlight made the still quivering fish

glisten like silver. And Morissot's heart sank.
Despite his efforts at self-control his eyes filled
with tears.

"Good-by, Monsieur Sauvage," he faltered.

"Good-by, Monsieur Morissot," replied Sau-


They shook hands, trembling from head to foot

with a dread beyond their mastery.

The officer cried:


The twelve shots were as one.

Monsieur Sauvage fell forward instantane-

ously. Morissot, being the taller, swayed
slightly and fell across his friend with face
turned skyward and blood oozing from a rent
in the breast of his coat.

The German issued fresh orders.

His men dispersed, and presently returned

with ropes and large stones, which they at-
tached to the feet of the two friends; then they
carried them to the river bank.

Mont-Valerien, its summit now enshrouded in

smoke, still continued to thunder.

Two soldiers took Morissot by the head and the

feet; two others did the same with Sauvage.
The bodies, swung lustily by strong hands, we-
re cast to a distance, and, describing a curve,
fell feet foremost into the stream.

The water splashed high, foamed, eddied, then

grew calm; tiny waves lapped the shore.

A few streaks of blood flecked the surface of

the river.

The officer, calm throughout, remarked, with

grim humor:

"It's the fishes' turn now!"

Then he retraced his way to the house.

Suddenly he caught sight of the net full of gud-

geons, lying forgotten in the grass. He picked it
up, examined it, smiled, and called:

A white-aproned soldier responded to the sum-
mons, and the Prussian, tossing him the catch
of the two murdered men, said:

"Have these fish fried for me at once, while

they are still alive; they'll make a tasty dish."

Then he resumed his pipe.


It was after Bourbaki's defeat in the east of
France. The army, broken up, decimated, and
worn out, had been obliged to retreat into Swit-
zerland after that terrible campaign, and it was
only its short duration that saved a hundred
and fifty thousand men from certain death.
Hunger, the terrible cold, forced marches in the
snow without boots, over bad mountain roads,
had caused us 'francs-tireurs', especially, the
greatest suffering, for we were without tents,
and almost without food, always in the van
when we were marching toward Belfort, and in
the rear when returning by the Jura. Of our
little band that had numbered twelve hundred
men on the first of January, there remained
only twenty-two pale, thin, ragged wretches,
when we at length succeeded in reaching Swiss

There we were safe, and could rest. Everybody

knows what sympathy was shown to the unfor-
tunate French army, and how well it was cared
for. We all gained fresh life, and those who had
been rich and happy before the war declared
that they had never experienced a greater feel-
ing of comfort than they did then. Just think.
We actually had something to eat every day,
and could sleep every night.
Meanwhile, the war continued in the east of
France, which had been excluded from the ar-
mistice. Besancon still kept the enemy in check,
and the latter had their revenge by ravaging
Franche Comte. Sometimes we heard that they
had approached quite close to the frontier, and
we saw Swiss troops, who were to form a line
of observation between us and them, set out on
their march.

That pained us in the end, and, as we regained

health and strength, the longing to fight took
possession of us. It was disgraceful and irritat-
ing to know that within two or three leagues of
us the Germans were victorious and insolent, to
feel that we were protected by our captivity,
and to feel that on that account we were power-
less against them.

One day our captain took five or six of us aside,

and spoke to us about it, long and furiously. He
was a fine fellow, that captain. He had been a
sublieutenant in the Zouaves, was tall and thin
and as hard as steel, and during the whole cam-
paign he had cut out their work for the Ger-
mans. He fretted in inactivity, and could not
accustom himself to the idea of being a prisoner
and of doing nothing.


you to know that there is a number of uhlans
within two hours of us? Does it not almost dri-
ve you mad to know that those beggarly wret-
ches are walking about as masters in our moun-
tains, when six determined men might kill a
whole spitful any day? I cannot endure it any
longer, and I must go there."

"But how can you manage it, captain?"


not done a thing or two within the last six
months, and got out of woods that were guar-
ded by very different men from the Swiss. The
day that you wish to cross over into France, I
will undertake to get you there."
"That may be; but what shall we do in France
without any arms?"

"Without arms? We will get them over yonder,

by Jove!"

"You are forgetting the treaty," another soldier

said; "we shall run the risk of doing the Swiss
an injury, if Manteuffel learns that they have
allowed prisoners to return to France."

"Come," said the captain, "those are all bad rea-

sons. I mean to go and kill some Prussians; that
quite well go by myself; I do not require any-
body's company."

Naturally we all protested, and, as it was quite

impossible to make the captain alter his mind,
we felt obliged to promise to go with him. We
liked him too much to leave him in the lurch, as
he never failed us in any extremity; and so the
expedition was decided on.
The captain had a plan of his own, that he had
been cogitating over for some time. A man in
that part of the country whom he knew was
going to lend him a cart and six suits of peas-
ants' clothes. We could hide under some straw
at the bottom of the wagon, which would be
loaded with Gruyere cheese, which he was sup-
posed to be going to sell in France. The captain
told the sentinels that he was taking two
friends with him to protect his goods, in case
any one should try to rob him, which did not
seem an extraordinary precaution. A Swiss offi-
cer seemed to look at the wagon in a knowing
manner, but that was in order to impress his
soldiers. In a word, neither officers nor men
could make it out.


cracked his whip, while our three men quietly
smoked their pipes. I was half suffocated in my
box, which only admitted the air through those
holes in front, and at the same time I was near-
ly frozen, for it was terribly cold.


loaded with Gruyere cheese entered France.

The Prussian lines were very badly guarded, as

the enemy trusted to the watchfulness of the
Swiss. The sergeant spoke North German, whi-
le our captain spoke the bad German of the
Four Cantons, and so they could not under-
stand each other. The sergeant, however, pre-
tended to be very intelligent; and, in order to
make us believe that he understood us, they
allowed us to continue our journey; and, after
travelling for seven hours, being continually
stopped in the same manner, we arrived at a
small village of the Jura in ruins, at nightfall.

What were we going to do? Our only arms we-

re the captain's whip, our uniforms our peas-
ants' blouses, and our food the Gruyere cheese.
Our sole wealth consisted in our ammunition,
packages of cartridges which we had stowed
away inside some of the large cheeses. We had
about a thousand of them, just two hundred
each, but we needed rifles, and they must be
chassepots. Luckily, however, the captain was a
bold man of an inventive mind, and this was
the plan that he hit upon:

While three of us remained hidden in a cellar in

the abandoned village, he continued his jour-
ney as far as Besancon with the empty wagon
and one man. The town was invested, but one
can always make one's way into a town among
the hills by crossing the tableland till within
about ten miles of the walls, and then following
paths and ravines on foot. They left their wa-
gon at Omans, among the Germans, and es-
caped out of it at night on foot; so as to gain the
heights which border the River Doubs; the next
day they entered Besancon, where there were
plenty of chassepots. There were nearly forty
thousand of them left in the arsenal, and Gen-
eral Roland, a brave marine, laughed at the
captain's daring project, but let him have six
rifles and wished him "good luck." There he
had also found his wife, who had been through
all the war with us before the campaign in the
East, and who had been only prevented by ill-
ness from continuing with Bourbaki's army.
She had recovered, however, in spite of the
cold, which was growing more and more in-
tense, and in spite of the numberless privations
that awaited her, she persisted in accompany-
ing her husband. He was obliged to give way to
and our comrade, started on their expedition.

Going was nothing in comparison to returning.

They were obliged to travel by night, so as to
avoid meeting anybody, as the possession of six
rifles would have made them liable to suspi-
cion. But, in spite of everything, a week after
leaving us, the captain and his two men were
back with us again. The campaign was about to
The first night of his arrival he began it himself,
and, under pretext of examining the surround-
ing country, he went along the high road.

I must tell you that the little village which ser-

ved as our fortress was a small collection of
poor, badly built houses, which had been de-
serted long before. It lay on a steep slope,
which terminated in a wooded plain. The coun-
try people sell the wood; they send it down the
slopes, which are called coulees, locally, and
which lead down to the plain, and there they
stack it into piles, which they sell thrice a year
to the wood merchants. The spot where this
market is held in indicated by two small houses
by the side of the highroad, which serve for
public houses. The captain had gone down the-
re by way of one of these coulees.
He had been gone about half an hour, and we
were on the lookout at the top of the ravine,
when we heard a shot. The captain had ordered
heard him blow his trumpet. It was made of a
goat's horn, and could be heard a league off;
anxiety, we were obliged to wait in silence,
with our rifles by our side.

It is nothing to go down these coulees; one just

lets one's self slide down; but it is more difficult
to get up again; one has to scramble up by cat-
ching hold of the hanging branches of the trees,
and sometimes on all fours, by sheer strength.
A whole mortal hour passed, and he did not
come; nothing moved in the brushwood. The
captain's wife began to grow impatient. What
the shot that we had heard proceed from an
enemy, and had he killed or wounded our lea-
der, her husband? They did not know what to
think, but I myself fancied either that he was
dead or that his enterprise was successful; and I
was merely anxious and curious to know what
he had done.

Suddenly we heard the sound of his trumpet,

and we were much surprised that instead of
coming from below, as we had expected, it ca-
me from the village behind us. What did that
struck us all, that he had been killed, and that
the Prussians were blowing the trumpet to
draw us into an ambush. We therefore returned
to the cottage, keeping a careful lookout with
our fingers on the trigger, and hiding under the
branches; but his wife, in spite of our entreaties,
rushed on, leaping like a tigress. She thought
that she had to avenge her husband, and had
fixed the bayonet to her rifle, and we lost sight
of her at the moment that we heard the trumpet
again; and, a few moments later, we heard her
calling out to us:

We hastened on, and saw the captain smoking

his pipe at the entrance of the village, but stran-
gely enough, he was on horseback.


something to be done here. Here I am on hor-
seback already; I knocked over an uhlan yon-
der, and took his horse; I suppose they were
guarding the wood, but it was by drinking and
swilling in clover. One of them, the sentry at
the door, had not time to see me before I gave
him a sugarplum in his stomach, and then, be-
fore the others could come out, I jumped on the
horse and was off like a shot. Eight or ten of
them followed me, I think; but I took the cross-
roads through the woods. I have got scratched
good fellows, attention, and take care! Those
brigands will not rest until they have caught us,
and we must receive them with rifle bullets.
Come along; let us take up our posts!"
We set out. One of us took up his position a
good way from the village on the crossroads; I
was posted at the entrance of the main street,
where the road from the level country enters
the village, while the two others, the captain
and his wife, were in the middle of the village,
near the church, whose tower-served for an
observatory and citadel.

We had not been in our places long before we

heard a shot, followed by another, and then
two, then three. The first was evidently a chas-
sepot —one recognized it by the sharp report,
which sounds like the crack of a whip—while
the other three came from the lancers' carbines.

The captain was furious. He had given orders

to the outpost to let the enemy pass and merely
to follow them at a distance if they marched
toward the village, and to join me when they
had gone well between the houses. Then they
were to appear suddenly, take the patrol be-
tween two fires, and not allow a single man to
could have hemmed in ten Prussians, if need-

"That confounded Piedelot has roused them,"

the captain said, "and they will not venture to
come on blindfolded any longer. And then I am
quite sure that he has managed to get a shot
into himself somewhere or other, for we hear
nothing of him. It serves him right; why did he
grumbled in his beard: "After all I am sorry for
the poor fellow; he is so brave, and shoots so

The captain was right in his conjectures. We

waited until evening, without seeing the uh-
lans; they had retreated after the first attack;
but unfortunately we had not seen Piedelot,
either. Was he dead or a prisoner? When night
came, the captain proposed that we should go
out and look for him, and so the three of us
started. At the crossroads we found a broken
rifle and some blood, while the ground was
trampled down; but we did not find either a
wounded man or a dead body, although we
searched every thicket, and at midnight we
returned without having discovered anything
of our unfortunate comrade.


must have killed him and thrown him into the
bushes somewhere; they cannot possibly have
taken him prisoner, as he would have called
as he said that, bright flames shot up in the di-
rection of the inn on the high road, which illu-
minated the sky.


that they have set fire to the two houses on the
marketplace, in order to have their revenge,
and then they will scuttle off without saying a
word. They will be satisfied with having killed
shall not pass over like that. We must go for
them; they will not like to leave their illumina-
tions in order to fight."

"It would be a great stroke of luck if we could

set Piedelot free at the same time," some one


twenty minutes we had got to the bottom of the
coulee, and had not yet seen any one when we
were within a hundred yards of the inn. The
fire was behind the house, and all we saw of it
was the reflection above the roof. However, we
were walking rather slowly, as we were afraid
of an ambush, when suddenly we heard Piede-
lot's well-known voice. It had a strange sound,
however; for it was at the same time—dull and
vibrating, stifled and clear, as if he were calling
out as loud as he could with a bit of rag stuffed
into his mouth. He seemed to be hoarse and
gasping, and the unlucky fellow kept exclaim-
ing: "Help! Help!"
We sent all thoughts of prudence to the devil,
and in two bounds we were at the back of the
inn, where a terrible sight met our eyes.
Piedelot was being burned alive. He was writh-
ing in the midst of a heap of fagots, tied to a
stake, and the flames were licking him with
their burning tongues. When he saw us, his
tongue seemed to stick in his throat; he droo-
ped his head, and seemed as if he were going to
die. It was only the affair of a moment to upset
the burning pile, to scatter the embers, and to
cut the ropes that fastened him.

Poor fellow! In what a terrible state we found

him. The evening before he had had his left
arm broken, and it seemed as if he had been
badly beaten since then, for his whole body
was covered with wounds, bruises and blood.
The flames had also begun their work on him,
and he had two large burns, one on his loins
and the other on his right thigh, and his beard
and hair were scorched. Poor Piedelot!

No one knows the terrible rage we felt at this

sight! We would have rushed headlong at a
hundred thousand Prussians; our thirst for ven-
geance was intense. But the cowards had run
away, leaving their crime behind them. Where
could we find them now? Meanwhile, however,
the captain's wife was looking after Piedelot,
and dressing his wounds as best she could,
while the captain himself shook hands with
him excitedly, and in a few minutes he came to


you," he said. "Ah! the scoundrels, the wret-
ches! Why, twenty of them came to surprise

"Twenty, do you say?"

is why I disobeyed orders, captain, and fired on
them, for they would have killed you all, and I
preferred to stop them. That frightened them,
and they did not venture to go farther than the
crossroads. They were such cowards. Four of
them shot at me at twenty yards, as if I had
been a target, and then they slashed me with
their swords. My arm was broken, so that I
could only use my bayonet with one hand."

"But why did you not call for help?"


all have come; and you would neither have
been able to defend me nor yourselves, being
only five against twenty."

"You know that we should not have allowed

you to have been taken, poor old fellow."
did not want to bring you here, for it would
have been a mere ambush."


you feel rather easier?"


much longer. The brutes! They tied me to a
they shook my broken arm; but I did not make
a sound. I would rather have bitten my tongue
out than have called out before them. Now I
can tell what I am suffering and shed tears; it
does one good. Thank you, my kind friends."

"Poor Piedelot! But we will avenge you, you

may be sure!"


particular, a woman among them who passes
as the wife of the lancer whom the captain ki-
lled yesterday. She is dressed like a lancer, and
she tortured me the most yesterday, and sug-
gested burning me; and it was she who set fire
fell back gasping and exhausted, writhing in
his terrible agony, while the captain's wife wi-
ped the perspiration from his forehead, and we
all shed tears of grief and rage, as if we had
been children. I will not describe the end to
you; he died half an hour later, previously tell-
ing us in what direction the enemy had gone.
When he was dead we gave ourselves time to
bury him, and then we set out in pursuit of
them, with our hearts full of fury and hatred.

"We will throw ourselves on the whole Prus-

sian army, if it be necessary," the captain said;
"but we will avenge Piedelot. We must catch
those scoundrels. Let us swear to die, rather
these are my orders: All the prisoners that you
take are to be shot immediately, and as for the
lancer's wife, she is to be tortured before she is
put to death."

"She must not be shot, because she is a wo-

man," the captain's wife said. "If you survive, I
am sure that you would not shoot a woman.
Torturing her will be quite sufficient; but if you
are killed in this pursuit, I want one thing, and
own hands, and the others can do what they
like with her if she kills me."


tear her to pieces! Piedelot shall be avenged!


