words, nor could I recognize their appearance. To this succeeded a deep,
sound sleep, the recompense of great fatigue.

The falling of a piece of firewood on the hearth awoke me. I opened my
eyes and looked about. The room had no other light than from the embers
of the wood fire and the piece of blazing pine which had just fallen;
but even by that uncertain glare I could see enough to amaze and confuse
me.

On the couch where I had left the priest sleeping, the old man was now
seated, his head uncovered, and a scarf of light blue silk across his
shoulders and falling to his feet. Before him, and kneeling, was a
figure, of which for some minutes I in vain endeavored to ascertain the
traits; for while in the military air of the dress there was something
to mark the soldier, a waving mass of hair loosely falling on the back
bespoke another sex. While I yet doubted, the flickering flame burst
forth and showed me the small and beautiful shaped foot which from
beneath a loose trouser peeped forth, and in the neat boot and
tastefully ornamented spur I recognized in an instant it was a
vivandiere of the army,--one of those who, amid all the reckless abandon
of the life of camps and battlefields, can yet preserve some vestige of
coquetry and feminine grace.

So strange the sight, so complete the heavy stupor of my faculties, that
again and again I doubted whether the whole might not be the creation of
a dream; but the well-known tones of the old man's voice soon reassured
me, as I heard him say,--

"I know it too, my child; I have followed too long the fortunes of an
army not to feel and to sorrow for these things. But be comforted."

A passionate burst of tears from her who knelt at his feet interrupted
him here; nor did it seem that all he could speak of consolation was
able to assuage the deep sorrow of the poor girl, whose trembling frame
bespoke her agony.

By degrees, however, she grew calmer. A deep sob or a long-drawn
sigh alone would be heard, as the venerable father, with impassioned
eloquence, depicted the happiness of those who sought the blessings of
religion, and could tear themselves from the world and its ambitions.
Warming with his theme, he descanted on the lives of those saints
on earth whose every minute was an offering of heavenly love; and
contrasted the holy calm of a convent with the wild revelry of the camp,
or the more revolting carnage of the battlefield.

"Speak not of these things, Father; yo