heese, the only food that she could find
in her humble dwelling. The certainty that he would not be able to find
any other nourishment, no matter how much he might seek it, greatly
sharpened his cravings. To have acquired an enormous fortune only to
perish with hunger at the end of his existence! . . . The good wife, as
though guessing his thoughts, sighed, raising her eyes beseechingly to
heaven. Since the early morning hours, the world had completely changed
its course. Ay, this war! . . .

The rest of the afternoon and a part of the night, the proprietor kept
receiving news from the Keeper after his visits to the castle. The
General and numerous officers were now occupying the rooms. Not a single
door was locked, all having been opened with blows of the axe or gun.
Many things had completely disappeared; the man did not know exactly
how, but they had vanished--perhaps destroyed, or perhaps carried off
by those who were coming and going. The chief with the banded sleeve was
going from room to room examining everything, dictating in German to a
soldier who was writing down his orders. Meanwhile the General and his
staff were in the dining room drinking heavily, consulting the maps
spread out on the floor, and ordering the Warden to go down into the
vaults for the very best wines.

By nightfall, an onward movement was noticeable in the human tide that
had been overflowing the fields as far as the eye could reach. Some
bridges had been constructed across the Marne and the invasion had
renewed its march, shouting enthusiastically. "Nach Paris!" Those left
behind till the following day were to live in the ruined houses or
the open air. Desnoyers heard songs. Under the splendor of the evening
stars, the soldiers had grouped themselves in musical knots, chanting
a sweet and solemn chorus of religious gravity. Above the trees was
floating a red cloud, intensified by the dusk--a reflection of the
still burning village. Afar off were bonfires of farms and homesteads,
twinkling in the night with their blood-colored lights.

The bewildered proprietor of the castle finally fell asleep in a bed
in the lodge, made mercifully unconscious by the heavy and stupefying
slumber of exhaustion, without fright nor nightmare. He seemed to be
falling, falling into a bottomless pit, and on awaking fancied that he
had slept but a few minutes. The sun was turning the window shades to an
orange hue, spattered with shadows of waving boughs and bi