The next morning we unexpectedly fell on an
outpost of uhlans four leagues away. Surprised
by our sudden attack, they were not able to
mount their horses, nor even to defend them-
selves; and in a few moments we had five pris-
oner, corresponding to our own number. The
captain questioned them, and from their an-
swers we felt certain that they were the same
whom we had encountered the previous day.
Then a very curious operation took place. One
of us was told off to ascertain their sex, and
nothing can describe our joy when we discov-
ered what we were seeking among them, the
female executioner who had tortured our

The four others were shot on the spot, with

their backs to us and close to the muzzles of
our rifles; and then we turned our attention to
the woman. What were we going to do with
her? I must acknowledge that we were all of us
in favor of shooting her. Hatred, and the wish
to avenge Piedelot, had extinguished all pity in
us, and we had forgotten that we were going to
shoot a woman, but a woman reminded us of
it, the captain's wife; at her entreaties, therefore,
we determined to keep her a prisoner.
The captain's poor wife was to be severely pun-
ished for this act of clemency.

The next day we heard that the armistice had

been extended to the eastern part of France,
and we had to put an end to our little cam-
paign. Two of us, who belonged to the neigh-
borhood, returned home, so there were only
two men. We belonged to Besancon, which was
still being besieged in spite of the armistice.


believe that the war is going to end like this.
The devil take it! Surely there are men still left
in France; and now is the time to prove what
they are made of. The spring is coming on, and
the armistice is only a trap laid for the Prus-
sians. During the time that it lasts, a new army
will be raised, and some fine morning we shall
fall upon them again. We shall be ready, and
we have a hostage—let us remain here."
We fixed our quarters there. It was terribly
cold, and we did not go out much, and some-
body had always to keep the female prisoner in

She was sullen, and never said anything, or else

spoke of her husband, whom the captain had
killed. She looked at him continually with fierce
eyes, and we felt that she was tortured by a
wild longing for revenge. That seemed to us to
be the most suitable punishment for the terrible
torments that she had made Piedelot suffer, for
impotent vengeance is such intense pain!

Alas! we who knew how to avenge our com-

rade ought to have thought that this woman
would know how to avenge her husband, and
kept watch every night, and that at first we tied
her by a long rope to the great oak bench that
had never tried to escape, in spite of her hatred
for us, we relaxed our extreme prudence, and
allowed her to sleep somewhere else except on
the bench, and without being tied. What had
man was on guard at the door, and between
her and the sentinel the captain's wife and two
other men used to lie. She was alone and un-
armed against four, so there could be no dan-

One night when we were asleep, and the cap-

tain was on guard, the lancer's wife was lying
more quietly in her corner than usual, and she
had even smiled for the first time since she had
been our prisoner during the evening. Sud-
denly, however, in the middle of the night, we
were all awakened by a terrible cry. We got up,
groping about, and at once stumbled over a
furious couple who were rolling about and
fighting on the ground. It was the captain and
the lancer's wife. We threw ourselves on them,
and separated them in a moment. She was
shouting and laughing, and he seemed to have
the death rattle. All this took place in the dark.
Two of us held her, and when a light was
struck a terrible sight met our eyes. The captain
was lying on the floor in a pool of blood, with
an enormous gash in his throat, and his sword
bayonet, that had been taken from his rifle, was
sticking in the red, gaping wound. A few min-
utes afterward he died, without having been
able to utter a word.

her throat was contracted, and she looked at
the lancer's wife steadfastly, and with a calm
ferocity that inspired fear.

"This woman belongs to me," she said to us

suddenly. "You swore to me not a week ago to
let me kill her as I chose, if she killed my hus-
band; and you must keep your oath. You must
fasten her securely to the fireplace, upright
against the back of it, and then you can go whe-
re you like, but far from here. I will take my
revenge on her myself. Leave the captain's bo-
dy, and we three, he, she and I, will remain

We obeyed, and went away. She promised to

write to us to Geneva, as we were returning
Two days later I received the following letter,
dated the day after we had left, that had been
written at an inn on the high road:

"MY FRIEND: I am writing to you, according to

my promise. For the moment I am at the inn,
where I have just handed my prisoner over to a
Prussian officer.

"I must tell you, my friend, that this poor wo-

man has left two children in Germany. She had
followed her husband, whom she adored, as
she did not wish him to be exposed to the risks
of war by himself, and as her children were
with their grandparents. I have learned all this
since yesterday, and it has turned my ideas of
vengeance into more humane feelings. At the
very moment when I felt pleasure in insulting
this woman, and in threatening her with the
most fearful torments, in recalling Piedelot,
who had been burned alive, and in threatening
her with a similar death, she looked at me cold-
ly, and said:

"'What have you got to reproach me with,

Frenchwoman? You think that you will do right
in avenging your husband's death, is not that

"'Yes,' I replied.


are going to do in burning me. I avenged my
husband, for your husband killed him.'

"'Well,' I replied, 'as you approve of this venge-

ance, prepare to endure it.'
"'I do not fear it.'

"And in fact she did not seem to have lost cour-

age. Her face was calm, and she looked at me
without trembling, while I brought wood and
dried leaves together, and feverishly threw on
to them the powder from some cartridges,
which was to make her funeral pile the more

"I hesitated in my thoughts of persecution for a

moment. But the captain was there, pale and
covered with blood, and he seemed to be look-
ing at me with his large, glassy eyes, and I ap-
plied myself to my work again after kissing his
pale lips. Suddenly, however, on raising my
head, I saw that she was crying, and I felt rat-
her surprised.



thought of mine, of all whom I love.'
"She continued to sob, but stopping suddenly,
she said to me in broken words and in a low

"'Have you any children?'

"A shiver rare over me, for I guessed that this

poor woman had some. She asked me to look in
a pocketbook which was in her bosom, and in it
I saw two photographs of quite young children,
a boy and a girl, with those kind, gentle, chub-
by faces that German children have. In it there
were also two locks of light hair and a letter in
a large, childish hand, and beginning with Ger-
man words which meant:

"'My dear little mother.


and so I untied her, and without venturing to
look at the face of my poor dead husband, who
kissed me with tears. I am going upstairs to my
husband; come as soon as possible, my dear
friend, to look for our two bodies.'"

I set off with all speed, and when I arrived the-

re was a Prussian patrol at the cottage; and
when I asked what it all meant, I was told that
there was a captain of francs-tireurs and his
wife inside, both dead. I gave their names; they
saw that I knew them, and I begged to be al-
lowed to arrange their funeral.

"Somebody has already undertaken it," was the

You can settle about their funeral with their

I went in. The captain and his wife were lying

side by side on a bed, and were covered by a
sheet. I raised it, and saw that the woman had
inflicted a similar wound in her throat to that
from which her husband had died.
At the side of the bed there sat, watching and
weeping, the woman who had been mentioned
to me as their best friend. It was the lancer's


There was not a sound in the forest save the

indistinct, fluttering sound of the snow falling
on the trees. It had been snowing since noon; a
little fine snow, that covered the branches as
with frozen moss, and spread a silvery cover-
ing over the dead leaves in the ditches, and
covered the roads with a white, yielding carpet,
and made still more intense the boundless si-
lence of this ocean of trees.
Before the door of the forester's dwelling a
young woman, her arms bare to the elbow, was
chopping wood with a hatchet on a block of
the woods, daughter and wife of a forester.

A voice called from within the house:

"We are alone to-night, Berthine; you must co-

me in. It is getting dark, and there may be Prus-
sians or wolves about."

"I've just finished, mother," replied the young

woman, splitting as she spoke an immense log
of wood with strong, deft blows, which ex-
panded her chest each time she raised her arms
afraid; it's quite light still."

Then she gathered up her sticks and logs, piled

them in the chimney corner, went back to close
the great oaken shutters, and finally came in,
drawing behind her the heavy bolts of the door.
Her mother, a wrinkled old woman whom age
had rendered timid, was spinning by the fire-


here. Two women are not much good."

"Oh," said the younger woman, "I'd cheerfully


And she glanced at a heavy revolver hanging

above the hearth.

Her husband had been called upon to serve in

the army at the beginning of the Prussian inva-
sion, and the two women had remained alone
with the old father, a keeper named Nicolas
Pichon, sometimes called Long-legs, who re-
fused obstinately to leave his home and take
refuge in the town.

This town was Rethel, an ancient stronghold

built on a rock. Its inhabitants were patriotic,
and had made up their minds to resist the in-
vaders, to fortify their native place, and, if need
Twice already, under Henri IV and under Louis
XIV, the people of Rethel had distinguished
themselves by their heroic defence of their
else be slaughtered within their own walls.

They had, therefore, bought cannon and rifles,

organized a militia, and formed themselves
into battalions and companies, and now spent
their time drilling all day long in the square.
All-bakers, grocers, butchers, lawyers, carpen-
ters, booksellers, chemists-took their turn at
military training at regular hours of the day,
under the auspices of Monsieur Lavigne, a
former noncommissioned officer in the dra-
goons, now a draper, having married the
daughter and inherited the business of Mon-
sieur Ravaudan, Senior.
He had taken the rank of commanding officer
in Rethel, and, seeing that all the young men
had gone off to the war, he had enlisted all the
others who were in favor of resisting an attack.
Fat men now invariably walked the streets at a
rapid pace, to reduce their weight and improve
their breathing, and weak men carried weights
to strengthen their muscles.

And they awaited the Prussians. But the Prus-

sians did not appear. They were not far off,
however, for twice already their scouts had
penetrated as far as the forest dwelling of Nico-
las Pichon, called Long-legs.

The old keeper, who could run like a fox, had

come and warned the town. The guns had been
got ready, but the enemy had not shown them-

Long-legs' dwelling served as an outpost in the

Aveline forest. Twice a week the old man went
to the town for provisions and brought the citi-
zens news of the outlying district.

On this particular day he had gone to announce

the fact that a small detachment of German
infantry had halted at his house the day before,
about two o'clock in the afternoon, and had left
again almost immediately. The noncommis-
sioned officer in charge spoke French.

When the old man set out like this he took with
him his dogs—two powerful animals with the
jaws of lions-as a safeguard against the wolves,
which were beginning to get fierce, and he left
directions with the two women to barricade
themselves securely within their dwelling as
soon as night fell.

The younger feared nothing, but her mother

was always apprehensive, and repeated con-
"We'll come to grief one of these days. You see
if we don't!"

This evening she was, if possible, more nervous

than ever.

"Do you know what time your father will be

back?" she asked.

"Oh, not before eleven, for certain. When he

dines with the commandant he's always late."

And Berthine was hanging her pot over the fire

to warm the soup when she suddenly stood
still, listening attentively to a sound that had
reached her through the chimney.

"There are people walking in the wood," she

said; "seven or eight men at least."

The terrified old woman stopped her spinning

wheel, and gasped:


She had scarcely finished speaking when a suc-
cession of violent blows shook the door.

As the woman made no reply, a loud, guttural

voice shouted:

"Open the door!"

After a brief silence the same voice repeated:

"Open the door or I'll break it down!"

Berthine took the heavy revolver from its hook,

slipped it into the pocket of her skirt, and, put-
ting her ear to the door, asked:

"Who are you?" demanded the young woman.

"What do you want?".

"The detachment that came here the other day,"

replied the voice.
"My men and I have lost our way in the forest
since morning. Open the door or I'll break it

The forester's daughter had no choice; she shot

back the heavy bolts, threw open the ponder-
ous shutter, and perceived in the wan light of
the snow six men, six Prussian soldiers, the
same who had visited the house the day before.


she asked dauntlessly.


them completely. Then I recognized this house.
I've eaten nothing since morning, nor my men

"But I'm quite alone with my mother this eve-

ning," said Berthine.

"Never mind," replied the soldier, who seemed

a decent sort of fellow. "We won't do you any
harm, but you must give us something to eat.
We are nearly dead with hunger and fatigue."

Then the girl moved aside.

"Come in;" she said.

Then entered, covered with snow, their helmets

sprinkled with a creamy-looking froth, which
gave them the appearance of meringues. They
seemed utterly worn out.

The young woman pointed to the wooden ben-

ches on either side of the large table.


soup. You certainly look tired out, and no mis-

Then she bolted the door afresh.

She put more water in the pot, added butter

and potatoes; then, taking down a piece of ba-
con from a hook in the chimney earner, cut it in
two and slipped half of it into the pot.

The six men watched her movements with hun-

gry eyes. They had placed their rifles and hel-
mets in a corner and waited for supper, as well
behaved as children on a school bench.

The old mother had resumed her spinning,

casting from time to time a furtive and uneasy
glance at the soldiers. Nothing was to be heard
save the humming of the wheel, the crackling
of the fire, and the singing of the water in the

But suddenly a strange noise—a sound like the

harsh breathing of some wild animal sniffing
under the door-startled the occupants of the

The German officer sprang toward the rifles.

Berthine stopped him with a gesture, and said,
"It's only the wolves. They are like you—
prowling hungry through the forest."

The incredulous man wanted to see with his

own eyes, and as soon as the door was opened
he perceived two large grayish animals disap-
pearing with long, swinging trot into the dark-

He returned to his seat, muttering:

"I wouldn't have believed it!"

And he waited quietly till supper was ready.

The men devoured their meal voraciously, with

mouths stretched to their ears that they might
swallow the more. Their round eyes opened at
the same time as their jaws, and as the soup
coursed down their throats it made a noise like
the gurgling of water in a rainpipe.
The two women watched in silence the move-
ments of the big red beards. The potatoes see-
med to be engulfed in these moving fleeces.

But, as they were thirsty, the forester's daugh-

ter went down to the cellar to draw them some
cider. She was gone some time. The cellar was
small, with an arched ceiling, and had served,
so people said, both as prison and as hiding-
place during the Revolution. It was approached
by means of a narrow, winding staircase, closed

When Berthine returned she was smiling mys-

teriously to herself. She gave the Germans her
jug of cider.

Then she and her mother supped apart, at the

other end of the kitchen.

The soldiers had finished eating, and were all

six falling asleep as they sat round the table.
Every now and then a forehead fell with a thud
on the board, and the man, awakened sud-
denly, sat upright again.

Berthine said to the officer:


There's lots of room for six. I'm going up to my
room with my mother."

And the two women went upstairs. They could

be heard locking the door and walking about
overhead for a time; then they were silent.

The Prussians lay down on the floor, with their

feet to the fire and their heads resting on their
rolled-up cloaks. Soon all six snored loudly and
uninterruptedly in six different keys.

They had been sleeping for some time when a

shot rang out so loudly that it seemed directed
against the very wall's of the house. The sol-
diers rose hastily. Two-then three-more shots
were fired.
The door opened hastily, and Berthine ap-
peared, barefooted and only half dressed, with
her candle in her hand and a scared look on her


two hundred of them. If they find you here
they'll burn the house down. For God's sake,
hurry down into the cellar, and don't make a
'sound, whatever you do. If you make any noi-
se we are lost."


"Which is the way?"

The young woman hurriedly raised the small,

square trap-door, and the six men disappeared
one after another down the narrow, winding
staircase, feeling their way as they went.

But as soon as the spike of the out of the last

helmet was out of sight Berthine lowered the
heavy oaken lid—thick as a wall, hard as steel,
furnished with the hinges and bolts of a prison
cell—shot the two heavy bolts, and began to
laugh long and silently, possessed with a mad
longing to dance above the heads of her prison-

They made no sound, inclosed in the cellar as

iron-barred vent-hole.

Berthine lighted her fire again, hung the pot

over it, and prepared more soup, saying to her-

"Father will be tired to-night."

Then she sat and waited. The heavy pendulum

of the clock swung to and fro with a monoto-
nous tick.

Every now and then the young woman cast an

impatient glance at the dial-a glance which
seemed to say:
"I wish he'd be quick!"

But soon there was a sound of voices beneath

her feet. Low, confused words reached her
through the masonry which roofed the cellar.
The Prussians were beginning to suspect the
trick she had played them, and presently the
officer came up the narrow staircase, and knoc-
ked at the trap-door.

"Open the door!" he cried.


seat and approaching the cellarway.

"Open the door!"

"I won't do any such thing!"



She laughed.
"Hammer away, my good man! Hammer

He struck with the butt-end of his gun at the

closed oaken door. But it would have resisted a

The forester's daughter heard him go down the

stairs again. Then the soldiers came one after
another and tried their strength against the
trapdoor. But, finding their efforts useless, they
all returned to the cellar and began to talk
among themselves.

The young woman heard them for a short time,

then she rose, opened the door of the house;
looked out into the night, and listened.

A sound of distant barking reached her ear. She

whistled just as a huntsman would, and almost
immediately two great dogs emerged from the
darkness, and bounded to her side. She held
them tight, and shouted at the top of her voice:
"Hullo, father!"

