The Storyteller

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXX, Issue 19, 8 May 1902, Page 23

The Storyteller

THE COURT-MARTIAL.

There were four of us dining in a quiet corner of the immense hall. Three were premeditated idlers who haid either attempted nothing or been speedily disenchanted with exertion. The fourth was a born fighter, a man who had tried everything-, made three or four superb rushes into, danger and risked his life in. incredible adventures, always in search of the irve-franc piece which gives itself away freely to the stupid, but would have nothing whatever to do with him. Andre Valjac, a mail of exceptional vigor who had made the French campaign almost as soon as he left iSaimtCyr, had also led a trapper's life in the Far West, played the guerilla in the Carlist camp, conceived the heroic folly of going to Gordon' si assistance, and missed Khartoum by a few days only. After awhile the conversation languished and died out. At last one of 'us, yielding to the uneasy languor weighing upon all, began to speak of the suffering produced - by certain impressions which seem to have been driven deep in memory as if to mark a precise and fatal spot, and which none of the succeeding shocks of life is able to remove. Silence reigned, the unaccustomed effort of wholly superficial persons summoned to look within. Then each spoke in turn, admitting that certain always palpitating so,uvenirs connected with events that touched them nearly did keep doleful watch on the high peaks of memory. In the ordinary course bt things one has only to choose between the loss of love, a more cruel rupture, a more signal treason ! Yet our eyes interrogated Valjac. Doubtless it was different with him ; it must have been something altogether out of t)he common which had most deeply affected this seeker of adventures. At last he concluded to speak. ' I have seen death very near at hand and in every sort of shape,' he began j 'by fever in the hot countries, by fire on different occasions-, by water in the wreck of the Amerique returning from the Far East, when I barely escaped with my life. But it has never impressed me so deeply as in the execution of a private soldier with which I had to do in the capacity of adjutant major as well as by reason pi a particularly distressing accident. ' It' was in 1871, jxist at the end of the war. I belonged to a marching bfn.ttalio.n of infantry on. its' way to a new army that was being created out of fragments to fill the p,aps which the retreat of the army of the. Loire upon Mans and the flight to Belford of the army of the East rendered constantly more disquieting. Though we imagined we saw Prussians everywhere arrayed aglainst our imiprovisad armies, there were in fact not nearly- so many as our mistaken terror fancied. This is wh)at made it possible for o:ur Twenty-fifth corps to reassemble and solidify not far from Orleans simply under cover of the Loire. ' We had come that day from Tssou'dun to Vierzon. The march had been especially painful, under a vivild sky and through stretches of snow up to our knees. Our black shadows, curiously hooded by the boss of the knapsack, went stooping across the dismal whiteness, unreal shafdows of a defeated army across a deserted country. ' When we entered Vierzon night had descended slowly on the des'oQate scene, as if uncertain of its action on the accumulated shadows of this sky of snow. Through the mere habit of doing things inconsiderately we were halted , in the principal street in an immensely long, line.,

' Then began that indecent, that endless waiting which' ruins "both men and discipline, because it is forbidden to enjoy the halting place when attained, . for lack of a preliminary agreement as to how it shall be divided. Surveillance was at length relaxed, anjd the ranks were deserted, the wine shops filled, the doors opened, and the inhabitants resigned to hospitality, began to mingle with the soldiers. Above these groups of sordid uniforms, faded blouses, and ragged tricots, reigned a weary silence, crushing, in its dread of the morrow, anxious: concerning the sufferings yeu to .come The windows were now all lighted. Benumbed, my feet painfully insensible, my mind vacant, I was looking enviously at these interiors, cheerful with light and the hospitality of fire and shelter. Suddenly my name was called in one of those intonations which remind of military diuty and extort the answer: Present ! 'It was the adjutant wiho was looking for me. With a little effort he succeeded in reaching the spot where I was. The adjutant-major had been relieved in consequence of having had his leg broken under a worjn-out horse. I wasi appointed! to replace him. Moreover, the commandant had sent me word to convoice the court-martial at once for the trial of the chasseur Boussard. Boussard "? A name like any other? What had he been g,uilty of ? The adjutant did not rennem'ber : it was an old story which the removals of the batiajUon had prevented from being settled. After all, it was a matter which did not concern me. Mechanically I acquainted, myself with the order of convocation, the adjutant lighting me with a taper sheltered from the wind by his kepi. I was one of the judges 1 . ' The affair produced a very special effect on me because it was the first time, and at 22, th/isngs still retain their gravity. I shook off the icy torpor which glued me to the ground, and, after notifying my captain, I went to look for the schoolroom in which the court-martial was to be held. And, stumbling- as I went against the chasseurs whom the assembly was summoning to quarter, it occurred to me that this nasty business was the fitting crown of a nasty day. ' Captain Chevaxdier, who was to preside, was wandering about the sctooolhoxise, unable to find the door ,and in a state of exasperation against the fatigjue duty which, by interfering with the hour of abaintftci, dellajyed a rite that he preferred. ' The others had found the entrance, and were waiting there inertly until a light should be brought. A subaltern at last appeared with a bald, paunchy little being with round eyes' encircled with spectacles, who said he was the teacher, and bro.ught two lamps with charred wicks. He nearly let them fall with fright when he heard what purpose they were to serve. ' A dark group. — the prisoner Boussard between four txayonets — stood at no great distance in the snow, and above the walls of the schoolyard rose dancing flames from the cooking in the streets, piercing' the darkness like the reflections of a con'flagation. ' When we had taken our seats at the back of the room in front of the blackboard, facing the rows of chairs and desks which the little apprentices to life wore wont to occupy I was wrung with anguish by the disproportion hetween this school of infancy and the drama of death to be enacted in it. We sat still while Chcvardier, who had framed himself

