diff options
Diffstat (limited to '34985.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 34985.txt | 9245 |
1 files changed, 9245 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/34985.txt b/34985.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b09295a --- /dev/null +++ b/34985.txt @@ -0,0 +1,9245 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Six Women and the Invasion, by +Gabrielle Yerta and Marguerite Yerta + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Six Women and the Invasion + +Author: Gabrielle Yerta + Marguerite Yerta + +Commentator: Humphry Ward + +Release Date: January 16, 2011 [EBook #34985] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SIX WOMEN AND THE INVASION *** + + + + +Produced by Moti Ben-Ari and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + SIX WOMEN AND THE INVASION + + + + + MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED + London . Bombay . Calcutta . Madras + Melbourne + + THE MACMILLAN COMPANY + New York . Boston . Chicago + Dallas . San Francisco + + THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, LTD. + Toronto + + + + + SIX WOMEN + AND THE INVASION + + BY + GABRIELLE & MARGUERITE YERTA + + WITH PREFACE BY + MRS. HUMPHRY WARD + + MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED + ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON + 1917 + + + + + COPYRIGHT + + + + +PREFACE + + +This little book gives a very graphic and interesting account by an +eye-witness--who knows how to write!--of life in the occupied provinces +of France under the daily pressure of the German invasion. There are +many repulsive and odious incidents recorded here of the German +occupation, but, mercifully, few "atrocities," such as those which make +of the French Governmental Reports, or that of the Bryce Commission, +tales of horror and infamy that time will never wash out. These pages +relate to the neighbourhood of Laon, and the worst brutalities committed +by German soldiers in France seem to have happened farther south, along +the line of the German retreat during the battle of the Marne, and in +the border villages of Lorraine. But the picture drawn of the Germans in +possession of a French country district, robbing and bullying its +inhabitants, and delighting in all the petty tyrannies of their military +regime, is one that writes in large-hand the lesson of this war. "There +must be no next time!" If Europe cannot protect itself in future against +such conduct on the part of a European nation, civilisation is doomed. + +And that this little book under-states the case rather than over-states +it, can be proved by a mass of contemporary evidence. I pass for +instance from Madame Yerta's graphic account of the endless +"requisitions," "perquisitions," "inquisitions," to which the +inhabitants of Morny in the Laonnois were subject in 1915, to a +paragraph in this week's _Morning Post_ (Tuesday, September 18), where a +letter found upon a German soldier, and written to a comrade in Flanders +from this very district, gleefully says: "We take from the French +population all their lead, tin, copper, cork, oil, candlesticks, kitchen +pots, or anything at all like that, which is sent off to Germany. I had +a good haul the other day with one of my comrades. In one walled-up room +we found fifteen copper musical instruments, a new bicycle, 150 pairs of +sheets, some towels, and six candlesticks of beaten copper. You can +imagine the kind of noise the old hag made who owned them. I just +laughed. The Commandant was very pleased." + +No doubt the Commandant was of the same race as the Von Bernhausens or +the Bubenpechs, whom Madame Yerta pillories in these lively and +sarcastic pages. It would be too much indeed to expect that any +Frenchwoman who had passed through fifteen months of such a life should +write with complete impartiality of her temporary masters. She would be +less than human were it possible. Yet in the sketches of the two German +officers "Barbu" and "Crafleux," billeted on the "six women," there is +no more than a laughing malice, and an evident intention to be fair to +men who had no evident intention to be cruel. But of the bullying +Commandant, Lieutenant von Bernhausen, and of the officer, Lieutenant +Bubenpech, who succeeded him as the absolute master of the French +village which is the scene of the book, Madame Yerta gives us portraits +in which every touch bites. The drunken, sensual manners of such men, +combined with German conceit and German arrogance, make up a type of +character only