A far-off voice replied:

"Hullo, Berthine!"

She waited a few seconds, then repeated:

"Hullo, father!"

The voice, nearer now, replied:

"Hullo, Berthine!"


daughter. "There are Prussians in the cellar!"

Suddenly the man's tall figure could be seen to

the left, standing between two tree trunks.

"Prussians in the cellar?" he asked anxiously.

"What are they doing?"

The young woman laughed.

"They are the same as were here yesterday.
They lost their way, and I've given them free
lodgings in the cellar."

She told the story of how she had alarmed

them by firing the revolver, and had shut them
up in the cellar.

The man, still serious, asked:



"Go and fetch Monsieur Lavigne with his men,"

she replied. "He'll take them prisoners. He'll be

Her father smiled.

"So he will-delighted."

"Here's some soup for you," said his daughter.

"Eat it quick, and then be off."
The old keeper sat down at the table, and began
to eat his soup, having first filled two plates
and put them on the floor for the dogs.

The Prussians, hearing voices, were silent.


Berthine, with her head between her hands,

The prisoners began to make themselves heard

again. They shouted, called, and beat furiously
with the butts of their muskets against the rigid
trap-door of the cellar.

Then they fired shots through the vent-hole,

hoping, no doubt, to be heard by any German
detachment which chanced to be passing that

The forester's daughter did not stir, but the

noise irritated and unnerved her. Blind anger
rose in her heart against the prisoners; she
would have been only too glad to kill them all,
and so silence them.

Then, as her impatience grew, she watched the

clock, counting the minutes as they passed.

Her father had been gone an hour and a half.

He must have reached the town by now. She
conjured up a vision of him telling the story to
Monsieur Lavigne, who grew pale with emo-
tion, and rang for his servant to bring him his
arms and uniform. She fancied she could bear
the drum as it sounded the call to arms. Fright-
ened faces appeared at the windows. The citi-
zen-soldiers emerged from their houses half
dressed, out of breath, buckling on their belts,
and hurrying to the commandant's house.

Then the troop of soldiers, with Long-legs at its

head, set forth through the night and the snow
toward the forest.
She looked at the clock. "They may be here in
an hour."

A nervous impatience possessed her. The min-

utes seemed interminable. Would the time
never come?

At last the clock marked the moment she had

fixed on for their arrival. And she opened the
door to listen for their approach. She perceived
a shadowy form creeping toward the house.
She was afraid, and cried out. But it was her


any change in the state of affairs."


Then he gave a shrill whistle. Soon a dark mass

loomed up under the trees; the advance guard,
composed of ten men.
Long-legs at intervals.

And the first arrivals pointed out the much-

dreaded vent-hole to those who came after.

At last the main body of the troop arrived, in all

two hundred men, each carrying two hundred

Monsieur Lavigne, in a state of intense excite-

ment, posted them in such a fashion as to sur-
round the whole house, save for a large space
left vacant in front of the little hole on a level
with the ground, through which the cellar de-
rived its supply of air.

Monsieur Lavigne struck the trap-door a blow

with his foot, and called:

"I wish to speak to the Prussian officer!"

The German did not reply.

"The Prussian officer!" again shouted the com-

Still no response. For the space of twenty min-

utes Monsieur Lavigne called on this silent offi-
cer to surrender with bag and baggage, promis-
ing him that all lives should be spared, and that
he and his men should be accorded military
honors. But he could extort no sign, either of
consent or of defiance. The situation became a
puzzling one.

The citizen-soldiers kicked their heels in the

snow, slapping their arms across their chest, as
cabdrivers do, to warm themselves, and gazing
at the vent-hole with a growing and childish
desire to pass in front of it.

At last one of them took the risk-a man named

Potdevin, who was fleet of limb. He ran like a
deer across the zone of danger. The experiment
succeeded. The prisoners gave no sign of life.
A voice cried:

"There's no one there!"

And another soldier crossed the open space

before the dangerous vent-hole. Then this haz-
ardous sport developed into a game. Every
minute a man ran swiftly from one side to the
other, like a boy playing baseball, kicking up
the snow behind him as he ran. They had ligh-
ted big fires of dead wood at which to warm
themselves, and the figures of the runners were
illumined by the flames as they passed rapidly
from the camp on the right to that on the left.

Some one shouted:

"It's your turn now, Maloison."

Maloison was a fat baker, whose corpulent per-

son served to point many a joke among his
He hesitated. They chaffed him. Then, nerving
himself to the effort, he set off at a little, wad-
dling gait, which shook his fat paunch and
made the whole detachment laugh till they

"Bravo, bravo, Maloison!" they shouted for his


He had accomplished about two-thirds of his

journey when a long, crimson flame shot forth
from the vent-hole. A loud report followed, and
the fat baker fell face forward to the ground,
uttering a frightful scream. No one went to his
assistance. Then he was seen to drag himself,
groaning, on all-fours through the snow until
he was beyond danger, when he fainted.

He was shot in the upper part of the thigh.

After the first surprise and fright were over

they laughed at him again. But Monsieur Lavi-
gne appeared on the threshold of the forester's
dwelling. He had formed his plan of attack. He
called in a loud voice "I want Planchut, the
plumber, and his workmen."

Three men approached.

"Take the eavestroughs from the roof."

In a quarter of an hour they brought the com-

mandant thirty yards of pipes.

Next, with infinite precaution, he had a small

round hole drilled in the trap-door; then, mak-
ing a conduit with the troughs from the pump
to this opening, he said, with an air of extreme

"Now we'll give these German gentlemen so-

mething to drink."

A shout of frenzied admiration, mingled with

uproarious laughter, burst from his followers.
And the commandant organized relays of men,
who were to relieve one another every five mi-
nutes. Then he commanded:


And, the pump handle having been set in mo-

tion, a stream of water trickled throughout the
length of the piping, and flowed from step to
step down the cellar stairs with a gentle, gur-
gling sound.

They waited.

An hour passed, then two, then three. The

commandant, in a state of feverish agitation,
walked up and down the kitchen, putting his
ear to the ground every now and then to dis-
cover, if possible, what the enemy were doing
and whether they would soon capitulate.

The enemy was astir now. They could be heard

moving the casks about, talking, splashing
through the water.
Then, about eight o'clock in the morning, a voi-
ce came from the vent-hole "I want to speak to
the French officer."

Lavigne replied from the window, taking care

not to put his head out too far:

"Do you surrender?"

"I surrender."

"Then put your rifles outside."

A rifle immediately protruded from the hole,

and fell into the snow, then another and an-
other, until all were disposed of. And the voice
which had spoken before said:


"Stop pumping!" ordered the commandant.

And the pump handle hung motionless.

Then, having filled the kitchen with armed and
waiting soldiers, he slowly raised the oaken

Four heads appeared, soaking wet, four fair

heads with long, sandy hair, and one after an-
other the six Germans emerged—scared, shiv-
ering and dripping from head to foot.

They were seized and bound. Then, as the

French feared a surprise, they set off at once in
two convoys, one in charge of the prisoners,
and the other conducting Maloison on a mat-
tress borne on poles.

They made a triumphal entry into Rethel.

Monsieur Lavigne was decorated as a reward

for having captured a Prussian advance guard,
and the fat baker received the military medal
for wounds received at the hands of the enemy.

Every Sunday, as soon as they were free, the

little soldiers would go for a walk. They turned
to the right on leaving the barracks, crossed
Courbevoie with rapid strides, as though on a
forced march; then, as the houses grew scarcer,
they slowed down and followed the dusty road
which leads to Bezons.

They were small and thin, lost in their ill-fitting

capes, too large and too long, whose sleeves
covered their hands; their ample red trousers
fell in folds around their ankles. Under the
high, stiff shako one could just barely perceive
two thin, hollow-cheeked Breton faces, with
their calm, naive blue eyes. They never spoke
during their journey, going straight before
them, the same idea in each one's mind taking
the place of conversation. For at the entrance of
the little forest of Champioux they had found a
spot which reminded them of home, and they
did not feel happy anywhere else.

At the crossing of the Colombes and Chatou

roads, when they arrived under the trees, they
would take off their heavy, oppressive head-
gear and wipe their foreheads.

They always stopped for a while on the bridge

at Bezons, and looked at the Seine. They stood
there several minutes, bending over the railing,
watching the white sails, which perhaps re-
minded them of their home, and of the fishing
smacks leaving for the open.

As soon as they had crossed the Seine, they

would purchase provisions at the delicatessen,
the baker's, and the wine merchant's. A piece of
bologna, four cents' worth of bread, and a quart
of wine, made up the luncheon which they car-
ried away, wrapped up in their handkerchiefs.
But as soon as they were out of the village their
gait would slacken and they would begin to

Before them was a plain with a few clumps of

trees, which led to the woods, a little forest
which seemed to remind them of that other
forest at Kermarivan. The wheat and oat fields
bordered on the narrow path, and Jean Kerde-
ren said each time to Luc Le Ganidec:

"It's just like home, just like Plounivon."

"Yes, it's just like home."

And they went on, side by side, their minds full

of dim memories of home. They saw the fields,
the hedges, the forests, and beaches.
Each time they stopped near a large stone on
the edge of the private estate, because it re-
minded them of the dolmen of Locneuven.

As soon as they reached the first clump of trees,

Luc Le Ganidec would cut off a small stick,
and, whittling it slowly, would walk on, think-
ing of the folks at home.

Jean Kerderen carried the provisions.

From time to time Luc would mention a name,

or allude to some boyish prank which would
give them food for plenty of thought. And the
home country, so dear and so distant, would
little by little gain possession of their minds,
sending them back through space, to the well-
known forms and noises, to the familiar scen-
ery, with the fragrance of its green fields and
sea air. They no longer noticed the smells of the
city. And in their dreams they saw their friends
leaving, perhaps forever, for the dangerous
fishing grounds.
They were walking slowly, Luc Le Ganidec and
Jean Kerderen, contented and sad, haunted by a
sweet sorrow, the slow and penetrating sorrow
of a captive animal which remembers the days
of its freedom.

And when Luc had finished whittling his stick,

they came to a little nook, where every Sunday
they took their meal. They found the two
bricks, which they had hidden in a hedge, and
they made a little fire of dry branches and roas-
ted their sausages on the ends of their knives.

When their last crumb of bread had been eaten

and the last drop of wine had been drunk, they
stretched themselves out on the grass side by
side, without speaking, their half-closed eyes
looking away in the distance, their hands clas-
ped as in prayer, their red-trousered legs min-
gling with the bright colors of the wild flowers.

Towards noon they glanced, from time to time,

towards the village of Bezons, for the dairy
maid would soon be coming. Every Sunday she
would pass in front of them on the way to milk
her cow, the only cow in the neighborhood
which was sent out to pasture.

Soon they would see the girl, coming through

the fields, and it pleased them to watch the
sparkling sunbeams reflected from her shining
pail. They never spoke of her. They were just
glad to see her, without understanding why.

She was a tall, strapping girl, freckled and tan-

ned by the open air—a girl typical of the Pari-
sian suburbs.

Once, on noticing that they were always sitting

in the same place, she said to them:

"Do you always come here?"

Luc Le Ganidec, more daring than his friend,


"Yes, we come here for our rest."

That was all. But the following Sunday, on see-
ing them, she smiled with the kindly smile of a
woman who understood their shyness, and she

"What are you doing here? Are you watching

the grass grow?"

Luc, cheered up, smiled: "P'raps."


He answered, still laughing: "Not exactly."

She went on. But when she came back with her
pail full of milk, she stopped before them and

"Want some? It will remind you of home."

She had, perhaps instinctively, guessed and

touched the right spot.
Both were moved. Then not without difficulty,
she poured some milk into the bottle in which
they had brought their wine. Luc started to
drink, carefully watching lest he should take
more than his share. Then he passed the bottle
to Jean. She stood before them, her hands on
her hips, her pail at her feet, enjoying the plea-
sure that she was giving them. Then she went

For a long time they watched her tall form as it

receded in the distance, blending with the back-
ground, and finally disappeared.

The following week as they left the barracks,

Jean said to Luc:

"Don't you think we ought to buy her some-

thing good?"

They were sorely perplexed by the problem of

choosing something to bring to the dairy maid.
Luc was in favor of bringing her some chitter-
lings; but Jean, who had a sweet tooth, thought
that candy would be the best thing. He won,
and so they went to a grocery to buy two sous'
worth, of red and white candies.

This time they ate more quickly than usual,

excited by anticipation.

Jean was the first one to notice her. "There she


She smiled when she saw them, and cried:

"Well, how are you to-day?"

They both answered together:

"All right! How's everything with you?"

Then she started to talk of simple things which

might interest them; of the weather, of the
crops, of her masters.
They didn't dare to offer their candies, which
were slowly melting in Jean's pocket. Finally
Luc, growing bolder, murmured:

"We have brought you something."

She asked: "Let's see it."

Then Jean, blushing to the tips of his ears, rea-

ched in his pocket, and drawing out the little
paper bag, handed it to her.

She began to eat the little sweet dainties. The

two soldiers sat in front of her, moved and de-

At last she went to do her milking, and when

she came back she again gave them some milk.

They thought of her all through the week and

often spoke of her: The following Sunday she
sat beside them for a longer time.
The three of them sat there, side by side, their
eyes looking far away in the distance, their
hands clasped over their knees, and they told
each other little incidents and little details of
the villages where they were born, while the
cow, waiting to be milked, stretched her heavy
head toward the girl and mooed.

Soon the girl consented to eat with them and to

take a sip of wine. Often she brought them
plums pocket for plums were now ripe. Her
presence enlivened the little Breton soldiers,
who chattered away like two birds.

One Tuesday something unusual happened to

Luc Le Ganidec; he asked for leave and did not
return until ten o'clock at night.

Jean, worried and racked his brain to account

for his friend's having obtained leave.
The following Friday, Luc borrowed ten sous
from one of his friends, and once more asked
and obtained leave for several hours.

When he started out with Jean on Sunday he

seemed queer, disturbed, changed. Kerderen
did not understand; he vaguely suspected so-
mething, but he could not guess what it might

They went straight to the usual place, and lun-

ched slowly. Neither was hungry.

Soon the girl appeared. They watched her ap-

proach as they always did. When she was near,
Luc arose and went towards her. She placed
her pail on the ground and kissed him. She
kissed him passionately, throwing her arms
around his neck, without paying attention to
Jean, without even noticing that he was there.
Poor Jean was dazed, so dazed that he could
not understand. His mind was upset and his
heart broken, without his even realizing why.

Then the girl sat down beside Luc, and they

started to chat.

Jean was not looking at them. He understood

now why his friend had gone out twice during
the week. He felt the pain and the sting which
treachery and deceit leave in their wake.

Luc and the girl went together to attend to the


Jean followed them with his eyes. He saw them

disappear side by side, the red trousers of his
friend making a scarlet spot against the white
road. It was Luc who sank the stake to which
the cow was tethered. The girl stooped down to
milk the cow, while he absent-mindedly stro-
ked the animal's glossy neck. Then they left the
pail in the grass and disappeared in the woods.
Jean could no longer see anything but the wall
of leaves through which they had passed. He
was unmanned so that he did not have strength
to stand. He stayed there, motionless, bewil-
dered and grieving-simple, passionate grief. He
wanted to weep, to run away, to hide some-
where, never to see anyone again.

Then he saw them coming back again. They

were walking slowly, hand in hand, as village
lovers do. Luc was carrying the pail.

After kissing him again, the girl went on, nod-

ding carelessly to Jean. She did not offer him
any milk that day.

The two little soldiers sat side by side, mo-

tionless as always, silent and quiet, their calm
faces in no way betraying the trouble in their
hearts. The sun shone down on them. From
time to time they could hear the plaintive low-
ing of the cow. At the usual time they arose to
Luc was whittling a stick. Jean carried the emp-
ty bottle. He left it at the wine merchant's in
Bezons. Then they stopped on the bridge, as
they did every Sunday, and watched the water
flowing by.

Jean leaned over the railing, farther and farther,

as though he had seen something in the stream
which hypnotized him. Luc said to him:

"What's the matter? Do you want a drink?"

He had hardly said the last word when Jean's

head carried away the rest of his body, and the
little blue and red soldier fell like a shot and
disappeared in the water.

Luc, paralyzed with horror, tried vainly to

shout for help. In the distance he saw some-
thing move; then his friend's head bobbed up
out of the water only to disappear again.
Farther down he again noticed a hand, just one
hand, which appeared and again went out of
sight. That was all.

The boatmen who had rushed to the scene

found the body that day.