between the lamps, and was constantly pulling up their wicks in hitel agony of non-comprehension, waa struggling with the documents referring to the case. At last he called over our names, spluttered out the usual questions, and ordered the accused to be brought in. ' The guard halted at the entry, and the chasseur B'oiussard, unarmed and still in marching uniform, came forward through the aisle that divided the class-room. A handsome fellow, haughty, in flull strength and ' vigor, hair cut short under the kepi set a little to the right, black beard in the shape of a horseshoe, 'bearing very military. ' His case was simple, one of a sort unfortunately too frequent at the period. While his regiment was being 'reviewed on a boulevard in Tourouse in the midst of a crowd just! before departure, during one of those long waits to which soldiers are so uselessly subjected, the too heavy knapsack, the bitter north wind-that icy wind from the mountains 1 inhaled by the Garonne in its deep gorge — ' the excitement produced by • the crowd had been too much for him. He lost his head, fuddled himself with words,, declared that he was no ' blue ' no raw recruit, but could teach thioee gold-laced fellows their trade ; that he had enlisted for the war and intended to give his life, but that Lascars were not the sort of officers for him. His lieutenant came up, spoke gently to him at first, and tried to make him keep silence. Encouraged by the crowd, and carried away by audacity, he refused. Thereupon the officer, .who was too yoiungj, forgfot himself so far as to lift his cane. Dodging the stick, the chasseur threatened in his! turn with his raised weapjon. v ' When the witnesses withdrew after their deposition tihe struggle of the two men, one of whom was defending himself against the other,, the soldier and the presiding, officer, became painful to witness, because one side, and that not the usiual one haid so manifestly the advantage. Disconcerted by the respectful observations of the accused; arid put in the wrong by his dignified firmness, Ohovardier, flushed and flurried, flew into a temper as he did sometimes in a cafe when asked to pay for three drinks and shown the accusing lines on tthe decanter. Involuntarily one took the measure of the two men, weighed them in accordance with their human value, and half regretted , being, unable to put the one in the other's place. ' Boussard was allowed to defend himself. Without gestures, without! emphasis ho said with noble simplicity : "'Gentlemen, I failed ify discipline by making inconsiderate remarks while} under arms. Physical suffering, cold, waiting, the unhealthy excitement of the crowd, might serve as my excuse. But when I saw an officer raise his cane to me — to me, a former sergeant-major — the whole tradition of the French army fairly lifted me off my feet. I had a right to 'use my weapon in parrying the insult. French soldiers are not beaten. And if I happened to insult my captain at stich a moment it is because I was beside myself, for he had never done anything to me and deserved all my respect. That act was an unconscious one, and I regret it sincerely. Any solldier might believe me, for I was free from all military obligation, married, and the father of four children, and yet I enlisted for the war. Gentlemen, my only thought was to giVe my life for my country ; permit the sacrifice to bo accomplished in front of the enemy and not uaider the bullets of my comrades." ' Ho withdrew while the presiding officer formulated his questions. ♦You are aware that death is the only penalty known to a court-mar-tial, and that it results wjien the act charged is admitted by a majority of votes. How can you evaide a question to which the only possible answer is yes or no ? What use