too real, only too common, to which throughout the +districts where the Germans have passed, French experience bears +inexorable and damning witness. + +It is clear, however, that these six brave women--Madame Valaine, her +four daughters and her daughter-in-law, the writer of the book--were +well able to take care of themselves. The tale of their courage, their +gaiety, their resource under the endless difficulties and petty +oppressions of their lot, lights up the miserable scene, kindling in the +reader the same longing for retribution and justice on a barbarian race, +as burnt in their French hearts. + +Madame Yerta describes for us how neighbours helped each other, how they +met in the farm kitchens, behind their closed doors and windows, to pass +on such news as they could get, to pray for France, and scoff at the +invader; how they ingeniously hid their most treasured possessions, how +they went hungry and cold because the Germans had robbed them of food, +clothing and blankets--(they are doing it afresh at this very moment in +occupied France and Belgium!)--and how village and town alike would have +starved but for the Spanish-American Relief Commission. + +The result is a typically French book, both in its lightness of touch +and in the passionate feeling that breaks through its pages. The old +Latin civilisation makes the background of it--with its deeply rooted +traditions, its gifts of laughter and of scorn, its sense of manners and +measure, its humanity, its indomitable spirit. When the writer at last, +after fifteen months of bondage, sees once more the fields of "la douce +France," she puts simply and sharply into words the thoughts and +sufferings of thousands--thousands of ill-treated, innocent and +oppressed folk--to whom, as we pray, the course of this just war will +before long bring comfort and release. + +Her book deserves a wide audience, and will, I hope, find it. + + MARY A. WARD. + + _September 1917._ + + + + +CONTENTS + + + PAGE + PART I. 1 + PART II. 67 + PART III. 241 + + + + +PART I + + +"It is no longer the pillar of fire. It is the pillar of cloud, it is +the dark shadow of invasion that approaches." + + + + +CHAPTER I + + +As you know only too well, in the year 1914 war set Europe on fire. That +is to say, you the men made war, and we the women had but to comply. Let +us be honest and true: whereas you, heart of my heart, now gone to fight +for your country, wished for this contest with the enthusiasm, spirit, +and rage of youth, I wished for it too, but with terror, anguish, and +remorse. Such is the difference. + +The Place? The Ile de France, the part of my country blessed among all, +sweeter to my eyes than the most loudly sung; and in the Ile de France, +Morny, a village of the Laonnois, situated on a level plain. At ten +miles' distance, to the west of Morny, Laon is perched on a steep low +hill. To the north, fields and meadows stretch out as far as the eye can +reach, and towards the south, the forest of St. Gobain makes a long dark +blot on the landscape; beyond, a blue line of mountains closes the +horizon like a wall. This peaceful scene, with its green meadows, +fertile fields, rich forests, villages nestling among orchards, with its +good-humoured tenants wrapt up in a love of their country, sums up the +treasures of the Ile de France. But it is also "the seasoning of the +French pie, this rotten ferment whose canker-like nature, frivolity, +inconstancy, and folly, have spread into the noblest parts of France." +You were not aware of this? No more was I, but I learned it from +Hummel's _Geography_, published in 1876 for "German families," and it is +a conviction that Teutonic babies imbibe with their mothers' milk. + +The _dramatis personae_? Six women, I have said. My mother-in-law, her +four daughters, and I. Let me introduce them. Mme. Valaine, my +mother-in-law, charms by her gentle dignity and by her handsome face, +still young under waving grey hair. As to her daughters, when they all +were little girls in pinafores, an old woman once cried out at the sight +of their childish beauty, "One is prettier than another." To which my +husband--at that time a teasing schoolboy--retorted, "One is naughtier +than another." We do not believe this last assertion. I will only +maintain that their beauty has grown with them. + +Genevieve, the eldest, is my favourite sister, another me; and for a +long while we have not been able to do without one another. A supple +shape, a lovely expressive face fringed with golden hair, clear eyes +between black