Luc ran back to the barracks, crazed, and with

eyes and voice full of tears, he related the acci-
dent: "He leaned—he—he was leaning —so far
over—that his head carried him away—and—
he—fell —he fell——"

Emotion choked him so that he could say no

more. If he had only known.

For a month the hot sun has been parching the

fields. Nature is expanding beneath its rays; the
fields are green as far as the eye can see. The
big azure dome of the sky is unclouded. The
farms of Normandy, scattered over the plains
and surrounded by a belt of tall beeches, look,
from a distance, like little woods. On closer
view, after lowering the worm-eaten wooden
bars, you imagine yourself in an immense gar-
den, for all the ancient apple-trees, as gnarled
as the peasants themselves, are in bloom. The
sweet scent of their blossoms mingles with the
heavy smell of the earth and the penetrating
odor of the stables. It is noon. The family is eat-
ing under the shade of a pear tree planted in
front of the door; father, mother, the four chil-
dren, and the help—two women and three men
are all there. All are silent. The soup is eaten
and then a dish of potatoes fried with bacon is
brought on.

From time to time one of the women gets up

and takes a pitcher down to the cellar to fetch
more cider.

The man, a big fellow about forty years old, is

watching a grape vine, still bare, which is
winding and twisting like a snake along the
side of the house.

At last he says: "Father's vine is budding early

this year. Perhaps we may get something from

The woman then turns round and looks, with-

out saying a word.

This vine is planted on the spot where their

father had been shot.

It was during the war of 1870. The Prussians

were occupying the whole country. General
Faidherbe, with the Northern Division of the
army, was opposing them.

The Prussians had established their headquar-

ters at this farm. The old farmer to whom it
belonged, Father Pierre Milon, had received
and quartered them to the best of his ability.

For a month the German vanguard had been in

this village. The French remained motionless,
ten leagues away; and yet, every night, some of
the Uhlans disappeared.

Of all the isolated scouts, of all those who were

sent to the outposts, in groups of not more than
three, not one ever returned.

They were picked up the next morning in a

field or in a ditch. Even their horses were found
along the roads with their throats cut.

These murders seemed to be done by the same

men, who could never be found.
The country was terrorized. Farmers were shot
on suspicion, women were imprisoned; chil-
dren were frightened in order to try and obtain
information. Nothing could be ascertained.

But, one morning, Father Milon was found

stretched out in the barn, with a sword gash
across his face.

Two Uhlans were found dead about a mile and

a half from the farm. One of them was still hol-
ding his bloody sword in his hand. He had
fought, tried to defend himself. A court-martial
was immediately held in the open air, in front
of the farm. The old man was brought before it.


with two big hands resembling the claws of a
crab. His colorless hair was sparse and thin,
like the down of a young duck, allowing pat-
ches of his scalp to be seen. The brown and
wrinkled skin of his neck showed big veins
which disappeared behind his jaws and came
out again at the temples. He had the reputation
of being miserly and hard to deal with.

They stood him up between four soldiers, in

front of the kitchen table, which had been drag-
ged outside. Five officers and the colonel seated
themselves opposite him.

The colonel spoke in French:

"Father Milon, since we have been here we

have only had praise for you. You have always
been obliging and even attentive to us. But to-
day a terrible accusation is hanging over you,
and you must clear the matter up. How did you
receive that wound on your face?"

The peasant answered nothing.

The colonel continued:

"Your silence accuses you, Father Milon. But I

want you to answer me! Do you understand?
Do you know who killed the two Uhlans who
were found this morning near Calvaire?"

The old man answered clearly

"I did."

The colonel, surprised, was silent for a minute,

looking straight at the prisoner. Father Milon
stood impassive, with the stupid look of the
peasant, his eyes lowered as though he were
talking to the priest. Just one thing betrayed an
uneasy mind; he was continually swallowing
his saliva, with a visible effort, as though his
throat were terribly contracted.


law and his two grandchildren were standing a
few feet behind him, bewildered and af-

The colonel went on:

"Do you also know who killed all the scouts
who have been found dead, for a month,
throughout the country, every morning?"

The old man answered with the same stupid


"I did."

"You killed them all?"

"Uh huh! I did."

"You alone? All alone?"

"Uh huh!"

"Tell me how you did it."

This time the man seemed moved; the necessity

for talking any length of time annoyed him
visibly. He stammered:

"I dunno! I simply did it."

The colonel continued:

"I warn you that you will have to tell me every-

thing. You might as well make up your mind
right away. How did you begin?"

The man cast a troubled look toward his fam-

ily, standing close behind him. He hesitated a
minute longer, and then suddenly made up his
mind to obey the order.

"I was coming home one night at about ten o'-

clock, the night after you got here. You and
your soldiers had taken more than fifty ecus
worth of forage from me, as well as a cow and
take from you; just so much will you make
them pay back.' And then I had other things on
my mind which I will tell you. Just then I no-
ticed one of your soldiers who was smoking his
pipe by the ditch behind the barn. I went and
got my scythe and crept up slowly behind him,
so that he couldn't hear me. And I cut his head
off with one single blow, just as I would a blade
should look at the bottom of the pond, you will
fastened to it.


boots to his cap, and hid them away in the little
wood behind the yard."

The old man stopped. The officers remained

speechless, looking at each other. The question-
ing began again, and this is what they learned.

Once this murder committed, the man had li-

ved with this one thought: "Kill the Prussians!"
He hated them with the blind, fierce hate of the
greedy yet patriotic peasant. He had his idea, as
he said. He waited several days.

He was allowed to go and come as he pleased,

because he had shown himself so humble, sub-
missive and obliging to the invaders. Each
night he saw the outposts leave. One night he
followed them, having heard the name of the
village to which the men were going, and hav-
ing learned the few words of German which he
needed for his plan through associating with
the soldiers.

He left through the back yard, slipped into the

woods, found the dead man's clothes and put
them on. Then he began to crawl through the
fields, following along the hedges in order to
keep out of sight, listening to the slightest noi-
ses, as wary as a poacher.

As soon as he thought the time ripe, he ap-

proached the road and hid behind a bush. He
waited for a while. Finally, toward midnight,
he heard the sound of a galloping horse. The
man put his ear to the ground in order to make
sure that only one horseman was approaching,
then he got ready.
An Uhlan came galloping along, carrying des
When he was only a few feet away, Father Mi-
lon dragged himself across the road, moaning:
stopped, and recognizing a German, he
thought he was wounded and dismounted,
coming nearer without any suspicion, and just
as he was leaning over the unknown man, he
received, in the pit of his stomach, a heavy
thrust from the long curved blade of the sabre.
He dropped without suffering pain, quivering
only in the final throes. Then the farmer, radi-
ant with the silent joy of an old peasant, got up
again, and, for his own pleasure, cut the dead
man's throat. He then dragged the body to the
ditch and threw it in.

The horse quietly awaited its master. Father

Milon mounted him and started galloping
across the plains.
About an hour later he noticed two more Uh-
lans who were returning home, side by side. He
rode straight for them, once more crying "Hilfe!

The Prussians, recognizing the uniform, let him

approach without distrust. The old man passed
between them like a cannon-ball, felling them
both, one with his sabre and the other with a

Then he killed the horses, German horses! After

that he quickly returned to the woods and hid
one of the horses. He left his uniform there and
again put on his old clothes; then going back
into bed, he slept until morning.

For four days he did not go out, waiting for the

inquest to be terminated; but on the fifth day he
went out again and killed two more soldiers by
the same stratagem. From that time on he did
not stop. Each night he wandered about in
search of adventure, killing Prussians, some-
times here and sometimes there, galloping
through deserted fields, in the moonlight, a lost
Uhlan, a hunter of men. Then, his task accom-
plished, leaving behind him the bodies lying
along the roads, the old farmer would return
and hide his horse and uniform.

He went, toward noon, to carry oats and water

quietly to his mount, and he fed it well as he
required from it a great amount of work.

But one of those whom he had attacked the

night before, in defending himself slashed the
old peasant across the face with his sabre.

However, he had killed them both. He had co-

me back and hidden the horse and put on his
ordinary clothes again; but as he reached home
he began to feel faint, and had dragged himself
as far as the stable, being unable to reach the
They had found him there, bleeding, on the

When he had finished his tale, he suddenly

lifted up his head and looked proudly at the
Prussian officers.

The colonel, who was gnawing at his mustache,


"You have nothing else to say?"

"Nothing more; I have finished my task; I killed

sixteen, not one more or less."

"Do you know that you are going to die?"

"I haven't asked for mercy."

"Have you been a soldier?"

"Yes, I served my time. And then, you had ki-

lled my father, who was a soldier of the first
Emperor. And last month you killed my youn-
gest son, Francois, near Evreux. I owed you one
for that; I paid. We are quits."

The officers were looking at each other.

The old man continued:

"Eight for my father, eight for the boy—we are

quits. I did not seek any quarrel with you. I
don't know you. I don't even know where you
come from. And here you are, ordering me
about in my home as though it were your own.
I took my revenge upon the others. I'm not so-

And, straightening up his bent back, the old

man folded his arms in the attitude of a modest

The Prussians talked in a low tone for a long

his son the previous month, was defending the
poor wretch. Then the colonel arose and, ap-
proaching Father Milon, said in a low voice:

"Listen, old man, there is perhaps a way of sav-

ing your life, it is to—"

But the man was not listening, and, his eyes

fixed on the hated officer, while the wind pla-
yed with the downy hair on his head, he dis-
torted his slashed face, giving it a truly terrible
expression, and, swelling out his chest, he spat,
as hard as he could, right in the Prussian's face.

The colonel, furious, raised his hand, and for

the second time the man spat in his face.

All the officers had jumped up and were shrie-

king orders at the same time.

In less than a minute the old man, still impas-

sive, was pushed up against the wall and shot,
looking smilingly the while toward Jean, his
eldest son, his daughter-in-law and his two
grandchildren, who witnessed this scene in
dumb terror.


Paris had just heard of the disaster at Sedan. A

republic had been declared. All France was
wavering on the brink of this madness which
lasted until after the Commune. From one end
of the country to the other everybody was play-
ing soldier.

Cap-makers became colonels, fulfilling the du-

ties of generals; revolvers and swords were
displayed around big, peaceful stomachs
wrapped in flaming red belts; little tradesmen
became warriors commanding battalions of
brawling volunteers, and swearing like pirates
in order to give themselves some prestige.

The sole fact of handling firearms crazed these

people, who up to that time had only handled
scales, and made them, without any reason,
dangerous to all. Innocent people were shot to
prove that they knew how to kill; in forests
which had never seen a Prussian, stray dogs,
grazing cows and browsing horses were killed.

Each one thought himself called upon to play a

great part in military affairs. The cafes of the
smallest villages, full of uniformed tradesmen,
looked like barracks or hospitals.

The town of Canneville was still in ignorance of

the maddening news from the army and the
capital; nevertheless, great excitement had pre-
vailed for the last month, the opposing parties
finding themselves face to face.
The mayor, Viscount de Varnetot, a thin, little
old man, a conservative, who had recently,
from ambition, gone over to the Empire, had
seen a determined opponent arise in Dr. Mas-
sarel, a big, full-blooded man, leader of the Re-
publican party of the neighborhood, a high
official in the local masonic lodge, president of
the Agricultural Society and of the firemen's
banquet and the organizer of the rural militia
which was to save the country.

In two weeks, he had managed to gather to-

gether sixty-three volunteers, fathers of fami-
lies, prudent farmers and town merchants, and
every morning he would drill them in the
square in front of the town-hall.

When, perchance, the mayor would come to the

municipal building, Commander Massarel, girt
with pistols, would pass proudly in front of his
troop, his sword in his hand, and make all of
them cry: "Long live the Fatherland!" And it
had been noticed that this cry excited the little
viscount, who probably saw in it a menace, a
threat, as well as the odious memory of the
great Revolution.

On the morning of the fifth of September, the

doctor, in full uniform, his revolver on the ta-
ble, was giving a consultation to an old couple,
a farmer who had been suffering from varicose
veins for the last seven years and had waited
until his wife had them also, before he would
consult the doctor, when the postman brought
in the paper.

M. Massarel opened it, grew pale, suddenly

rose, and lifting his hands to heaven in a ges-
ture of exaltation, began to shout at the top of
his voice before the two frightened country

"Long live the Republic! long live the Republic!

long live the Republic!"
Then he fell back in his chair, weak from emo-

And as the peasant resumed: "It started with

the ants, which began to run up and down my
legs—-" Dr. Massarel exclaimed:

"Shut up! I haven't got time to bother with your

nonsense. The Republic has been proclaimed,
the emperor has been taken prisoner, France is
saved! Long live the Republic!"

Running to the door, he howled:

"Celeste, quick, Celeste!"

The servant, affrighted, hastened in; he was

trying to talk so rapidly, that he could only

"My boots, my sword, my cartridge-box and

the Spanish dagger which is on my night-table!
As the persistent peasant, taking advantage of a
moment's silence, continued, "I seemed to get
big lumps which hurt me when I walk," the
physician, exasperated, roared:

"Shut up and get out! If you had washed your

feet it would not have happened!"

Then, grabbing him by the collar, he yelled at


"Can't you understand that we are a republic,

you brass-plated idiot!"

But professional sentiment soon calmed him,

and he pushed the bewildered couple out, say-


my friends. I haven't any time to-day."

As he equipped himself from head to foot, he

gave a series of important orders to his servant:
"Run over to Lieutenant Picart and to Second
Lieutenant Pommel, and tell them that I am
expecting them here immediately. Also send
me Torchebeuf with his drum. Quick! quick!"

When Celeste had gone out, he sat down and

thought over the situation and the difficulties
which he would have to surmount.

The three men arrived together in their work-

ing clothes. The commandant, who expected to
see them in uniform, felt a little shocked.

"Don't you people know anything? The em-

peror has been taken prisoner, the Republic has
been proclaimed. We must act. My position is
delicate, I might even say dangerous."

He reflected for a few moments before his be-

wildered subordinates, then he continued:

"We must act and not hesitate; minutes count as

hours in times like these. All depends on the
promptness of our decision. You, Picart, go to
order to get together the people, to whom I am
going to announce the news. You, Torchebeuf
beat the tattoo throughout the whole neighbor-
hood as far as the hamlets of Gerisaie and Sal-
mare, in order to assemble the militia in the
public square. You, Pommel, get your uniform
on quickly, just the coat and cap. We are going
to the town-hall to demand Monsieur de Var-
netot to surrender his powers to me. Do you


"Now carry out those orders quickly. I will go

over to your house with you, Pommel, since we
shall act together."

Five minutes later, the commandant and his

subordinates, armed to the teeth, appeared on
the square, just as the little Viscount de Var-
netot, his legs encased in gaiters as for a hunt-
ing party, his gun on his shoulder, was coming
down the other street at double-quick time,
followed by his three green-coated guards,
their swords at their sides and their guns
swung over their shoulders.

While the doctor stopped, bewildered, the four

men entered the town-hall and closed the door
behind them.

"They have outstripped us," muttered the phy-

sician, "we must now wait for reenforcements.
There is nothing to do for the present."

Lieutenant Picart now appeared on the scene.


even locked himself in the church with the sex-
ton and beadle."

On the other side of the square, opposite the

white, tightly closed town-hall, stood the
church, silent and dark, with its massive oak
door studded with iron.

But just as the perplexed inhabitants were stick-

ing their heads out of the windows or coming
out on their doorsteps, the drum suddenly be-
gan to be heard, and Torchebeuf appeared, fu-
riously beating the tattoo. He crossed the squa-
re running, and disappeared along the road
leading to the fields.

The commandant drew his sword, and ad-

vanced alone to half way between the two
buildings behind which the enemy had in-
trenched itself, and, waving his sword over his
head, he roared with all his might:

"Long live the Republic! Death to traitors!"

Then he returned to his officers.

The butcher, the baker and the druggist, much

disturbed, were anxiously pulling down their
shades and closing their shops. The grocer alo-
ne kept open.

However, the militia were arriving by degrees,

each man in a different uniform, but all wear-
ing a black cap with gold braid, the cap being
the principal part of the outfit. They were ar-
med with old rusty guns, the old guns which
had hung for thirty years on the kitchen wall;
and they looked a good deal like an army of

When he had about thirty men about him, the

commandant, in a few words, outlined the si-
tuation to them. Then, turning to his staff: "Let
us act," he said.

The villagers were gathering together and talk-

ing the matter over.