could be made of the provocation offered by the lieutenant when ono could vote only u|bo«t a gesture, without explanation or reservation"' Had Boussard been guilty of an act contrary to discipline 9 What answer could one make to that diy and bruUil qjuestfon which would not bo a sentence of death '•• i'os.sibly the pre^ideni 's discret lonai v power might pei nut a different result by limiting Ihe accusation to blows inflicted, and then the answer would be negative and the result acquittal But our mouths weie closed, we were at Chc\erdier s mercy, and one by one, beginning with the least m rank, as if under the pressure of fatality, we bowed our heads m acquiescence. 'Recalled, Boussard listened to his sentence without a shudder, turned in military fashion, and with a firm step rejoined his escort, who handed him over to the guard. lie was confined in a small room adjoining the guardhouse, lighted from a window from which escape would be easy. 'A sentry would have been tjho proper thing 1 hesitated, and then decided not to post one Chance is always I'rovidence, and the justice of (Jod might well be exercised when man's was so evidently defective ' I visited the condemned man nist as his dinner had been served Mot wishing to disturb him, 1 attempted to Withdraw, saying 1 would return later, but he would not permit it * "No, lieutenant," said he, rising, " the march m the snow has been hard and you need rest You are not at the enc\ ot your fat igjies like me. There is only one thing of all you came to ofler that I w ill accept the wherewithal to wiiteto my wife and transmit ni.v last wishes to my children To-moi row , when all is over, von will have Ihe kindness to forward mv let tci And as I insisted with compassionate words and in a voice luoken by emotion on piocuiing foi him the usual alleviations he saw mv immense emotion and was aflec led by it. " The thing is (lone, said he , '■ and yet I deserved something better than that ' " But he iefuse-1 all my offers 'One of the guard hi ought vviitmu materials. Boussaid thanked me There was noihmg fuitber to be done but to leave bun, and I pi essed his hand and withdiew You can understand that 1 did not sleep The step of mv ordetly on the wooden stairs next morning gave me atrocious agony, and eveiy motion ho made about the loom in piepaiing for mv lismg met eased the thill which pervaded ni\ whole beiim I shivered while diessing by the light. of a solitary candle in the stianne room, littend with obiects that annoyed me ' Tho troops were assembling for the parade of execution dismal comings and goings on the snow, whispered ordei-,. ranks silent under tho pressuie of emotion, men .\tnl surroundings m mournful conelation. As I reached the uu.u dhouse a priest came out of it, the chaplain; of a neighboring convent whom I had notified Scaicely able to speak, he took mv hand ' Ag.reat pity, sir, those cbildien and that mother whose lives aie bound up m his " And divining my emotion, lie added ■ " Ah ' if he could have another chance ' " 1 s.uily shook my head I went m ''No one was- speaking in tin 1 un.inl house, and the men looked at me with deiected ula.nees The servant opened Boussaid's dooi 1 found him on his feet te.idv to stait his bed had not been sli pt in lie took a letter from the table and gave it to mo " Mv last will, lieutenant At least they must know that 1 loved them well," he mutteied lie bowed his head \ vie.it struggle, the Inuil wrench, w.is hoiiil; on vvitihni I pi essed his hand lie undeistood me, and drawing himself up, he asked " Aie von going ° " Though he had ief used what was

