antry as they
poured along, seemingly without ceasing, towards the Lower Danube.
Sometimes the faint sounds of the soldiers' songs would reach
me,--the rude chorus of a regiment timing their step to some warrior's
chant,--and set my heart a beating to be with them once more; sometimes
my eye would rest upon the slow train of wagons, surmounted with a white
flag, that wound their way heavily in the rear, and my spirit sank as I
thought over the poor wounded fellows that were thus borne onward with
the tide of war, as the crushed serpent trails his wounded folds behind
him.

Mademoiselle seldom left me. Seated at her work, often for hours without
speaking, she would follow the train of her own thoughts, and when
by chance she gave a passing glance through the window at the scene
beneath, some single word would escape her as to the regiments or their
officers, few of which were unknown to her, at least by reputation.

I could not but mark, that within the last twelve or fourteen days she
seemed more sad and depressed than before; the lively gayety of her
character had given place to a meek and suffering melancholy, which I
could not help attributing to the circumstances in which she was placed,
away from all her ordinary pursuits and the companions of her daily
life. I hinted as much one day, and was about to insist on her leaving
me, when she suddenly interrupted me, saying,--

"It is all true. I am sad, and know not why, for I never felt happier;
yet, if you wished me to be gay as I used to be, I could not for the
world. It is not because I am far from those I have learned to look on
as my brothers; not so, my changeful fortune has often placed me thus.
Perhaps it's your fault, mon lieutenant," said she, suddenly, turning
her eyes full upon me.

"Mine, Minette,--mine!" said I, in amazement.

She blushed deeply, and held down her head, while her bosom heaved
several times convulsively; and then, while a deathly paleness spread
over her cheek, she said, in a low, broken voice,--

"Perhaps it is because I am an orphan, and never knew what it was to
have those whose dispositions I should imitate, and whose tastes
I should study; but somehow I feel even as though I could not help
becoming like those I am near to,--following them, ay, and outstripping
them, in all their likings and dislikings."

"And so, as you seem sad and sorrowful, it is more than probable that
you took the color of my thoughts. I should feel sorry,