eking Marshal Grouchy."

"You are in the heart of the Prussian army. Turn and fly!"

"Impossible; this is Grouchy's corps."

"How do you know?"

"Because the Emperor has said it."

"Then the Emperor has made a terrible mistake! I tell you that a patrol
of Silesian Hussars has this instant left me. Did you not see them in
the wood?"

"I saw Hussars."

"They are the enemy."

"Where is Grouchy?"

"He is behind. They have passed him."

"Then how can I go back? If I go forward I may see him yet. I must obey
my orders and find him whereever he is."

The man reflected for an instant.

"Quick! quick!" he cried, seizing my bridle. "Do what I say and you may
yet escape. They have not observed you yet. Come with me and I will hide
you until they pass."

Behind his house there was a low stable, and into this he thrust
Violette. Then he half led and half dragged me into the kitchen of the
inn. It was a bare, brick-floored room. A stout, red-faced woman was
cooking cutlets at the fire.

"What's the matter now?" she asked, looking with a frown from me to the
innkeeper. "Who is this you have brought in?"

"It is a French officer, Marie. We cannot let the Prussians take him."

"Why not?"

"Why not? Sacred name of a dog, was I not myself a soldier of Napoleon?
Did I not win a musket of honour among the Velites of the Guard? Shall
I see a comrade taken before my eyes? Marie, we must save him." But the
lady looked at me with most unfriendly eyes.

"Pierre Charras," she said, "you will not rest until you have your house
burned over your head. Do you not understand, you blockhead, that if you
fought for Napoleon it was because Napoleon ruled Belgium? He does so no
longer. The Prussians are our allies and this is our enemy. I will have
no Frenchman in this house. Give him up!"

The innkeeper scratched his head and looked at me in despair, but it was
very evident to me that it was neither for France nor for Belgium that
this woman cared, but that it was the safety of her own house that was
nearest her heart.

"Madame," said I, with all the dignity and assurance I could command,
"the Emperor is defeating the English, and the French army will be here
before evening. If you have used me well you will be rewarded, and if
you have denounced me you will be punished and your house will certainly
be burned by the provost-martial."

She was shaken by this, and I hastened to complete my victory by other
methods.

"Surely,"