ve way before the old man's short and clear words.
He even called him back and asked him:

"What is the name of that wood opposite?"

"The forest of Sauval."

"What is its extent?"

The miller looked at him fixedly.

"I do not know," he answered.

And he went away. An hour later the contribution of war in provisions
and money, demanded by the officer, was in the courtyard of the mill.
Night came on. Francoise watched with anxiety the movements of the
soldiers. She hung about the room in which Dominique was imprisoned.
Toward seven o'clock she experienced a poignant emotion. She saw the
officer enter the prisoner's apartment and for a quarter of an hour
heard their voices in loud conversation. For an instant the officer
reappeared upon the threshold to give an order in German, which she did
not understand, but when twelve men ranged themselves in the courtyard,
their guns on their shoulders, she trembled and felt as if about to
faint. All then was over: the execution was going to take place. The
twelve men stood there ten minutes, Dominique's voice continuing to
be raised in a tone of violent refusal. Finally the officer came out,
saying, as he roughly shut the door:

"Very well; reflect. I give you until tomorrow morning."

And with a gesture he ordered the twelve men to break ranks. Francoise
was stupefied. Pere Merlier, who had been smoking his pipe and looking
at the platoon simply with an air of curiosity, took her by the arm with
paternal gentleness. He led her to her chamber.

"Be calm," he said, "and try to sleep. Tomorrow, when it is light, we
will see what can be done."

As he withdrew he prudently locked her in. It was his opinion that women
were good for nothing and that they spoiled everything when they took
a hand in a serious affair. But Francoise did not retire. She sat for
a long while upon the side of her bed, listening to the noises of the
house. The German soldiers encamped in the courtyard sang and laughed;
they must have been eating and drinking until eleven o'clock, for the
racket did not cease an instant. In the mill itself heavy footsteps
resounded from time to time, without doubt those of the sentinels who
were being relieved. But she was interested most by the sounds she
could distinguish in the apartment beneath her chamber. Many times she
stretched herself out at full length and put her ear to the floor. That
apartment was the one in which Dominique was confined. He must have been