The doctor quickly decided on a plan of cam-

"Lieutenant Picart, you will advance under the
windows of this town-hall and summon Mon-
sieur de Varnetot, in the name of the Republic,
to hand the keys over to me."

But the lieutenant, a master mason, refused:


thank you. Those people in there shoot straight,
don't you forget it. Do your errands yourself."

The commandant grew very red.

"I command you to go in the name of disci-


The lieutenant rebelled:

"I'm not going to have my beauty spoiled with-

out knowing why."

All the notables, gathered in a group near by,

began to laugh. One of them cried:

The doctor then muttered:


And, leaving his sword and his revolver in the

hands of a soldier, he advanced slowly, his eye
fastened on the windows, expecting any min-
ute to see a gun trained on him.

When he was within a few feet of the building,

the doors at both ends, leading into the two
schools, opened and a flood of children ran out,
boys from one side, girls from the ether, and
began to play around the doctor, in the big
empty square, screeching and screaming, and
making so much noise that he could not make
himself heard.

As soon as the last child was out of the build-

ing, the two doors closed again.
Most of the youngsters finally dispersed, and
the commandant called in a loud voice:

"Monsieur de Varnetot!"

A window on the first floor opened and M. de

Varnetot appeared.

The commandant continued:

"Monsieur, you know that great events have

just taken place which have changed the entire
aspect of the government. The one which you
represented no longer exists. The one which I
represent is taking control. Under these painful,
but decisive circumstances, I come, in the name
of the new Republic, to ask you to turn over to
me the office which you held under the former

M. de Varnetot answered:

"Doctor, I am the mayor of Canneville, duly

appointed, and I shall remain mayor of Canne-
ville until I have been dismissed by a decree
from my superiors. As mayor, I am in my place
in the townhall, and here I stay. Anyhow, just
try to get me out."

He closed the window.

The commandant returned to his troop. But

before giving any information, eyeing Lieuten-
ant Picart from head to foot, he exclaimed:

"You're a great one, you are! You're a fine spe-

cimen of manhood! You're a disgrace to the
army! I degrade you."

"I don't give a——!"

He turned away and mingled with a group of


Then the doctor hesitated. What could he do?

Attack? But would his men obey orders? And
then, did he have the right to do so?
An idea struck him. He ran to the telegraph
office, opposite the town-hall, and sent off three

To the new republican government in Paris.

To the new prefect of the Seine-Inferieure, at


To the new republican sub-prefect at Dieppe.

He explained the situation, pointed out the

danger which the town would run if it should
remain in the hands of the royalist mayor; of-
fered his faithful services, asked for orders and
signed, putting all his titles after his name.

Then he returned to his battalion, and, drawing

friends, go eat and drink; only leave me a de-
tachment of ten men to guard against any-
body's leaving the town-hall."
But ex-Lieutenant Picart, who had been talking
with the watchmaker, heard him; he began to
laugh, and exclaimed: "By Jove, if they come
can see you standing out there for the rest of
your life!"

The doctor did not reply, and he went to lunch-


In the afternoon, he disposed his men about the

town as though they were in immediate danger
of an ambush.

Several times he passed in front of the town-

hall and of the church without noticing any-
thing suspicious; the two buildings looked as
though empty.

The butcher, the baker and the druggist once

more opened up their stores.
Everybody was talking about the affair. If the
emperor were a prisoner, there must have been
some kind of treason. They did not know ex-
actly which of the republics had returned to

Night fell.

Toward nine o'clock, the doctor, alone, noise-

lessly approached the entrance of the public
building, persuaded that the enemy must have
gone to bed; and, as he was preparing to batter
down the door with a pick-axe, the deep voice
of a sentry suddenly called:

"Who goes there?"

And M. Massarel retreated as fast as his legs

could carry him.

Day broke without any change in the situation.

Armed militia occupied the square. All the citi-

zens had gathered around this troop awaiting
developments. Even neighboring villagers had
come to look on.

Then the doctor, seeing that his reputation was

at stake, resolved to put an end to the matter in
one way or another; and he was about to take
some measures, undoubtedly energetic ones,
when the door of the telegraph station opened
and the little servant of the postmistress ap-
peared, holding in her hands two papers.

First she went to the commandant and gave

him one of the despatches; then she crossed the
empty square, confused at seeing the eyes of
everyone on her, and lowering her head and
running along with little quick steps, she went
and knocked softly at the door of the barri-
caded house, as though ignorant of the fact that
those behind it were armed.

The door opened wide enough to let a man's

hand reach out and receive the message; and
the young girl returned blushing, ready to cry
at being thus stared at by the whole country-

In a clear voice, the doctor cried:

"Silence, if you please."

When the populace had quieted down, he con-

tinued proudly:

"Here is the communication which I have re-

ceived from the government."

And lifting the telegram he read:

Former mayor dismissed. Inform him imme-
diately, More orders
For the sub-prefect:
SAPIN, Councillor.
He was-triumphant; his heart was throbbing
with joy and his hands were trembling; but
Picart, his former subordinate, cried to him
from a neighboring group:
"That's all right; but supposing the others don't
come out, what good is the telegram going to
do you?"

M. Massarel grew pale. He had not thought of

that; if the others did not come out, he would
now have to take some decisive step. It was not
only his right, but his duty.

He looked anxiously at the town-hall, hoping to

see the door open and his adversary give in.

The door remained closed. What could he do?

The crowd was growing and closing around
the militia. They were laughing.

One thought especially tortured the doctor. If

he attacked, he would have to march at the
head of his men; and as, with him dead, all stri-
fe would cease, it was at him and him only that
M. de Varnetot and his three guards would
aim. And they were good shots, very good
shots, as Picart had just said. But an idea struck
him and, turning to Pommel, he ordered:

"Run quickly to the druggist and ask him to

lend me a towel and a stick."

The lieutenant hastened.


the sight of which the royalist heart of the ma-
yor would perhaps rejoice.

Pommel returned with the cloth and a broom-

stick. With some twine they completed the flag,
and M. Massarel, grasping it in both hands and
holding it in front of him, again advanced in
the direction of the town-hall. When he was
opposite the door, he once more called: "Mon-
sieur de Varnetot!" The door suddenly opened
and M. de Varnetot and his three guards ap-
peared on the threshold.
Instinctively the doctor stepped back; then he
bowed courteously to his enemy, and, choking
with emotion, he announced: "I have come,
monsieur, to make you acquainted with the
orders which I have received."

The nobleman, without returning the bow, an-

swered: "I resign, monsieur, but understand
that it is neither through fear of, nor obedience
to, the odious government which has usurped
the power." And, emphasizing every word, he
day, to serve the Republic. That's all."

Massarel, stunned, answered nothing; and M.

de Varnetot, walking quickly, disappeared
around the corner of the square, still followed
by his escort.

The doctor, puffed up with pride, returned to

the crowd. As soon as he was near enough to
make himself heard, he cried: "Hurrah! hurrah!
Victory crowns the Republic everywhere."
There was no outburst of joy.

The doctor continued: "We are free, you are

free, independent! Be proud!"

The motionless villagers were looking at him

without any signs of triumph shining in their

He looked at them, indignant at their indiffer-

ence, thinking of what he could say or do in
order to make an impression to electrify this
calm peasantry, to fulfill his mission as a lea-

He had an inspiration and, turning to Pommel,

he ordered: "Lieutenant, go get me the bust of
the ex-emperor which is in the meeting room of
the municipal council, and bring it here with a
The man presently reappeared, carrying on his
right shoulder the plaster Bonaparte, and hold-
ing in his left hand a cane-seated chair.

M. Massarel went towards him, took the chair,

placed the white bust on it, then stepping back
a few steps, he addressed it in a loud voice:

"Tyrant, tyrant, you have fallen down in the

mud. The dying fatherland was in its death
throes under your oppression. Vengeful Des-
tiny has struck you. Defeat and shame have
pursued you; you fall conquered, a prisoner of
the Prussians; and from the ruins of your crum-
bling empire, the young and glorious Republic
arises, lifting from the ground your broken

He waited for applause. Not a sound greeted

his listening ear. The peasants, nonplussed,
kept silent; and the white, placid, well-groomed
statue seemed to look at M. Massarel with its
plaster smile, ineffaceable and sarcastic.
Thus they stood, face to face, Napoleon on his
chair, the physician standing three feet away.
Anger seized the commandant. What could he
do to move this crowd and definitely to win
over public opinion?

He happened to carry his hand to his stomach,


Not another inspiration, not another word cane

to his mind. Then, he drew his weapon, step-
ped back a few steps and shot the former mon-

The bullet made a little black hole: like a spot,

in his forehead. No sensation was created. M.
Massarel shot a second time and made a second
hole, then a third time, then, without stopping,
he shot off the three remaining shots. Napo-
leon's forehead was blown away in a white
powder, but his eyes, nose and pointed mus-
tache remained intact.
Then in exasperation, the doctor kicked the
chair over, and placing one foot on what re-
mained of the bust in the position of a con-
queror, he turned to the amazed public and
yelled: "Thus may all traitors die!"

As no enthusiasm was, as yet, visible, the spec-

tators appearing to be dumb with astonish-
ment, the commandant cried to the militia:
"You may go home now." And he himself wal-
ked rapidly, almost ran, towards his house.

As soon as he appeared, the servant told him

that some patients had been waiting in his of-
fice for over three hours. He hastened in. They
were the same two peasants as a few days be-
fore, who had returned at daybreak, obstinate
and patient.

The old man immediately began his explana-

"It began with ants, which seemed to be crawl-
ing up and down my legs——"


Since the beginning of the campaign Lieutenant

Lare had taken two cannon from the Prussians.
His general had said: "Thank you, lieutenant,"
and had given him the cross of honor.

As he was as cautious as he was brave, wary,

inventive, wily and resourceful, he was en-
trusted with a hundred soldiers and he organ-
ized a company of scouts who saved the army
on several occasions during a retreat.

But the invading army entered by every fron-

tier like a surging sea. Great waves of men ar-
rived one after the other, scattering all around
them a scum of freebooters. General Carrel's
brigade, separated from its division, retreated
continually, fighting each day, but remaining
almost intact, thanks to the vigilance and agility
of Lieutenant Lare, who seemed to be every-
where at the same moment, baffling all the en-
emy's cunning, frustrating their plans, mislead-
ing their Uhlans and killing their vanguards.

One morning the general sent for him.


General de Lacere, who will be destroyed if we
at Blainville, eight leagues from here. You will
start at nightfall with three hundred men,
whom you will echelon along the road. I will
follow you two hours later. Study the road ca-
refully; I fear we may meet a division of the
It had been freezing hard for a week. At two
o'clock it began to snow, and by night the
ground was covered and heavy white swirls
concealed objects hard by.

At six o'clock the detachment set out.

Two men walked alone as scouts about three

yards ahead. Then came a platoon of ten men
commanded by the lieutenant himself. The rest
followed them in two long columns. To the
right and left of the little band, at a distance of
about three hundred feet on either side, some
soldiers marched in pairs.

The snow, which was still falling, covered them

with a white powder in the darkness, and as it
did not melt on their uniforms, they were hard-
ly distinguishable in the night amid the dead
whiteness of the landscape.

From time to time they halted. One heard noth-

ing but that indescribable, nameless flutter of
falling snow—a sensation rather than a sound,
a vague, ominous murmur. A command was
given in a low tone and when the troop re-
sumed its march it left in its wake a sort of
white phantom standing in the snow. It gradu-
ally grew fainter and finally disappeared. It
was the echelons who were to lead the army.

The scouts slackened their pace. Something was

ahead of them.


Ronfi wood; the chateau is more to the left."

Presently the command "Halt" was passed

along. The detachment stopped and waited for
the lieutenant, who, accompanied by only ten
men, had undertaken a reconnoitering expedi-
tion to the chateau.

They advanced, creeping under the trees. Sud-

denly they all remained motionless. Around
them was a dead silence. Then, quite near
them, a little clear, musical young voice was
heard amid the stillness of the wood.


never reach Blainville."

A deeper voice replied:

"Never fear, little daughter; I know the country

as well as I know my pocket."

The lieutenant said a few words and four men

moved away silently, like shadows.

All at once a woman's shrill cry was heard

through the darkness. Two prisoners were
brought back, an old man and a young girl. The
lieutenant questioned them, still in a low tone:

"Your name?"

"Pierre Bernard."

"Your profession?"
"Butler to Comte de Ronfi."

"Is this your daughter?"


"What does she do?"

"She is laundress at the chateau."

"Where are you going?"

"We are making our escape."


"Twelve Uhlans passed by this evening. They

shot three keepers and hanged the gardener. I
was alarmed on account of the little one."

"Whither are you bound?"

"To Blainville."

"Because there is a French army there."

"Do you know the way?"


"Well then, follow us."

They rejoined the column and resumed their

march across country. The old man walked in
silence beside the lieutenant, his daughter wal-
king at his side. All at once she stopped.



And she sat down. She was shaking with cold

and seemed about to lose consciousness. Her
father wanted to carry her, but he was too old
and too weak.


impede your march. France before all. Leave us
The officer had given a command. Some men
had started off. They came back with branches
The whole detachment had joined them by this

"Here is a woman dying of cold," said the lieu-

tenant. "Who will give his cape to cover her?"

Two hundred capes were taken off. The young

girl was wrapped up in these warm soldiers'
capes, gently laid in the litter, and then four'
hardy shoulders lifted her up, and like an East-
ern queen borne by her slaves she was placed
in the center of the detachment of soldiers, who
resumed their march with more energy, more
courage, more cheerfulness, animated by the
presence of a woman, that sovereign inspira-
tion that has stirred the old French blood to so
many deeds of valor.

At the end of an hour they halted again and

every one lay down in the snow. Over yonder
on the level country a big, dark shadow was
moving. It looked like some weird monster
stretching itself out like a serpent, then sud-
denly coiling itself into a mass, darting forth
again, then back, and then forward again with-
out ceasing. Some whispered orders were
passed around among the soldiers, and an oc-
casional little, dry, metallic click was heard. The
moving object suddenly came nearer, and
twelve Uhlans were seen approaching at a gal-
lop, one behind the other, having lost their way
in the darkness. A brilliant flash suddenly re-
vealed to them two hundred mete lying on the
ground before them. A rapid fire was heard,
which died away in the snowy silence, and all
the twelve fell to the ground, their horses with

After a long rest the march was resumed. The

old man whom they had captured acted as gui-
Presently a voice far off in the distance cried
out: "Who goes there?"

Another voice nearer by gave the countersign.

They made another halt; some conferences took

place. It had stopped snowing. A cold wind
was driving the clouds, and innumerable stars
were sparkling in the sky behind them, gradu-
ally paling in the rosy light of dawn.

A staff officer came forward to receive the de-

tachment. But when he asked who was being
carried in the litter, the form stirred; two little
hands moved aside the big blue army capes
and, rosy as the dawn, with two eyes that were
brighter than the stars that had just faded from
sight, and a smile as radiant as the morn, a
dainty face appeared.

"It is I, monsieur."
The soldiers, wild with delight, clapped their
hands and bore the young girl in triumph into
the midst of the camp, that was just getting to
arms. Presently General Carrel arrived on the
scene. At nine o'clock the Prussians made an
attack. They beat a retreat at noon.

That evening, as Lieutenant Lare, overcome by

fatigue, was sleeping on a bundle of straw, he
was sent for by the general. He found the com-
manding officer in his tent, chatting with the
old man whom they had come across during
the night. As soon as he entered the tent the
general took his hand, and addressing the
stranger, said:

"My dear comte, this is the young man of

whom you were telling me just now; he is one
of my best officers."

He smiled, lowered his tone, and added:

"The best."
Then, turning to the astonished lieutenant, he
presented "Comte de Ronfi-Quedissac."

The old man took both his hands, saying:

"My dear lieutenant, you have saved my

daughter's life. I have only one way of thanking
you. You may come in a few months to tell
me—if you like her."

One year later, on the very same day, Captain

Lare and Miss Louise-Hortense-Genevieve de
Ronfi-Quedissac were married in the church of
St. Thomas Aquinas.

She brought a dowry of six thousand francs,

and was said to be the prettiest bride that had
been seen that year.

The shadows of a balmy night were slowly fal-

ling. The women remained in the drawing-
garden chairs, were smoking outside the door
of the house, around a table laden with cups
and liqueur glasses.

Their lighted cigars shone like eyes in the dark-

ness, which was gradually becoming more den-
se. They had been talking about a frightful ac-
cident which had occurred the night before—
two men and three women drowned in the
river before the eyes of the guests.

