chairs. But, alas! it was nothing of the sort.... The
good lady whose house it was had provided for all contingencies; the
family rooms had been prudently dismantled and double-locked. A
formidable _concierge_ had the keys, and I was happy indeed when I
found the butler's room in the attics. His bed, with its white sheets,
seemed to me very desirable. And then, as we say in time of peace, one
must take things as they come.

The open hall-door let in a wave of cold air, which struck cold on my
face. But I had not a minute to lose. The detachment was to start at
half-past two punctually, and it had, no doubt, already formed up in
the market-place. I hurried into the street. The tall pines of the
park stood out black against the silver sky, whilst the bare branches
of the other trees formed thousands of arabesques and strange patterns
all round. Not the slightest noise was to be heard in the limpid,
diaphanous night, in which the air seemed as pure and rare as on the
summits of lofty mountains. Under my footsteps the gravel felt soft,
but, once I had got outside the iron gate, I found myself on ground as
hard as stone. The mud formed by recent rains and the ruts hollowed by
streams of convoys had frozen, and the road was a maze of furrows and
inequalities which made me stumble again and again.

In front of the Hotel des Lacs a certain number of the men had already
lined up, in front of their horses. Huddled in their cloaks, with
collars turned up, they were stamping their feet and blowing into
their hands. It must have been real torture for them too to come out
of their straw litter, where they were sleeping so snugly a few
moments before, rolled up in their blankets. They had got a liking for
the kind of comfort peculiar to the campaigner, and had invented a
thousand and one ingenious methods of improving the arrangements of
their novel garrison. Sleeping parties had been gradually organised,
and sets of seven or eight at a time enjoyed delightful nights,
stretched on their clean straw. Many of them would certainly not be
able to get to sleep if they suddenly found themselves in a real bed.
And then it is less difficult to get up when one has gone to bed with
one's clothes on, and when the room is not very warm. Not one of them
complained; not one of them grumbled. We can always count on our brave
fellows.

"All present, _mon Lieutenant!_"

It was the senior non-commissioned officers of the two squadrons
assembled th