eyelashes, added to a fine intellect and well-poised +faculties, make of her a privileged being. Her steadfast character +always deals straightforwardly, whereas mine, just as tenacious, does +not disdain manoeuvring. + +Her sisters are tall and graceful. Yvonne has large black eyes, a tiny +mouth, and splendid golden locks. She is the musician of the family; +thinks nothing better in the world than the harmony of sweet sounds, and +lives only for her art. Antoinette bears proudly an imperial beauty and +a bachelor's degree, which she has recently carried off. As to Colette, +the pet child of the family, by turns charming and execrable, she counts +seventeen summers, and rejoices our eyes with the sweetest face ever +seen, a rose-bud complexion, and cornflower eyes. + +Two representatives of the opposite sex intrude upon this company of +women. My husband first. He is the tallest, the handsomest of the sons +of men. "When I see him, I think I behold a young god," said one of our +friends a few years ago; and I shall not cheapen these terms of praise +by any description of him. If I confide to you that he is growing bald +on his temples, be sure you don't go and tell him so; the loss is due to +sojourns in Saigon and Panama; for this half of myself is a true +globe-trotter, and has seen the whole world--without me alas! He is a +man of great learning, and is deeply skilled in philology and theology. +Such as he is, I adore him, and think it better to own it honestly, for +fear my partiality might remain unperceived. The other specimen of the +sterner sex, with whom I have to deal here, is a small Parisian boy, +nine years old, owner of the most flippant tongue. By a stroke of +carelessness he was sent to us for a fortnight, and like many another +has now to stay as a prisoner on account of the Invasion. + +Out of common politeness I have not yet mentioned my own person. The +task of describing it is hateful. Of this self fortunately there is not +much--fifty kilos at the utmost. In other words, I am slender. I have a +pink and white complexion and very long auburn hair, a small +insignificant nose, a large mouth, and serious eyes. I am generally +called "Grandmother," in memory of a time when we acted _Little Red +Riding Hood_. My husband always calls me Mr. Monkey, your Poisonous +Ladyship, or Mrs. Kid, vexatious names, truly, for a woman. We live in +Paris the greater part of the year, but it is with pleasure that the +whole family meets every summer in our country-house at Morny, to spend +its holidays. + +When, about the 20th of July 1914, Genevieve, Yvonne and I arrived in +the dear old place, my husband and Colette had been enjoying it for a +fortnight; my mother-in-law and Antoinette were expected shortly. We had +taken with us little Pierre Prat, whose mother, a good friend of ours, +could not leave Paris for the present, and the health of the interesting +boy required the country. We had hardly exchanged the usual kisses, and +renewed our knowledge of the place, we were hardly seated at the +dinner-table, when Colette cried out: "Oh, grandmother, how lovely! +Fancy, there will be a war. The day it is declared I shall dress like a +boy and become a soldier!" + +"Of course, you will cut your beautiful locks, besmear your cheeks, and +there you are. But tell me in earnest, Posy, do you think there will be +a war?" + +I suppose my husband has a name of his own, but no one knows it. For the +whole family he is "Brother," and I call him "Posy." + +Now Mr. Posy thought war unavoidable, and began to expound the reasons +that strengthened his opinion. + +A little tired of the journey, happy to be again in the country, I +listened to the deep sounds of the dear voice I had not heard for the +last fortnight, but gave little heed to the meaning of his words. +Besides, I was so sure there would be no war at all! We began to lead a +blissful life; we enjoyed walks in the large garden, and praised the sun +and the green. What delightful holidays we would have! The mere thought +of it led to lyrism. O Nature! O Idyll! O blessed rest! + +At first nothing happened to trouble our peace. It will be remembered +that the newspapers were rather encouraging. Optimism prevailed; my +husband alone talked of an impending conflict; but he wished it so +eagerly that I thought he might be mistaken in his prophecies. "War is +talked of every year," I said; "it is but a summer topic." + +On the 26th of July there were alarming rumours, confirmed the day +after. We then began to talk of war, to talk always