his world
presents a sadder picture, I think, than a city a few hours after it has
been captured by the enemy. While the actual fighting continues there is
an excitement which relieves the tension, but when all is over, and
nothing more remains to be done, its condition is pitiable in the
extreme. Traces of the recent struggle were to be observed on every
hand. Half-starved men, women, and children wandered aimlessly about the
streets, patrols marched by continually with prisoners; here and there
were bodies of dead men, which the bearers had not yet had time to
collect and remove; while the guns, which had wrought such havoc on the
little band who had first entered the city and seized the main gate,
still stood in the place to which they had been dragged, bearing
eloquent testimony to the heroism which had conveyed them thither. At
last we reached the house for which we were making. It was the residence
of one Jacob Hertz, a watchmaker, whom, when we entered, we found seated
on his bench, as deeply immersed in his work as if there had been no
such thing as war, and nothing worth attending to in life save the
mechanism of the chroniclers of time on the shelf beside him. It was not
until later that we learnt that his wife and daughter had died during
the siege, and that his only remaining son had been killed that morning
in the attack upon the gate. Providence, more merciful than man, had
deprived him of his senses, and thus his misery sat more lightly upon
him than others. I made it my business, when everything was settled, in
memory of the brother I loved so well, to provide for his remaining
days. It was reported to me, however, that my action, well intended
though it was, was of small avail, for he took no interest in anything
save his business, remaining to the end an eloquent, though a by no
means solitary, witness of one of the most sanguinary struggles this
nineteenth century has seen.

A messenger had previously informed the doctor in charge of the sick man
of our coming, and that official now waited upon us. Groplau presented
him to me, and I inquired the condition of his patient.

"I fear it is a hopeless case," he answered, shaking his head, "'Tis a
wonder indeed that he is alive now to see your Highness. All that
science can do has been done for him, and now I think it would be more
charitable to allow him to reach the end without subjecting him to any
further torture."

"I am sorry to hear that," I said.