offered him he took a cup of black cotTeo at my entreaty. The cold was intense and 1 wanted him to put on his hooded cape. "Oh ! no," said he , "it would look as if 1 wero afraid ' " And he took his place in the midst of the picket guard, firm and upright, apparently insensible to cold in his short chasseur's jacket r j tic place of . ,\i mtion was rather Jess than two miles away. Though n iu!j vei\ cailv, jet the news of a military execution had got about, peorple were on the alert, the escort had been divined, and the condemned man was accompanied hy a cojicert of lamentations and delated by public compassion There was nothing which this march did not concert into a torture ' The cold. and above all the horror which chills, had paralysed my brain. Mechanically 1 followed the 50 bayonets surrounding the unhappy man, and recei\od a nervous shock every time that he was halted "We enteied a space surrounded by walls, from which the crowd was roughly excluded, and where the battalion formed a scfuaro with three faces ' Ilouss.ud, still firm, had again braced himself to confront the honors paid those who are about to be shot lie walked resolutely to tho empty space, and now, the escoi i withdrawn, he stood alone on the fatal spot, facing the troops at some .\ards' distance from the platoon of execution The commandant and se\eial otiicers were not far away 1 went from him to them with no very clear idea of wiiat I was doing ' While the sentence was being; lead his glance wandered over tihe conn ades to whom he was to serve as an example, and the military prepaialions for his burial . then it "-eemed to conceiiti ate itself fuither aw.iv on (Jod, oi perhaps on tho in Uned health wheie all his love had centied 1 1 is Icatuies were contracted with (motion You suddenly he st llleued with a last ami leniblo elloi t of will He had consented to his saciince the soldier had rega.ned self-possession J-le asked to embiace his commandant and also hi^ captain The su'iie was becoming too paHii't i< ihe i.inks weie shaken by a of pit\ , the soldieis with out it i etched ams weie entieatmg p.udon The crowd thundei ed against bhe walls A loud, lniploiing n v ascended , another moment and the execution could not have taken place The commandant made an imperative gestuie Bnnss.ud had nist embraced me 1 said to him mv tin eat constucted with a soh " Show \ (mi self a soldier to the last , don't let discipline be infringed " A chasseur approached to bind his e.\ es , lie w lshed to repulse him "1 ben you," 1 said , " it is diit\ " ' Mot on my knees, at least, I have well deserved to die on my feet ' " he exclaimed in aji ardent \oiee I insisted no further, I felt niasteied, I \ lelderl to the ascendency of tins soul And as I was led away 1 gave the signal to tihe platoon winch had drawn near, but without being able to sec it The detonation resounded within nif .is ii 1 had been struck by a 1 hundei bolt Jt tost me a terrible elioit to laise. mv eves 1 .saw the sergeant hesitate for the coup de Hi aie an<l the weapon shaking so iliat Hie ball Went wild into tho luxlv Nothing lay before us now but a lag of humanity, a breast, loin and breathless, but we could file i espeot fully befoi c these remains which li.td shekei ed the most heroic soul it lias evet been gt anted me to approach "We took t lie road without i eturnnig to the city, the commandant wisely considering th.it it was necess.uv to react in nnlitaiv fashion against too poignant an impression I still had Hie unfortunate Bouss.nds letter, and m looking- about for some safe pei son to whom to confide it my eyes fell upon the sick-

ly rotundity of the school teacher, lost and haggard m the petrified crowd. 1 handed over to him my sad deposit, adjuring- him to act in conformity with the dead man's wishes , his eyes gave a silent acquiescence, and I hastily rejoined the head of the column, convinced that the letter would reach its destination. ' It took uq several days to approach the enemy, either because we h«->Mir>l pel before Iho opposing- forces, or elso because it seemed more crafty to keep them in suspense between two different objective points. At last we suddenly decided on Bio ise, and in spite of our disorganisation our attack was so vigorous that we reached the stuburbs of Vienno on the heels of the Uhlams charged to scent us out. The figjht raged all along the Cosson, unskilfully on our part "but numerically overwhelming, ; so m>uch so that, our artillery in place, by nigjht wo were in the faubourg, our bayonets pricking the Hying Germans in the rear. They lost a great many in the houses, and also because the Loire bridge blewi u<p before the last of the coinbaLants had evacuated the city. The platform was burning when I arrived with the first chasseurs of the vanguard. We wero halted, and for a while firing went on across the Loire above the flames then it slackened and the river rel.ipsed into the silence of night. ' Time was needed to recover ourselves, to receive the transmit ordeis, and to recognise each other in the conquered faubourg where the cantonments had been taken by assault. JVIy orderly had found me a lied, and was much more energetic m defending it than sure of a mattress for himself My arrival released him, and as soon as he was gpne 1 opened the door into a gay and brtigiht I'ittlo room with a fire of|vi;no branches glowing on the hearth. I sank down exhausted, under an attack of bronchitis which alternately chilled and burned me 1 had been suffei nig for days with shivering spells and a cough which grew worse at e\ery station The cold, the immobility m the snow during the light, the hasty night marches, had finally got the best of me 1 knew myself worn out. Incapable of thoimht or movement until 1 should be thoroughly warmed through, 1 ciouched down opposite the fire and let nivself be caiessed by the sweetness of that sensation and spotlessi cleanliness of mv surroundings 'rl ho door opened to admit a .\oung woman in black, whose slender figure and tt.e rebellious locks of whoso fair hair g.ue the impression of ,i gracious- pride 7t was an auieole cMicirclmg Jher, thati hair, wlucJh one felt must be heavy, yet which escaped confinement in little waves of decreasing brightness Modesti and sample, hers was the distinction of a dweller by the Loire, a (laughter of that true French blood, ■that soil of central France which has not) been impregnated by a foreign infiltration Between her two hands, hands of n working woman, delicate and skilful, she carried a tray on which were a bowl of hot milk and some biscuits. She knew I was ill and she had come at once with all that her arms- could hold ! Oh ' Ihe sublime French woman, poor girl or groat lady, how she thrills when charity appeals to her heart ' Such a one I had before me. a pure woman, and I felt all my suflenngs relax their hold upon me, mv long suffer ing from cold, my bitter suffering as n vanquished soldier, melting in contact with this tender pity and this consoling flame. ' She talked of the sari topics tippet most at the time, for of what else could she speak/0 The wai* ever present ever pushing farther its wavo of rum and invasion, a hackyieyed sulne.ct, biiit one which to each assumed a special aspect, and was either a misfortune or a menace. To her it had beern desertion in the first place, and afterwards dread of the

