woman's cry, pierced through the heavy
silence of the snow, and in a few minutes they brought back two
prisoners, an old man and a girl, whom I questioned in a low voice.
They were escaping from the Prussians, who had occupied their house
during the evening, and who had got drunk. The father had become
alarmed on his daughter's account, and, without even telling their
servants, they had made their escape into the darkness. I saw
immediately that they belonged to the upper classes, and, as I should
have done in any case, I invited them to come with us. So we started
off together, and as the old man knew the road, he acted as our guide.

"It had ceased snowing; the stars appeared, and the cold became
intense. The girl, who was leaning on her father's arm, walked wearily
and with jerks, and several times she murmured:

"'I have no feeling at all in my feet.' I suffered more than she did, I
believe, to see that poor little woman dragging herself like that
through the snow. But suddenly she stopped, and said:

"'Father, I am so tired that I cannot go any further.'

"The old man wanted to carry her, but he could not even lift her up,
and she fell on the ground with a deep sigh. We all came round her, and
as for me, I stamped on the ground, not knowing what to do, quite
unable to make up my mind to abandon that man and girl like that.
Suddenly one of the soldiers, a Parisian, whom they had nicknamed
'Pratique,' said:

"'Come, comrades, we must carry the young lady, otherwise we shall not
show ourselves Frenchmen, confound it!'

"I really believe that I swore with pleasure, and said: 'That is very
good of you, my children; I will take my share of the burden.'

"We could indistinctly see the trees of a little wood on the left,
through the darkness. Several men went into it, and soon came back with
a bundle of branches twisted into a litter.

"'Who will lend his cloak? It is for a pretty girl, comrades,' Pratique
said, and ten cloaks were thrown to him. In a moment, the girl was
lying, warm and comfortable, among them, and was raised upon six
shoulders. I placed myself at their head, on the right, and very
pleased I was with my charge.

"We started off much more briskly, as if we had been having a drink of
wine, and I even heard a few jokes. A woman is quite enough to
electrify Frenchmen, you see. The soldiers, who were reanimated and
warm, had almost reformed their ranks, and an old franc-tireur[2] who
was following t