e same phenomenon occurs each time that the established
order of things is overthrown, when public security is at an end, and
when all that the laws of man or of nature protect is at the mercy of
some blind elemental force. The earthquake burying an entire population
under its falling houses; the flood that carries away the drowned body
of the peasant with the carcasses of his cattle and the beams torn from
his roof-tree; or the victorious army massacring those who defend their
lives, and making prisoners of the rest--pillaging in the name of the
sword, and thanking God to the roar of cannon--are so many appalling
scourges which overthrow all faith in eternal justice, all the
confidence we are taught to place in the protection of Providence and
the reason of man.

Small detachments now began knocking at the doors and then disappearing
into the houses. It was the occupation after the invasion. It now
behooved the vanquished to make themselves agreeable to the victors.

After a while, the first alarms having subsided, a new sense of
tranquillity began to establish itself. In many families the Prussian
officer shared the family meals. Not infrequently he was a gentleman,
and out of politeness expressed his commiseration with France and his
repugnance at having to take part in such a war. They were grateful
enough to him for this sentiment--besides, who knew when they might not
be glad of his protection? By gaining his good offices one might have
fewer men to feed. And why offend a person on whom one was utterly
dependent? That would not be bravery but temerity, a quality of which
the citizens of Rouen could no longer be accused as in the days of those
heroic defenses by which the city had made itself famous. Above all,
they said, with the unassailable urbanity of the Frenchman, it was
surely permissible to be on politely familiar terms in private, provided
one held aloof from the foreign soldier in public. In the street,
therefore, they ignored one another's existence, but once indoors they
were perfectly ready to be friendly, and each evening found the German
staying longer at the family fireside.

The town itself gradually regained its wonted aspect. The French
inhabitants did not come out much, but the Prussian soldiers swarmed in
the streets. For the rest, the blue hussar officers who trailed their
mighty implements of death so arrogantly over the pavement did not
appear to entertain a vastly deeper grade of contempt