of the fugitives who had managed to
find his way in there from outside, until, calling to mind the 7th corps
treasure that had been deposited there and the sentry who had been set
over it, he saw how matters stood: the poor fellow, stationed there
since early morning, had been overlooked by his superiors and had
succumbed to his fatigue. Besides, the house seemed quite deserted;
the ground floor was black as Egypt, and the doors stood wide open. The
servants were doubtless all at the ambulance, for there was no one in
the kitchen, which was faintly illuminated by the light of a wretched
little smoky lamp. He lit a candle and ascended the main staircase very
softly, in order not to awaken his wife and mother, whom he had begged
to go to bed early after a day where the stress, both mental and
physical, had been so intense.

On entering his study, however, he beheld a sight that caused his eyes
to dilate with astonishment. Upon the sofa on which Captain Beaudoin had
snatched a few hours' repose the day before a soldier lay outstretched;
and he could not understand the reason of it until he had looked and
recognized young Maurice Levasseur, Henriette's brother. He was still
more surprised when, on turning his head, he perceived, stretched on the
floor and wrapped in a bed quilt, another soldier, that Jean, whom he
had seen for a moment just before the battle. It was plain that the poor
fellows, in their distress and fatigue after the conflict, not knowing
where else to bestow themselves, had sought refuge there; they were
crushed, annihilated, like dead men. He did not linger there, but pushed
on to his wife's chamber, which was the next room on the corridor. A
lamp was burning on a table in a corner; the profound silence seemed
to shudder. Gilberte had thrown herself crosswise on the bed, fully
dressed, doubtless in order to be prepared for any catastrophe, and was
sleeping peacefully, while, seated on a chair at her side with her head
declined and resting lightly on the very edge of the mattress, Henriette
was also slumbering, with a fitful, agitated sleep, while big tears
welled up beneath her swollen eyelids. He contemplated them silently
for a moment, strongly tempted to awake and question the young woman
in order to ascertain what she knew. Had she succeeded in reaching
Bazeilles? and why was it that she was back there? Perhaps she would
be able to give him some tidings of his dyehouse were he to ask her? A
feeling o