General de G——remarked:

"Yes, these things are affecting, but they are not

"Horrible, that well-known word, means much
more than terrible. A frightful accident like this
affects, upsets, terrifies; it does not horrify. In
order that we should experience horror, some-
thing more is needed than emotion, something
more than the spectacle of a dreadful death;
there must be a shuddering sense of mystery,
or a sensation of abnormal terror, more than
natural. A man who dies, even under the most
tragic circumstances, does not excite horror; a
field of battle is not horrible; blood is not horri-
ble; the vilest crimes are rarely horrible.

"Here are two personal examples which have

shown me what is the meaning of horror.

"It was during the war of 1870. We were re-

treating toward Pont-Audemer, after having
passed through Rouen. The army, consisting of
about twenty thousand men, twenty thousand
routed men, disbanded, demoralized, ex-
hausted, were going to disband at Havre.
"The earth was covered with snow. The night
was falling. They had not eaten anything since
the day before. They were fleeing rapidly, the
Prussians not being far off.

"All the Norman country, sombre, dotted with

the shadows of the trees surrounding the
farms, stretched out beneath a black, heavy,
threatening sky.

"Nothing else could be heard in the wan twi-

light but the confused sound, undefined
though rapid, of a marching throng, an endless
tramping, mingled with the vague clink of tin
bowls or swords. The men, bent, round-
shouldered, dirty, in many cases even in rags,
dragged themselves along, hurried through the
snow, with a long, broken-backed stride.

"The skin of their hands froze to the butt ends

of their muskets, for it was freezing hard that
night. I frequently saw a little soldier take off
his shoes in order to walk barefoot, as his shoes
hurt his weary feet; and at every step he left a
track of blood. Then, after some time, he would
he never got up again. Every man who sat
down was a dead man.

"Should we have left behind us those poor, ex-

hausted soldiers, who fondly counted on being
able to start afresh as soon as they had some-
what refreshed their stiffened legs? But scarcely
had they ceased to move, and to make their
almost frozen blood circulate in their veins,
than an unconquerable torpor congealed them,
nailed them to the ground, closed their eyes,
and paralyzed in one second this overworked
human mechanism. And they gradually sank
down, their foreheads on their knees, without,
however, falling over, for their loins and their
limbs became as hard and immovable as wood,
impossible to bend or to stand upright.

"And the rest of us, more robust, kept strag-

gling on, chilled to the marrow, advancing by a
kind of inertia through the night, through the
snow, through that cold and deadly country,
crushed by pain, by defeat, by despair, above
all overcome by the abominable sensation of
abandonment, of the end, of death, of nothing-

"I saw two gendarmes holding by the arm a

curious-looking little man, old, beardless, of
truly surprising aspect.

"They were looking for an officer, believing that

spread through the midst of the stragglers, and
they gathered in a group round the prisoner. A
voice exclaimed: 'He must be shot!' And all
these soldiers who were falling from utter pros-
tration, only holding themselves on their feet
by leaning on their guns, felt all of a sudden
that thrill of furious and bestial anger which
urges on a mob to massacre.
"I wanted to speak. I was at that time in com-
mand of a battalion; but they no longer recog-
nized the authority of their commanding offi-
cers; they would even have shot me.

"One of the gendarmes said: 'He has been fol-

lowing us for the three last days. He has been
asking information from every one about the

I took it on myself to question this person.

"What are you doing? What do you want? Why

are you accompanying the army?"

"He stammered out some words in some unin-

telligible dialect. He was, indeed, a strange be-
ing, with narrow shoulders, a sly look, and
such an agitated air in my presence that I really
no longer doubted that he was a spy. He see-
med very aged and feeble. He kept looking at
me from under his eyes with a humble, stupid,
crafty air.
"The men all round us exclaimed.

"'To the wall! To the wall!'

"I said to the gendarmes:

"'Will you be responsible for the prisoner?'

"I had not ceased speaking when a terrible sho-

ve threw me on my back, and in a second I saw
the man seized by the furious soldiers, thrown
down, struck, dragged along the side of the
road, and flung against a tree. He fell in the
snow, nearly dead already.

"And immediately they shot him. The soldiers

fired at him, reloaded their guns, fired again
with the desperate energy of brutes. They
fought with each other to have a shot at him,
filed off in front of the corpse, and kept on fir-
ing at him, as people at a funeral keep sprin-
kling holy water in front of a coffin.
"But suddenly a cry arose of 'The Prussians! the

"And all along the horizon I heard the great

noise of this panic-stricken army in full flight.

"A panic, the result of these shots fired at this

vagabond, had filled his very executioners with
terror; and, without realizing that they were
themselves the originators of the scare, they
fled and disappeared in the darkness.

"I remained alone with the corpse, except for

the two gendarmes whose duty compelled
them to stay with me.

"They lifted up the riddled mass of bruised and

bleeding flesh.


them a box of taper matches which I had in my
pocket. One of the soldiers had another box. I
was standing between the two.
"The gendarme who was examining the body

"'Clothed in a blue blouse, a white shirt, trou-

sers, and a pair of shoes.'

"The first match went out; we lighted a second.

The man continued, as he turned out his pock-

"'A horn-handled pocketknife, check handker-

chief, a snuffbox, a bit of pack thread, a piece of

"The second match went out; we lighted a

third. The gendarme, after having felt the corp-
se for a long time, said:

"'That is all.'

"I said:

"'Strip him. We shall perhaps find something

next his skin."
"And in order that the two soldiers might help
each other in this task, I stood between them to
hold the lighted match. By the rapid and speed-
ily extinguished flame of the match, I saw them
take off the garments one by one, and expose to
view that bleeding bundle of flesh, still warm,
though lifeless.

"And suddenly one of them exclaimed:


"I cannot describe to you the strange and poig-

nant sensation of pain that moved my heart. I
could not believe it, and I knelt down in the
snow before this shapeless pulp of flesh to see
for myself: it was a woman.

"The two gendarmes, speechless and stunned,

waited for me to give my opinion on the mat-
ter. But I did not know what to think, what
theory to adopt.
"Then the brigadier slowly drawled out:


the artillery, whom she had not heard from.'

"And the other chimed in:

"'Perhaps, indeed, that is so.'

"And I, who had seen some very terrible things

in my time, began to cry. And I felt, in the pres-
ence of this corpse, on that icy cold night, in the
midst of that gloomy plain; at the sight of this
mystery, at the sight of this murdered stranger,
the meaning of that word 'horror.'

"I had the same sensation last year, while inter-

rogating one of the survivors of the Flatters
Mission, an Algerian sharpshooter.

"You know the details of that atrocious drama.

It is possible, however, that you are unac-
quainted with one of them.
"The colonel travelled through the desert into
the Soudan, and passed through the immense
territory of the Touaregs, who, in that great
ocean of sand which stretches from the Atlantic
to Egypt and from the Soudan to Algeria, are a
kind of pirates, resembling those who ravaged
the seas in former days.

"The guides who accompanied the column be-

longed to the tribe of the Chambaa, of Ouargla.

"Now, one day we encamped in the middle of

the desert, and the Arabs declared that, as the
spring was still some distance away, they
would go with all their camels to look for wa-

"One man alone warned the colonel that he had

been betrayed. Flatters did not believe this, and
accompanied the convoy with the engineers,
the doctors, and nearly all his officers.
"They were massacred round the spring, and
all the camels were captured.

"The captain of the Arab Intelligence Depart-

ment at Ouargla, who had remained in the
camp, took command of the survivors, spahis
and sharpshooters, and they began to retreat,
leaving behind them the baggage and provi-
sions, for want of camels to carry them.

"Then they started on their journey through

this solitude without shade and boundless, be-
neath the devouring sun, which burned them
from morning till night.

"One tribe came to tender its submission and

brought dates as a tribute. The dates were poi-
soned. Nearly all the Frenchmen died, and,
among them, the last officer.

"There now only remained a few spahis with

their quartermaster, Pobeguin, and some native
sharpshooters of the Chambaa tribe. They had
still two camels left. They disappeared one
night, along with two, Arabs.

"Then the survivors understood that they

would be obliged to eat each other, and as soon
as they discovered the flight of the two men
with the two camels, those who remained sepa-
rated, and proceeded to march, one by one,
through the soft sand, under the glare of a scor-
ching sun, at a distance of more than a gunshot
from each other.

"So they went on all day, and when they rea-

ched a spring each of them came to drink at it
in turn, as soon as each solitary marcher had
moved forward the number of yards arranged
upon. And thus they continued marching the
whole day, raising everywhere they passed, in
that level, burnt up expanse, those little col-
umns of dust which, from a distance, indicate
those who are trudging through the desert.
"But one morning one of the travellers sud-
denly turned round and approached the man
behind him. And they all stopped to look.

"The man toward whom the famished soldier

drew near did not flee, but lay flat on the
ground, and took aim at the one who was com-
ing toward him. When he believed he was
within gunshot, he fired. The other was not hit,
and he continued then to advance, and level-
ling his gun, in turn, he killed his comrade.

"Then from all directions the others rushed to

seek their share. And he who had killed the
fallen man, cutting the corpse into pieces, dis-
tributed it.

"And they once more placed themselves at

fixed distances, these irreconcilable allies, pre-
paring for the next murder which would bring
them together.
"For two days they lived on this human flesh
which they divided between them. Then, be-
coming famished again, he who had killed the
first man began killing afresh. And again, like a
butcher, he cut up the corpse and offered it to
his comrades, keeping only his own portion of

"And so this retreat of cannibals continued.

"The last Frenchman, Pobeguin, was massacred

at the side of a well, the very night before the
supplies arrived.

"Do you understand now what I mean by the


This was the story told us a few nights ago by

General de G——.

I was sitting on the pier of the small port of

Obernon, near the village of Salis, looking at
Antibes, bathed in the setting sun. I had never
before seen anything so wonderful and so

The small town, enclosed by its massive ram-

parts, built by Monsieur de Vauban, extended
into the open sea, in the middle of the immense
Gulf of Nice. The great waves, coming in from
the ocean, broke at its feet, surrounding it with
a wreath of foam; and beyond the ramparts the
houses climbed up the hill, one after the other,
as far as the two towers, which rose up into the
sky, like the peaks of an ancient helmet. And
these two towers were outlined against the mil-
ky whiteness of the Alps, that enormous distant
wall of snow which enclosed the entire horizon.
Between the white foam at the foot of the walls
and the white snow on the sky-line the little
city, dazzling against the bluish background of
the nearest mountain ranges, presented to the
rays of the setting sun a pyramid of red-roofed
houses, whose facades were also white, but so
different one from another that they seemed to
be of all tints.

And the sky above the Alps was itself of a blue

that was almost white, as if the snow had tinted
it; some silvery clouds were floating just over
the pale summits, and on the other side of the
gulf Nice, lying close to the water, stretched
like a white thread between the sea and the
mountain. Two great sails, driven by a strong
breeze, seemed to skim over the waves. I loo-
ked upon all this, astounded.

This view was one of those sweet, rare, delight-

ful things that seem to permeate you and are
unforgettable, like the memory of a great hap-
piness. One sees, thinks, suffers, is moved and
loves with the eyes. He who can feel with the
eye experiences the same keen, exquisite and
deep pleasure in looking at men and things as
the man with the delicate and sensitive ear,
whose soul music overwhelms.

I turned to my companion, M. Martini, a pure-

blooded Southerner.

"This is certainly one of the rarest sights which

it has been vouchsafed to me to admire.

"I have seen Mont Saint-Michel, that monstrous

granite jewel, rise out of the sand at sunrise.

"I have seen, in the Sahara, Lake Raianechergui,

fifty kilometers long, shining under a moon as
brilliant as our sun and breathing up toward it
a white cloud, like a mist of milk.

"I have seen, in the Lipari Islands, the weird

sulphur crater of the Volcanello, a giant flower
which smokes and burns, an enormous yellow
flower, opening out in the midst of the sea,
whose stem is a volcano.

"But I have seen nothing more wonderful than

Antibes, standing against the Alps in the set-
ting sun.

"And I know not how it is that memories of

antiquity haunt me; verses of Homer come into
of the odyssey; this is Troy, although Troy was
very far from the sea."

M. Martini drew the Sarty guide-book out of

his pocket and read: "This city was originally a
colony founded by the Phocians of Marseilles,
about 340 B.C. They gave it the Greek name of
Antipolis, meaning counter-city, city opposite
another, because it is in fact opposite to Nice,
another colony from Marseilles.
"After the Gauls were conquered, the Romans
turned Antibes into a municipal city, its inhabi-
tants receiving the rights of Roman citizenship.

"We know by an epigram of Martial that at this


I interrupted him:

down there a city of the Odyssey. The coast of
Asia and the coast of Europe resemble each
other in their shores, and there is no city on the
other coast of the Mediterranean which awak-
ens in me the memories of the heroic age as this
one does."

A footstep caused me to turn my head; a wo-

man, a large, dark woman, was walking along
the road which skirts the sea in going to the
"That is Madame Parisse, you know," muttered
Monsieur Martini, dwelling on the final sylla-

No, I did not know, but that name, mentioned

carelessly, that name of the Trojan shepherd,
confirmed me in my dream.

However, I asked: "Who is this Madame Pa-


He seemed astonished that I did not know the


I assured him that I did not know it, and I loo-

ked after the woman, who passed by without
seeing us, dreaming, walking with steady and
slow step, as doubtless the ladies of old walked.

She was perhaps thirty-five years old and still

very beautiful, though a trifle stout.

And Monsieur Martini told me the following

Mademoiselle Combelombe was married, one
year before the war of 1870, to Monsieur Pa-
risse, a government official. She was then a
handsome young girl, as slender and lively as
she has now become stout and sad.

Unwillingly she had accepted Monsieur Pa-

risse, one of those little fat men with short legs,
who trip along, with trousers that are always
too large.

After the war Antibes was garrisoned by a sin-

gle battalion commanded by Monsieur Jean de
Carmelin, a young officer decorated during the
war, and who had just received his four stripes.

As he found life exceedingly tedious in this

fortress this stuffy mole-hole enclosed by its
enormous double walls, he often strolled out to
the cape, a kind of park or pine wood shaken
by all the winds from the sea.
There he met Madame Parisse, who also came
out in the summer evenings to get the fresh air
under the trees. How did they come to love
each other? Who knows? They met, they looked
at each other, and when out of sight they doub-
tless thought of each other. The image of the
young woman with the brown eyes, the black
hair, the pale skin, this fresh, handsome South-
erner, who displayed her teeth in smiling,
floated before the eyes of the officer as he con-
tinued his promenade, chewing his cigar in-
stead of smoking it; and the image of the com-
manding officer, in his close-fitting coat, cov-
ered with gold lace, and his red trousers, and a
little blond mustache, would pass before the
eyes of Madame Parisse, when her husband,
bellied, came home to supper in the evening.

As they met so often, they perhaps smiled at

the next meeting; then, seeing each other again
and again, they felt as if they knew each other.
He certainly bowed to her. And she, surprised,
bowed in return, but very, very slightly, just
enough not to appear impolite. But after two
weeks she returned his salutation from a dis-
tance, even before they were side by side.

He spoke to her. Of what? Doubtless of the set-

ting sun. They admired it together, looking for
it in each other's eyes more often than on the
horizon. And every evening for two weeks this
was the commonplace and persistent pretext
for a few minutes' chat.

Then they ventured to take a few steps to-

gether, talking of anything that came into their
minds, but their eyes were already saying to
each other a thousand more intimate things,
those secret, charming things that are reflected
in the gentle emotion of the glance, and that
cause the heart to beat, for they are a better re-
velation of the soul than the spoken ward.
And then he would take her hand, murmuring
those words which the woman divines, without
seeming to hear them.

And it was agreed between them that they

would love each other without evidencing it by
anything sensual or brutal.

She would have remained indefinitely at this

stage of intimacy, but he wanted more. And
every day he urged her more hotly to give in to
his ardent desire.

She resisted, would not hear of it, seemed de-

termined not to give way.

But one evening she said to him casually: "My

husband has just gone to Marseilles. He will be
away four days."

Jean de Carmelin threw himself at her feet, im-

ploring her to open her door to him that very
night at eleven o'clock. But she would not listen
to him, and went home, appearing to be an-

The commandant was in a bad humor all the

evening, and the next morning at dawn he
went out on the ramparts in a rage, going from
one exercise field to the other, dealing out pun-
ishment to the officers and men as one might
fling stones into a crowd.

On going in to breakfast he found an envelope

under his napkin with these four words: "To-
night at ten." And he gave one hundred sous
without any reason to the waiter.