terrible unknown And ,\ eu they had loved eacli othci to distraction lie was a loreiiian to a contractoi *~u\(\ she a diessmaker going out b\ the day; together they made a plenlilul living lor themselves and the children who wen 1 coming fast Tho war had begun their tioubles \i\ suspending the woiks and making oiders less plentitul, biit they had been economical and could aflord tv wait for awhile Anil anothei loimenu was sj).ued them tor married men were not liable in miliLu.v dwi.\ They would ha\e been better oil than many others, if, unfortunately, lie had not been a non-commissiunied officer in Africa, and when that lever for the Hag once gets into the blood a man is liable to i elapse all his life ! 'So when the I'russians began to advance, he became mote gloomy he kept say mg that thuigs could not go on like that howevet, he resisted, unable to believe it But when ho learned that they weie at Orleans, close by , when he heard that Uhlans had been seen up the I'ollcttes road ; when he thought it likely that he might see them debouching in hi 1 ? own sliret some, mm nine . then lie could contain himself no longer. l " One day he went away without telling me," she said in a faint voice, stifling ,i sob with In i 'handkerchief. " And the woi st oi >t was that 1 had known it would end that way, althouuh he li id lovid me as tenderly as 1 did him, and wlnn h<* did not come home 1 di\ined th.it it was no use expecting bun "And since--' Ah ' mi ice then she had learned that he went a lorg w.iv off to enlist, out Boide.ii'\ vv \ because to find a pi, ice in 1 '•.nice whi.ch Wih still Fiench one had to go as far as the (.aionne whillur everyone had (hilled who still clung to tho tigjhts oi the fat hei land .She did not know <\acllv in what < orps lie served Jt mil*-! be tin chasseurs at least, like out s , 1 >i. t he had been passed from one depot to another, and then snddi nl\ lie w is sent away lie was on his vvav now to the .limy . bill his leti v s had slopped coming , it was a long nine since she had In aid fiom him ' " lie w ill ( ome hai k to \ <>v, ' said 1 , ' you deceive it so v\ t 11 ' " If the Pi nssians leavt him to me " said she as he wnlxhcw " But meantime I am mi afiaul ' ' She wen!, but came b.u k a^aiu I watched her moving about the loom warming the bed piling 1 lie heal i h with line st uks pi t pai nit; a n infusion over the nighi-'.unp t« niinine and hospitabh i \ipnsiii in miu])licitv and m,ic '1 n<- ih i Idi i n were iisleep under tin <vie oi lev i iderlv The house liu,hlid aml closed llkl'fl'M' sl(>pt 111 Jit ,l( c One loii^ot loneliness beside th's luaith the dead bodies lv mv in the st i> i i , the i oise of (ightmu Ih' <lism.il ji ill oi Ihis disl i essinj, \\ , i Its hiidnt In oki n the iiv nr <-l ippi d mii i1 v through its mot lonli and sliipmn sands assuming ■■ i" tv to lioilt ,umies

