Prussia. All the village lads had already departed. On the preceding day
troops had again passed through the place. There was going to be hard
fighting.

"Bah!" said Pere Merlier with the selfishness of a happy man. "Dominique
is a foreigner; he will not go to the war. And if the Prussians come
here he will be on hand to defend his wife!"

The idea that the Prussians might come there seemed a good joke. They
were going to receive a sound whipping, and the affair would soon be
over.

"I have afready seen them; I have already seen them," repeated the old
peasant in a hollow voice.

There was silence. Then they drank again. Francoise and Dominique had
heard nothing; they had gently taken each other by the hand behind the
bench, so that nobody could see them, and it seemed so delightful that
they remained where they were, their eyes plunged into the depths of the
shadows.

What a warm and superb night it was! The village slumbered on both edges
of the white highway in infantile quietude. From time to time was heard
the crowing of some chanticleer aroused too soon. From the huge wood
near by came long breaths, which passed over the roofs like caresses.
The meadows, with their dark shadows, assumed a mysterious and dreamy
majesty, while all the springs, all the flowing waters which gurgled in
the darkness, seemed to be the cool and rhythmical respiration of the
sleeping country. Occasionally the ancient mill wheel, lost in a doze,
appeared to dream like those old watchdogs that bark while snoring; it
cracked; it talked to itself, rocked by the fall of the Morelle, the
surface of which gave forth the musical and continuous sound of an organ
pipe. Never had more profound peace descended upon a happier corner of
nature.

CHAPTER II

THE ATTACK ON THE MILL

A month later, on the day preceding that of Saint Louis, Rocreuse was
in a state of terror. The Prussians had beaten the emperor and were
advancing by forced marches toward the village. For a week past people
who hurried along the highway had been announcing them thus: "They
are at Lormiere--they are at Novelles!" And on hearing that they were
drawing near so rapidly, Rocreuse every morning expected to see them
descend from the wood of Gagny. They did not come, however, and that
increased the fright. They would surely fall upon the village during the
night and slaughter everybody.

That morning, a little before sunrise, there was an alarm. The
inhabitants w