The day seemed endless to him. He passed part

of it in curling his hair and perfuming himself.

As he was sitting down to the dinner-table an-

other envelope was handed to him, and in it he
found the following telegram:
"My Love: Business completed. I return this
evening on the nine
o'clock train.
The commandant let loose such a vehement
oath that the waiter dropped the soup-tureen
on the floor.

What should he do? He certainly wanted her,

that very, evening at whatever cost; and he
would have her. He would resort to any means,
even to arresting and imprisoning the husband.
Then a mad thought struck him. Calling for
paper, he wrote the following note:
MADAME: He will not come back this eve-
ning, I swear it to
you,—and I shall be, you know where, at ten
o'clock. Fear nothing.
I will answer for everything, on my honor as
an officer.
And having sent off this letter, he quietly ate
his dinner.
Toward eight o'clock he sent for Captain Gri-
bois, the second in command, and said, rolling
between his fingers the crumpled telegram of
Monsieur Parisse:

"Captain, I have just received a telegram of a

very singular nature, which it is impossible for
me to communicate to you. You will immedi-
ately have all the gates of the city closed and
either enter or leave before six in the morning.
You will also have men patrol the streets, who
will compel the inhabitants to retire to their
houses at nine o'clock. Any one found outside
beyond that time will be conducted to his home
'manu militari'. If your men meet me this night
they will at once go out of my way, appearing
not to know me. You understand me?"

"Yes, commandant."

"I hold you responsible for the execution of my

orders, my dear captain."
"Yes, commandant."

"Would you like to have a glass of chartreuse?"

"With great pleasure, commandant."

They clinked glasses drank down the brown

liquor and Captain Gribois left the room.

The train from Marseilles arrived at the station

at nine o'clock sharp, left two passengers on the
platform and went on toward Nice.

One of them, tall and thin, was Monsieur Sari-

be, the oil merchant, and the other, short and
fat, was Monsieur Parisse.

Together they set out, with their valises, to

reach the city, one kilometer distant.

But on arriving at the gate of the port the

guards crossed their bayonets, commanding
them to retire.
Frightened, surprised, cowed with astonish-
ment, they retired to deliberate; then, after hav-
ing taken counsel one with the other, they came
back cautiously to parley, giving their names.

But the soldiers evidently had strict orders, for

they threatened to shoot; and the two scared
travellers ran off, throwing away their valises,
which impeded their flight.

Making the tour of the ramparts, they pre-

sented themselves at the gate on the route to
Cannes. This likewise was closed and guarded
by a menacing sentinel. Messrs. Saribe and Pa-
risse, like the prudent men they were, desisted
from their efforts and went back to the station
for shelter, since it was not safe to be near the
fortifications after sundown.

The station agent, surprised and sleepy, permit-

ted them to stay till morning in the waiting-
the green velvet sofa, too scared to think of

It was a long and weary night for them.

At half-past six in the morning they were in-

formed that the gates were open and that peo-
ple could now enter Antibes.

They set out for the city, but failed to find their
abandoned valises on the road.

When they passed through the gates of the city,

still somewhat anxious, the Commandant de
Carmelin, with sly glance and mustache curled
up, came himself to look at them and question

Then he bowed to them politely, excusing him-

self for having caused them a bad night. But he
had to carry out orders.
The people of Antibes were scared to death.
Some spoke of a surprise planned by the Ital-
ians, others of the landing of the prince impe-
rial and others again believed that there was an
Orleanist conspiracy. The truth was suspected
only later, when it became known that the bat-
talion of the commandant had been sent away,
to a distance and that Monsieur de Carmelin
had been severely punished.

Monsieur Martini had finished his story. Ma-

dame Parisse returned, her promenade being
ended. She passed gravely near me, with her
eyes fixed on the Alps, whose summits now
gleamed rosy in the last rays of the setting sun.


who would ever be thinking of that night of
love, now long past, and of the bold man who
for the sake of a kiss from her had dared to put
a city into a state of siege and to compromise
his whole future.
And to-day he had probably forgotten her, if he
did not relate this audacious, comical and ten-
der farce to his comrades over their cups.

Had she seen him again? Did she still love him?
And I thought: Here is an instance of modern
love, grotesque and yet heroic. The Homer who
should sing of this new Helen and the adven-
ture of her Menelaus must be gifted with the
deserted woman was brave, daring, handsome,
strong as Achilles and more cunning than Ulys-


Major Graf Von Farlsberg, the Prussian com-

mandant, was reading his newspaper as he lay
back in a great easy-chair, with his booted feet
on the beautiful marble mantelpiece where his
spurs had made two holes, which had grown
deeper every day during the three months that
he had been in the chateau of Uville.

A cup of coffee was smoking on a small inlaid

table, which was stained with liqueur, burned
by cigars, notched by the penknife of the victo-
rious officer, who occasionally would stop whi-
le sharpening a pencil, to jot down figures, or to

When he had read his letters and the German

newspapers, which his orderly had brought
him, he got up, and after throwing three or four
enormous pieces of green wood on the fire, for
these gentlemen were gradually cutting down
the park in order to keep themselves warm, he
went to the window. The rain was descending
in torrents, a regular Normandy rain, which
looked as if it were being poured out by some
furious person, a slanting rain, opaque as a
curtain, which formed a kind of wall with di-
agonal stripes, and which deluged everything,
a rain such as one frequently experiences in the
neighborhood of Rouen, which is the watering-
pot of France.

For a long time the officer looked at the sodden

turf and at the swollen Andelle beyond it,
which was overflowing its banks; he was
drumming a waltz with his fingers on the win-
dow-panes, when a noise made him turn
round. It was his second in command, Captain
Baron van Kelweinstein.

The major was a giant, with broad shoulders

and a long, fan-like beard, which hung down
like a curtain to his chest. His whole solemn
person suggested the idea of a military pea-
cock, a peacock who was carrying his tail
spread out on his breast. He had cold, gentle
blue eyes, and a scar from a swordcut, which
he had received in the war with Austria; he was
said to be an honorable man, as well as a brave


belted in at the waist, his red hair was cropped
quite close to his head, and in certain lights he
almost looked as if he had been rubbed over
with phosphorus. He had lost two front teeth
one night, though he could not quite remember
how, and this sometimes made him speak un-
intelligibly, and he had a bald patch on top of
his head surrounded by a fringe of curly, bright
golden hair, which made him look like a monk.

The commandant shook hands with him and

drank his cup of coffee (the sixth that morning),
while he listened to his subordinate's report of
what had occurred; and then they both went to
the window and declared that it was a very
unpleasant outlook. The major, who was a
quiet man, with a wife at home, could accom-
modate himself to everything; but the captain,
who led a fast life, who was in the habit of fre-
quenting low resorts, and enjoying women's
society, was angry at having to be shut up for
three months in that wretched hole.

There was a knock at the door, and when the

commandant said, "Come in," one of the order-
lies appeared, and by his mere presence an-
nounced that breakfast was ready. In the din-
ing-room they met three other officers of lower
rank—a lieutenant, Otto von Grossling, and
two sub-lieutenants, Fritz Scheuneberg and
who was proud and brutal toward men, harsh
toward prisoners and as explosive as gunpow-

Since he had been in France his comrades had

called him nothing but Mademoiselle Fifi. They
had given him that nickname on account of his
dandified style and small waist, which looked
his budding mustache scarcely showed, and on
account of the habit he had acquired of employ-
ing the French expression, 'Fi, fi donc', which
he pronounced with a slight whistle when he
wished to express his sovereign contempt for
persons or things.

The dining-room of the chateau was a magnifi-

cent long room, whose fine old mirrors, that
were cracked by pistol bullets, and whose Fle-
mish tapestry, which was cut to ribbons, and
hanging in rags in places from sword-cuts, told
too well what Mademoiselle Fifi's occupation
was during his spare time.

There were three family portraits on the walls a

steel-clad knight, a cardinal and a judge, who
were all smoking long porcelain pipes, which
had been inserted into holes in the canvas, whi-
le a lady in a long, pointed waist proudly ex-
hibited a pair of enormous mustaches, drawn
with charcoal. The officers ate their breakfast
almost in silence in that mutilated room, which
looked dull in the rain and melancholy in its
dilapidated condition, although its old oak
floor had become as solid as the stone floor of
an inn.

When they had finished eating and were smok-

ing and drinking, they began, as usual, to be-
rate the dull life they were leading. The bottles
of brandy and of liqueur passed from hand to
hand, and all sat back in their chairs and took
repeated sips from their glasses, scarcely re-
moving from their mouths the long, curved
stems, which terminated in china bowls,
painted in a manner to delight a Hottentot.

As soon as their glasses were empty they filled

them again, with a gesture of resigned weari-
ness, but Mademoiselle Fifi emptied his every
minute, and a soldier immediately gave him
another. They were enveloped in a cloud of
strong tobacco smoke, and seemed to be sunk
in a state of drowsy, stupid intoxication, that
condition of stupid intoxication of men who
have nothing to do, when suddenly the baron
we must think of something to do." And on
hearing this, Lieutenant Otto and Sub-
lieutenant Fritz, who preeminently possessed
the serious, heavy German countenance, said:
"What, captain?"

He thought for a few moments and then re-

plied: "What? Why, we must get up some enter-
tainment, if the commandant will allow us."
"What sort of an entertainment, captain?" the
major asked, taking his pipe out of his mouth.
"I will arrange all that, commandant," the baron
will bring back some ladies. I know where they
can be found, We will have supper here, as all
the materials are at hand and; at least, we shall
have a jolly evening."

Graf von Farlsberg shrugged his shoulders

with a smile: "You must surely be mad, my
But all the other officers had risen and sur-
rounded their chief, saying: "Let the captain
have his way, commandant; it is terribly dull
here." And the major ended by yielding. "Very
well," he replied, and the baron immediately
sent for Le Devoir. He was an old non-
commissioned officer, who had never been seen
to smile, but who carried out all the orders of
his superiors to the letter, no matter what they
might be. He stood there, with an impassive
face, while he received the baron's instructions,
and then went out, and five minutes later a
large military wagon, covered with tarpaulin,
galloped off as fast as four horses could draw it
in the pouring rain. The officers all seemed to
awaken from their lethargy, their looks bright-
ened, and they began to talk.

Although it was raining as hard as ever, the

major declared that it was not so dark, and
Lieutenant von Grossling said with conviction
that the sky was clearing up, while Mademoi-
selle Fifi did not seem to be able to keep still.
He got up and sat down again, and his bright
eyes seemed to be looking for something to
destroy. Suddenly, looking at the lady with the
mustaches, the young fellow pulled out his
without leaving his seat he aimed, and with
two successive bullets cut out both the eyes of
the portrait.


the conversation was suddenly interrupted, as
if they had found some fresh and powerful sub-
ject of interest. The mine was his invention, his
method of destruction, and his favorite amu-

When he left the chateau, the lawful owner,

Comte Fernand d'Amoys d'Uville, had not had
time to carry away or to hide anything except
the plate, which had been stowed away in a
hole made in one of the walls. As he was very
rich and had good taste, the large drawing-
room, which opened into the dining-room, loo-
ked like a gallery in a museum, before his pre-
cipitate flight.

Expensive oil paintings, water colors and draw-

ings hung against the walls, while on the tables,
on the hanging shelves and in elegant glass
cupboards there were a thousand ornaments:
small vases, statuettes, groups of Dresden china
and grotesque Chinese figures, old ivory and
Venetian glass, which filled the large room
with their costly and fantastic array.

Scarcely anything was left now; not that the

things had been stolen, for the major would not
have allowed that, but Mademoiselle Fifi
would every now and then have a mine, and on
those occasions all the officers thoroughly en-
joyed themselves for five minutes. The little
marquis went into the drawing-room to get
what he wanted, and he brought back a small,
delicate china teapot, which he filled with gun-
powder, and carefully introduced a piece of
punk through the spout. This he lighted and
took his infernal machine into the next room,
but he came back immediately and shut the
door. The Germans all stood expectant, their
faces full of childish, smiling curiosity, and as
soon as the explosion had shaken the chateau,
they all rushed in at once.

Mademoiselle Fifi, who got in first, clapped his

hands in delight at the sight of a terra-cotta
Venus, whose head had been blown off, and
each picked up pieces of porcelain and won-
dered at the strange shape of the fragments,
while the major was looking with a paternal
eye at the large drawing-room, which had been
wrecked after the fashion of a Nero, and was
strewn with the fragments of works of art. He
went out first and said with a smile: "That was
a great success this time."

But there was such a cloud of smoke in the din-

ing-room, mingled with the tobacco smoke,
that they could not breathe, so the commandant
opened the window, and all the officers, who
had returned for a last glass of cognac, went up
to it.

The moist air blew into the room, bringing with

it a sort of powdery spray, which sprinkled
their beards. They looked at the tall trees which
were dripping with rain, at the broad valley
which was covered with mist, and at the church
spire in the distance, which rose up like a gray
point in the beating rain.

The bells had not rung since their arrival. That

was the only resistance which the invaders had
met with in the neighborhood. The parish
priest had not refused to take in and to feed the
Prussian soldiers; he had several times even
drunk a bottle of beer or claret with the hostile
commandant, who often employed him as a
benevolent intermediary; but it was no use to
ask him for a single stroke of the bells; he
would sooner have allowed himself to be shot.
That was his way of protesting against the in-
vasion, a peaceful and silent protest, the only
one, he said, which was suitable to a priest,
who was a man of mildness, and not of blood;
and every one, for twenty-five miles round,
praised Abbe Chantavoine's firmness and hero-
ism in venturing to proclaim the public mourn-
ing by the obstinate silence of his church bells.

The whole village, enthusiastic at his resistance,

was ready to back up their pastor and to risk
anything, for they looked upon that silent pro-
test as the safeguard of the national honor. It
seemed to the peasants that thus they deserved
better of their country than Belfort and Strass-
burg, that they had set an equally valuable ex-
ample, and that the name of their little village
would become immortalized by that; but, with
that exception, they refused their Prussian con-
querors nothing.

The commandant and his officers laughed

among themselves at this inoffensive courage,
and as the people in the whole country round
showed themselves obliging and compliant
toward them, they willingly tolerated their si-
lent patriotism. Little Baron Wilhelm alone
would have liked to have forced them to ring
the bells. He was very angry at his superior's
politic compliance with the priest's scruples,
and every day begged the commandant to al-
low him to sound "ding-dong, ding-dong," just
he asked it in the coaxing, tender voice of some
loved woman who is bent on obtaining her
wish, but the commandant would not yield,
and to console himself, Mademoiselle Fifi made
a mine in the Chateau d'Uville.

The five men stood there together for five min-

utes, breathing in the moist air, and at last Lieu-
tenant Fritz said with a laugh: "The ladies will
certainly not have fine weather for their drive."
Then they separated, each to his duty, while the
captain had plenty to do in arranging for the
When they met again toward evening they be-
gan to laugh at seeing each other as spick and
span and smart as on the day of a grand re-
view. The commandant's hair did not look so
gray as it was in the morning, and the captain
had shaved, leaving only his mustache, which
made him look as if he had a streak of fire un-
der his nose.

In spite of the rain, they left the window open,

and one of them went to listen from time to
time; and at a quarter past six the baron said he
heard a rumbling in the distance. They all rus-
hed down, and presently the wagon drove up
at a gallop with its four horses steaming and
blowing, and splashed with mud to their girths.
Five women dismounted, five handsome girls
whom a comrade of the captain, to whom Le
Devoir had presented his card, had selected
with care.

They had not required much pressing, as they

had got to know the Prussians in the three
months during which they had had to do with
them, and so they resigned themselves to the
men as they did to the state of affairs.

They went at once into the dining-room, which

looked still more dismal in its dilapidated con-
dition when it was lighted up; while the table
covered with choice dishes, the beautiful china
and glass, and the plate, which had been found
in the hole in the wall where its owner had hid-
den it, gave it the appearance of a bandits' inn,
where they were supping after committing a
robbery in the place. The captain was radiant,
and put his arm round the women as if he were
familiar with them; and when the three young
men wanted to appropriate one each, he op-
posed them authoritatively, reserving to him-
self the right to apportion them justly, accord-
ing to their several ranks, so as not to offend
the higher powers. Therefore, to avoid all dis-
cussion, jarring, and suspicion of partiality, he
placed them all in a row according to height,
and addressing the tallest, he said in a voice of


raising her voice. And then he said: "Number
One, called Pamela, is adjudged to the com-
mandant." Then, having kissed Blondina, the
second, as a sign of proprietorship, he prof-
fered stout Amanda to Lieutenant Otto; Eva,
"the Tomato," to Sub-lieutenant Fritz, and Ra-
chel, the shortest of them all, a very young,
whose snub nose proved the rule which allots
hooked noses to all her race, to the youngest
officer, frail Count Wilhelm d'Eyrick.

