past without the formality of sitting down, without the
accompaniment of salt and butter, for which he did not care to trouble
himself to ascend to the floor above, desirous only to get away as
speedily as possible from that dismal kitchen, where the blinking,
smoking little lamp perfumed the air with fumes of petroleum.

It was not much more than ten o'clock, and Delaherche had no other
occupation than to speculate on the various probabilities connected with
the signing of the capitulation. A persistent apprehension haunted him;
a dread lest the conflict might be renewed, and the horrible thought of
what the consequences must be in such an event, of which he could
not speak, but which rested on his bosom like an incubus. When he had
reascended to his study, where he found Maurice and Jean in exactly the
same position he had left them in, it was all in vain that he settled
himself comfortably in his favorite easy-chair; sleep would not come to
him; just as he was on the point of losing himself the crash of a shell
would arouse him with a great start. It was the frightful cannonade
of the day, the echoes of which were still ringing in his ears; and
he would listen breathlessly for a moment, then sit and shudder at the
equally appalling silence by which he was now surrounded. As he could
not sleep he preferred to move about; he wandered aimlessly among the
rooms, taking care to avoid that in which his mother was sitting by the
colonel's bedside, for the steady gaze with which she watched him as
he tramped nervously up and down had finally had the effect of
disconcerting him. Twice he returned to see if Henriette had not
awakened, and he paused an instant to glance at his wife's pretty face,
so calmly peaceful, on which seemed to be flitting something like
the faint shadow of a smile. Then, knowing not what to do, he went
downstairs again, came back, moved about from room to room, until it
was nearly two in the morning, wearying his ears with trying to decipher
some meaning in the sounds that came to him from without.

This condition of affairs could not last. Delaherche resolved to return
once more to the Sous-Prefecture, feeling assured that all rest would be
quite out of the question for him so long as his ignorance continued.
A feeling of despair seized him, however, when he went downstairs and
looked out upon the densely crowded street, where the confusion seemed
to be worse than ever; never would he have the strength