ch may be of use to you,
Doctor Bianchon," turning to me, "since, while devoting yourself to the
human body, you concern yourself a good deal with the mind; it may tend
to solve some of the problems of the will.

"I was going through my second campaign; I enjoyed danger, and laughed
at everything, like the young and foolish lieutenant of artillery that
I was. When we reached the Beresina, the army had, as you know, lost all
discipline, and had forgotten military obedience. It was a medley of men
of all nations, instinctively making their way from north to south. The
soldiers would drive a general in rags and bare-foot away from their
fire if he brought neither wood nor victuals. After the passage of this
famous river disorder did not diminish. I had come quietly and alone,
without food, out of the marshes of Zembin, and was wandering in search
of a house where I might be taken in. Finding none or driven away from
those I came across, happily towards evening I perceived a wretched
little Polish farm, of which nothing can give you any idea unless
you have seen the wooden houses of Lower Normandy, or the poorest
farm-buildings of la Beauce. These dwellings consist of a single room,
with one end divided off by a wooden partition, the smaller division
serving as a store-room for forage.

"In the darkness of twilight I could just see a faint smoke rising above
this house. Hoping to find there some comrades more compassionate than
those I had hitherto addressed, I boldly walked as far as the farm.
On going in, I found the table laid. Several officers, and with them
a woman--a common sight enough--were eating potatoes, some horseflesh
broiled over the charcoal, and some frozen beetroots. I recognized among
the company two or three artillery captains of the regiment in which
I had first served. I was welcomed with a shout of acclamation, which
would have amazed me greatly on the other side of the Beresina; but at
this moment the cold was less intense; my fellow-officers were resting,
they were warm, they had food, and the room, strewn with trusses of
straw, gave the promise of a delightful night. We did not ask for so
much in those days. My comrades could be philanthropists _gratis_--one
of the commonest ways of being philanthropic. I sat down to eat on one
of the bundles of straw.

"At the end of the table, by the side of the door opening into the
smaller room full of straw and hay, sat my old colonel, one of the most
extrao