They were all pretty and plump, without any

distinctive features, and all had a similarity of
complexion and figure.

The three young men wished to carry off their

prizes immediately, under the pretext that they
might wish to freshen their toilets; but the cap-
tain wisely opposed this, for he said they were
quite fit to sit down to dinner, and his experi-
ence in such matters carried the day. There
were only many kisses, expectant kisses.

Suddenly Rachel choked, and began to cough

until the tears came into her eyes, while smoke
came through her nostrils. Under pretence of
kissing her, the count had blown a whiff of to-
bacco into her mouth. She did not fly into a
rage and did not say a word, but she looked at
her tormentor with latent hatred in her dark

They sat down to dinner. The commandant

seemed delighted; he made Pamela sit on his
unfolded his table napkin: "That was a delight-
ful idea of yours, captain."

Lieutenants Otto and Fritz, who were as polite

as if they had been with fashionable ladies, rat-
her intimidated their guests, but Baron von
Kelweinstein beamed, made obscene remarks
and seemed on fire with his crown of red hair.
He paid the women compliments in French of
the Rhine, and sputtered out gallant remarks,
only fit for a low pothouse, from between his
two broken teeth.

They did not understand him, however, and

their intelligence did not seem to be awakened
until he uttered foul words and broad expres-
sions, which were mangled by his accent. Then
they all began to laugh at once like crazy wo-
men and fell against each other, repeating the
words, which the baron then began to say all
wrong, in order that he might have the pleasure
of hearing them say dirty things. They gave
him as much of that stuff as he wanted, for they
were drunk after the first bottle of wine, and
resuming their usual habits and manners, they
kissed the officers to right and left of them, pin-
ched their arms, uttered wild cries, drank out of
every glass and sang French couplets and bits
of German songs which they had picked up in
their daily intercourse with the enemy.

Soon the men themselves became very unre-

strained, shouted and broke the plates and dis-
hes, while the soldiers behind them waited on
them stolidly. The commandant was the only
one who kept any restraint upon himself.

Mademoiselle Fifi had taken Rachel on his

knee, and, getting excited, at one moment he
kissed the little black curls on her neck and at
another he pinched her furiously and made her
scream, for he was seized by a species of feroc-
ity, and tormented by his desire to hurt her. He
often held her close to him and pressed a long
kiss on the Jewess' rosy mouth until she lost her
breath, and at last he bit her until a stream of
blood ran down her chin and on to her bodice.

For the second time she looked him full in the

face, and as she bathed the wound, she said:

At dessert champagne was served, and the

commandant rose, and in the same voice in
which he would have drunk to the health of the
Empress Augusta, he drank: "To our ladies!"
And a series of toasts began, toasts worthy of
the lowest soldiers and of drunkards, mingled
with obscene jokes, which were made still more
brutal by their ignorance of the language. They
got up, one after the other, trying to say some-
thing witty, forcing themselves to be funny,
and the women, who were so drunk that they
almost fell off their chairs, with vacant looks
and clammy tongues applauded madly each

The captain, who no doubt wished to impart an

appearance of gallantry to the orgy, raised his
glass again and said: "To our victories over
hearts." and, thereupon Lieutenant Otto, who
was a species of bear from the Black Forest,
jumped up, inflamed and saturated with drink,
and suddenly seized by an access of alcoholic
patriotism, he cried: "To our victories over

Drunk as they were, the women were silent,

but Rachel turned round, trembling, and said:
"See here, I know some Frenchmen in whose
presence you would not dare say that." But the
little count, still holding her on his knee, began
to laugh, for the wine had made him very me-
rry, and said: "Ha! ha! ha! I have never met any
of them myself. As soon as we show ourselves,
dirty scoundrel!"

For a moment he looked at her steadily with his

bright eyes upon her, as he had looked at the
portrait before he destroyed it with bullets from
yes, talk about them, my dear! Should we be
here now if they were brave?" And, getting
excited, he exclaimed: "We are the masters!
France belongs to us!" She made one spring
from his knee and threw herself into her chair,
while he arose, held out his glass over the table
and repeated: "France and the French, the
woods, the fields and the houses of France be-
long to us!"

The others, who were quite drunk, and who

were suddenly seized by military enthusiasm,
the enthusiasm of brutes, seized their glasses,
and shouting, "Long live Prussia!" they emptied
them at a draught.

The girls did not protest, for they were reduced

to silence and were afraid. Even Rachel did not
the little marquis put his champagne glass,
which had just been refilled, on the head of the
Jewess and exclaimed: "All the women in Fran-
ce belong to us also!"
At that she got up so quickly that the glass up-
set, spilling the amber-colored wine on her
black hair as if to baptize her, and broke into a
hundred fragments, as it fell to the floor. Her
lips trembling, she defied the looks of the offi-
cer, who was still laughing, and stammered out
in a voice choked with rage:

"That—that—that—is not true—for you shall

not have the women of France!"

He sat down again so as to laugh at his ease;

and, trying to speak with the Parisian accent, he
you come here, my dear?" She was thunder-
struck and made no reply for a moment, for in
her agitation she did not understand him at
first, but as soon as she grasped his meaning
she said to him indignantly and vehemently: "I!
that is all that Prussians want."
Almost before she had finished he slapped her
full in the face; but as he was raising his hand
again, as if to strike her, she seized a small des-
sert knife with a silver blade from the table and,
almost mad with rage, stabbed him right in the
hollow of his neck. Something that he was go-
ing to say was cut short in his throat, and he sat
there with his mouth half open and a terrible
look in his eyes.

All the officers shouted in horror and leaped up

tumultuously; but, throwing her chair between
the legs of Lieutenant Otto, who fell down at
full length, she ran to the window, opened it
before they could seize her and jumped out into
the night and the pouring rain.

In two minutes Mademoiselle Fifi was dead,

and Fritz and Otto drew their swords and wan-
ted to kill the women, who threw themselves at
their feet and clung to their knees. With some
difficulty the major stopped the slaughter and
had the four terrified girls locked up in a room
under the care of two soldiers, and then he or-
ganized the pursuit of the fugitive as carefully
as if he were about to engage in a skirmish,
feeling quite sure that she would be caught.

The table, which had been cleared immediately,

now served as a bed on which to lay out the
lieutenant, and the four officers stood at the
windows, rigid and sobered with the stern fa-
ces of soldiers on duty, and tried to pierce
through the darkness of the night amid the
steady torrent of rain. Suddenly a shot was
heard and then another, a long way off; and for
four hours they heard from time to time near or
distant reports and rallying cries, strange
words of challenge, uttered in guttural voices.

In the morning they all returned. Two soldiers

had been killed and three others wounded by
their comrades in the ardor of that chase and in
the confusion of that nocturnal pursuit, but
they had not caught Rachel.
Then the inhabitants of the district were terror-
ized, the houses were turned topsy-turvy, the
country was scoured and beaten up, over and
over again, but the Jewess did not seem to have
left a single trace of her passage behind her.

When the general was told of it he gave orders

to hush up the affair, so as not to set a bad ex-
ample to the army, but he severely censured
the commandant, who in turn punished his
inferiors. The general had said: "One does not
go to war in order to amuse one's self and to
caress prostitutes." Graf von Farlsberg, in his
exasperation, made up his mind to have his
revenge on the district, but as he required a
pretext for showing severity, he sent for the
priest and ordered him to have the bell tolled at
the funeral of Baron von Eyrick.

Contrary to all expectation, the priest showed

himself humble and most respectful, and when
Mademoiselle Fifi's body left the Chateau d'U-
ville on its way to the cemetery, carried by sol-
diers, preceded, surrounded and followed by
soldiers who marched with loaded rifles, for
the first time the bell sounded its funeral knell
in a lively manner, as if a friendly hand were
caressing it. At night it rang again, and the next
could desire. Sometimes even it would start at
night and sound gently through the darkness,
seized with a strange joy, awakened one could
not tell why. All the peasants in the neighbor-
hood declared that it was bewitched, and no-
body except the priest and the sacristan would
now go near the church tower. And they went
because a poor girl was living there in grief and
solitude and provided for secretly by those two

She remained there until the German troops

departed, and then one evening the priest bor-
rowed the baker's cart and himself drove his
prisoner to Rouen. When they got there he em-
braced her, and she quickly went back on foot
to the establishment from which she had come,
where the proprietress, who thought that she
was dead, was very glad to see her.

A short time afterward a patriot who had no

prejudices, and who liked her because of her
bold deed, and who afterward loved her for
herself, married her and made her a lady quite
as good as many others.


The war was over. The Germans occupied

France. The whole country was pulsating like a
conquered wrestler beneath the knee of his vic-
torious opponent.
The first trains from Paris, distracted, starving,
despairing Paris, were making their way to the
new frontiers, slowly passing through the
country districts and the villages. The passen-
gers gazed through the windows at the ravaged
fields and burned hamlets. Prussian soldiers, in
their black helmets with brass spikes, were
smoking their pipes astride their chairs in front
of the houses which were still left standing.
Others were working or talking just as if they
were members of the families. As you passed
through the different towns you saw entire
regiments drilling in the squares, and, in spite
of the rumble of the carriage-wheels, you could
every moment hear the hoarse words of com-

M. Dubuis, who during the entire siege had

served as one of the National Guard in Paris,
was going to join his wife and daughter, whom
he had prudently sent away to Switzerland
before the invasion.
Famine and hardship had not diminished his
big paunch so characteristic of the rich, peace-
loving merchant. He had gone through the ter-
rible events of the past year with sorrowful
resignation and bitter complaints at the sav-
agery of men. Now that he was journeying to
the frontier at the close of the war, he saw the
Prussians for the first time, although he had
done his duty on the ramparts and mounted
guard on many a cold night.

He stared with mingled fear and anger at those

bearded armed men, installed all over French
soul a kind of fever of impotent patriotism, at
the same time also the great need of that new
instinct of prudence which since then has, ne-
ver left us. In the same railway carriage were
two Englishmen, who had come to the country
as sightseers and were gazing about them with
looks of quiet curiosity. They were both also
stout, and kept chatting in their own language,
sometimes referring to their guidebook, and
reading aloud the names of the places indi-

Suddenly the train stopped at a little village

station, and a Prussian officer jumped up with
a great clatter of his sabre on the double foot-
board of the railway carriage. He was tall, wore
a tight-fitting uniform, and had whiskers up to
his long mustache, of a paler hue, stuck out on
both sides of his face, which it seemed to cut in

The Englishmen at once began staring, at him

with smiles of newly awakened interest, while
M. Dubuis made a show of reading a newspa-
per. He sat concealed in his corner like a thief in
presence of a gendarme.

The train started again. The Englishmen went

on chatting and looking out for the exact scene
of different battles; and all of a sudden, as one
of them stretched out his arm toward the hori-
zon as he pointed out a village, the Prussian
officer remarked in French, extending his long
legs and lolling backward:

"I killed a dozen Frenchmen in that village and

took more than a hundred prisoners."

The Englishmen, quite interested, immediately



The Prussian replied:

"Pharsbourg." He added: "We caught those

French scoundrels by the ears."

And he glanced toward M. Dubuis, laughing

conceitedly into his mustache.

The train rolled on, still passing through ham-

lets occupied by the victorious army. German
soldiers could be seen along the roads, on the
edges of fields, standing in front of gates or
chatting outside cafes. They covered the soil
like African locusts.

The officer said, with a wave of his hand:


burned everything, killed everybody. No more

The Englishman, through politeness, replied


"Ah! yes."

He went on:


to us. Prussia is more than a match for all of

The Englishmen, getting uneasy, no longer re-

plied. Their faces, which had become impas-
sive, seemed made of wax behind their long
whiskers. Then the Prussian officer began to
He sneered at the downfall of France, insulted
the prostrate enemy; he sneered at Austria,
which had been recently conquered; he sneered
at the valiant but fruitless defence of the de-
partments; he sneered at the Garde Mobile and
at the useless artillery. He announced that Bis-
marck was going to build a city of iron with the
captured cannon. And suddenly he placed his
boots against the thigh of M. Dubuis, who tur-
ned away his eyes, reddening to the roots of his

The Englishmen seemed to have become indif-

ferent to all that was going on, as if they were
suddenly shut up in their own island, far from
the din of the world.

The officer took out his pipe, and looking fix-

edly at the Frenchman, said:

"You haven't any tobacco—have you?"

M. Dubuis replied:

"No, monsieur."

The German resumed:

"You might go and buy some for me when the

train stops."

And he began laughing afresh as he added:

"I'll give you the price of a drink."

The train whistled, and slackened its pace.

They passed a station that had been burned
down; and then they stopped altogether.

The German opened the carriage door, and,

catching M. Dubuis by the arm, said:

"Go and do what I told you—quick, quick!"

A Prussian detachment occupied the station.

Other soldiers were standing behind wooden
gratings, looking on. The engine was getting up
steam before starting off again. Then M. Dubuis
hurriedly jumped on the platform, and, in spite
of the warnings of the station master, dashed
into the adjoining compartment.

He was alone! He tore open his waistcoat, his

heart was beating so rapidly, and, gasping for
breath, he wiped the perspiration from his fo-

The train drew up at another station. And sud-

denly the officer appeared at the carriage door
and jumped in, followed close behind by the
two Englishmen, who were impelled by curios-
ity. The German sat facing the Frenchman, and,
laughing still, said:


M. Dubuis replied:

"No, monsieur."
The train had just left the station.

The officer said:


And he put out his hand toward the French-

man's face.

The Englishmen stared at them, retaining their

previous impassive manner.

The German had already pulled out a few

hairs, and was still tugging at the mustache,
when M. Dubuis, with a back stroke of his
hand, flung aside the officer's arm, and, seizing
him by the collar, threw him down on the seat.
Then, excited to a pitch of fury, his temples
swollen and his eyes glaring, he kept throttling
the officer with one hand, while with the other
clenched he began to strike him violent blows
in the face. The Prussian struggled, tried to
draw his sword, to clinch with his adversary,
who was on top of him. But M. Dubuis crushed
him with his enormous weight and kept punch-
ing him without taking breath or knowing
where his blows fell. Blood flowed down the
face of the German, who, choking and with a
rattling in his throat, spat out his broken teeth
and vainly strove to shake off this infuriated
man who was killing him.

The Englishmen had got on their feet and came

closer in order to see better. They remained
standing, full of mirth and curiosity, ready to
bet for, or against, either combatant.

Suddenly M. Dubuis, exhausted by his violent

efforts, rose and resumed his seat without ut-
tering a word.

The Prussian did not attack him, for the savage

assault had terrified and astonished the officer
as well as causing him suffering. When he was
able to breathe freely, he said:
"Unless you give me satisfaction with pistols I
will kill you."

M. Dubuis replied:

"Whenever you like. I'm quite ready."

The German said:

"Here is the town of Strasbourg. I'll get two

officers to be my seconds, and there will be
time before the train leaves the station."

M. Dubuis, who was puffing as hard as the

engine, said to the Englishmen:

"Will you be my seconds?" They both answered


"Oh, yes!"

And the train stopped.

In a minute the Prussian had found two com-
rades, who brought pistols, and they made
their way toward the ramparts.

The Englishmen were continually looking at

their watches, shuffling their feet and hurrying
on with the preparations, uneasy lest they
should be too late for the train.

M. Dubuis had never fired a pistol in his life.

They made him stand twenty paces away from

his enemy. He was asked:

"Are you ready?"

While he was answering, "Yes, monsieur," he

noticed that one of the Englishmen had opened
his umbrella in order to keep off the rays of the

A voice gave the signal:

M. Dubuis fired at random without delay, and
he was amazed to see the Prussian opposite
him stagger, lift up his arms and fall forward,
dead. He had killed the officer.

One of the Englishmen exclaimed: "Ah!" He

was quivering with delight, with satisfied curi-
osity and joyous impatience. The other, who
still kept his watch in his hand, seized M. Du-
buis' arm and hurried him in double-quick time
toward the station, his fellow-countryman mar-
king time as he ran beside them, with closed

And all three, running abreast rapidly, made

their way to the station like three grotesque
figures in a comic newspaper.

The train was on the point of starting. They

sprang into their carriage. Then the English-
men, taking off their travelling caps, waved
them three times over their heads, exclaiming:

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