The moderate w.umth of the room had lulled me into that gentle torpor to which exhausted bodies } ii'ltl bo leadili. Objects began to leicdo, still glittering vvnh cle.n lines-, \<-l flowing \agin 1 cn\i loped in a \ei^ light cloak >n mist It was I I.c lenose, the oblnum ol the soul, sweet piecursor lo that oi the bio dy. I was happy anil had ceased to snfI'li tin- dooi new open uiiil .l \ lolenco that biouyht me to my let l \s iih a. .sliock oi snipiise, as n the call to aims had sounded A woman stood theic — not the chaste and gentle app<inti!on which but now lulled my dreams, but a distracted eieature, coavjulscd by unspeakable anguish, who clung to the dooi -post to pre\ent herself fi om falling — a poor bloodless face disfigured by horror. 1 sprang towards her. Her gesture lepelled me, as she spoke m a harsh voice, with sobs and broken woids which in my stupor 1 was slow to comprehend until a name suddenly enlightened me 'The I'russiuns might pei - haps have left him to me, but you ' — it was different , jou would not pai don him ! " was her breathless plaint. "All that was- my joy, all 1 lived for, you crushed m the snow one morning against a wall, like a thing that was troublesome and good lor nothing Ah ' good for nothing, a being like him ! But Ihe \eiy brutes would gave admired him ' They assassinated him ! To go and lea\o everything, the little oiks looking for their bread, the poor creature whose whole soul is w tapped up m ,\ou, to destroy the home, to outrage n.ituie and lo gi\e \ouisrll up to them that they might n k \<>u against a wall like t) m.ul dog i Yes, IWuissaid, whom un; condemned, was mine ' \on took him awa.\ liom Toulouse And then, on the road, for a word, lor a gestuie, for a nothing at all, \on killed him ' I fe, the beautilul, Hie stu> tu > and bi aye, killed like a cow aid within a stone's tin ow of the eiKinv ' Such a, soldier as that ' A\\ ' it limus you now to think of it ' ou tell joutst If that it was well done ' "Yes, nou also admit that it was he — he niv own ' " ' I would ha\e been glad to get away, but my will was powerless I was n.iiled to the lLooi At the name which had evoked this -<ene 1 had i omj>rehemled Ihe m volt mg coincidi ih c There was I the nidge, undei m\ victim s i out i he woman I had widowtd had oveiwhi lined me with tin most touching (.ins I was diopping asleep beside oiphans who wtie ni\ handiuoik 'I he horroi s vvlii too ni.in\ loi mv poor head to endme ' I was unable lo lea\e the loom \ei theie she Mood, close pressed ,igaii>st the door si illing her sobs, wi inking hei .urns .is if m malediction And su.ddenK the monstrosity of il apjxaied to her and revolted hei ' Ah ' she ( ned.lifiting her head hai'g'fiid wild, weieyou not one of those who p,un-I'-hed him "' The man in the other

room told me so quite innocently ; and while he the beloved, lies all bloody in the frozen ground, it is lor yo,u that this poor hearth is kniidled ' No ' there i.s no religion which U'aches such a duty as that, a duty which does \ lolence to humanity, loi it would no longer appeal to men ! No , the executioner and the wile of the victim eajniot sit beside the same Hie .' " And her hand laiscd, with convulsive energy, bigne-d me to depai t. This time a painful shame restot e>d me to myself. Catching up a garment to throw about me, 1 made hastily towards the door. And yet I wanted to say something, to give way at least to the agony that tortured me , my brain was filled with) contending images ; but terror of that lilted hand impelled me towards the threshold my presence pi ofaned. ' At the moment when I was aibout to cross it — was it the pallor of a sick man, the disorder of my dress, which 1 was hastily buttoning, across my chest, the wildness of inexpressible ang,uish speaking through. my eyes ? — or was it rather that the phantom of tho soldier lying stiff in death rose lrom the tomb of his punishment to inspire his well-be-loved with the supreme duty of forgneness? For now it was. she who stopped me with hands joined,, trembling with grief, terrible with prayer. And when her constricted) throat could open, it was an inhuman sob that parted it, a plaint from a too violent despair. She hung upon me, and in a broken voice, passionate with entreaty, she wailed . ' v Forget it ' I was mad. Ah ! the lat norland, even when it grinds \ou to powder, it is still tho fatherland ' He would have wished Stay ! " 'But grief had overcome resistances She made a sign that she could endure no more. She put her hands to her bie.ist as if to restrain her suffer Ing, aaicl falling on her knees across the threshold, her eyes, fixed and full of poignant entreaty, clung fast to mine, seeking their intention. For me, J obeyed, blinded by tears, and going backward to a chair, I sank down upon it and buried my head in my hands. ' You can understand that I found the night a long one. The next morning I got into the ambailance, and when I rejoined my regiment alter the armistice had been signed. it was at Vierzon. My thought had dwelt upon thatlost letter of the unfortunate Boussard which was the cause of my frightful meeting with his family. The Mhool teacher might bo o,blo to tell me something about it. Ah ' well ;' the fatality had been complete. The beast had kept the letter, fearing to alllict the family too suddenly ! ' — ' ('a tholic Times '