order fresh butter for six o'clock, and he was
anxious to know, whether, by breakfasting at five o'clock, he could
get my butter. The chairs which formed my bed were under the lee of
the table, so that the figure recumbent on them was invisible, and the
gallant soldier, under the impression that there was no one in the
room, enforced his arguments by other than conventional means. But
military lips, when applied personally, proved to be a rhetoric as
unsuccessful as military words. The maid was platonic, and something
more than platonic; and the hero got so much the worst of it, that he
gave up the battle, and changed the subject to a conscript in his
charge, who had locked himself in his bed-room and would not answer.
How was he to know whether he had the conscript safe? All this lasted
some time; and when they were gone, one of the _pensionnaires_ came
in. With him I had to fight the battle of the window, which I had
opened to its farthest extent. After he had got over the first
surprise and shock of finding me on the chairs instead of in the bed,
for whose comfort he vouched enthusiastically, he became confident
that it was merely out of complaisance to him and his comrade that I
had opened the window, and assured me that they really did not care
for fresh air, even if they could feel the difference in the alcove,
which he declared they could not. As soon as that was arranged to my
satisfaction, the other _pensionnaire_ came in, and with him the
battle was fought with only half success, for he peremptorily closed
one side of the window. He was a particularly noisy _pensionnaire_,
and shied his boots into every corner of the room before they were
posed to his satisfaction. As far as I could tell, the removal of the
boots was the only washing and undressing either of them did; and then
they arranged their candles in the alcove, lighted cigars, and got
into bed. There the wretches sat up on end, smoking and talking
vehemently, till sheer exhaustion came to my aid, and I fell asleep;
but the edges of the rush-bottomed chairs speedily became so sharp
that a recumbent posture ceased to be possible, and I sat dozing on
one chair. A little before four o'clock, the noisier man got up to
look for his boots; and as the friends continued their discussion, I
also turned out and made for the nearest stream, where I bathed in a
rapid at half-past four, to wash away, if possible, the horrors of the
night.

FOOTNOTES:

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