about that, to talk +of nothing else. Colette herself held no other conversation, and from +her crimson lips dropped no other words than mobilisation, armament, +concentration. + +I shall never forget the night when troops crossed the village. I saw +war that night, war, the man-eater, the great killer, war himself. The +hour was grave. France was preparing to withstand her enemies, and was +sending her armies to protect the frontiers. Troops marched through the +village the whole night. First came the foot soldiers, who filed off to +the strains of the "Marseillaise" and the "Chant du Depart." Leaning out +of my window, in a nightgown, I tried to catch sight of something, and I +saw only a black flood, endlessly rolling on. The sight of this dark +mass which marched on and sang was striking indeed. The young voices had +an accent of resolution and rage, and gave the impression that all +hearts throbbed as if by one impulse. The men knew they were marching on +to death, and they sang as the volunteers of '92 may have sung. +Sometimes there was silence, and nothing was to be heard save the sound +of steps as rhythmical as a heavy shower. + +As the first battalion passed, my husband laid his book aside, lifted up +his head, and declared: "There can be no more doubt of it now." And +resuming his Henri Houssaye and his cigarette, he buried himself again +in his reading. I was not so easily resigned to the situation. A +certitude had seized upon me too. "It is war." I was trembling like a +leaf, shaken by the wind, and I could not master my emotion. I was not +frightened, I felt easy in my mind, but my body--was it due to primeval +memory, to misgivings, or to the terrible thought that has been handed +down from wars of yore? I do not know--but my frightened body was +trembling convulsively. + +When I was not leaning out of the window, I thought, lying by the side +of my husband: "War is coming, may God protect us!" I clasped his dear +head in despair, I kissed him in an agony, and said over and over again: +"War will carry him off." And I thought: "All over France the roads are +covered with troops, and thousands of women, close to the man they love, +are listening to the steps of the soldiers and the rumbling of the +cannon; broken-hearted, they kiss an adored face, and with bitter tears +repeat: 'War will carry him off!'" + +Cavalry followed infantry; then came gunners, cannon, and powder-carts. +The heavy pieces rolled on with the noise of thunder, and shook the +house to its foundations. It was about three o'clock in the morning. A +cold mist fell as if reluctantly from the cloudy sky. The night was less +dark, and the moving forms passed slowly like shadows before my sight, +horses, cannon, and gunners wrapt up in their cloaks. Dark in the dark +haze, the outlines of men and animals seemed to sketch a new dance of +death, in the midst of which the grim monster might have appeared at +any moment. I was so deeply impressed by this phantasmagorical marching +past that I almost expected to see Death go up behind a gunner or get +astride a cannon. I felt intensely that I was seeing war, war and death. +War, the terrible tyrant, was marching along, and nothing would impede +his progress. + +Still more foot soldiers. The men sing no more. Dawn is unfavourable to +enthusiasm. You set forth in the evening sanguine of success, seeing at +the end of the road Victory, Triumph, and Glory. But when morning comes, +dark and cold, your exaltation sinks. Not that you feel less resolute, +but behind the brilliant phantoms your fancy had conjured up the night +before, you see grimacing slaughter and death and fire. + +Day broke bright and clear. In the sun's lively beams all fears melted +away. There will be a war? Be it so. The men will go and fight, and we +too will do something for France. The following week was a medley of +enthusiasms and sadnesses. At last war and revenge were no more mere +words; at last Germany would be crushed. Too long our enemy had wronged +us; we would wreak a tardy but fearful vengeance for our still unavenged +disgrace, for grievous humiliations daily inflicted on us. + +O revenge, O sun, you rise, and your first rays make our hearts sing +like the granite of old Egypt. We lived in a fever. War, which +approached, cast its shadow before, but it was a bright shadow, the +shadow of Glory, of more than human courage, of manifold heroism. It was +the pillar of fire which, shielding our hearts from the enemy and the +terrors to come, hid them from our eyes. The passing breath of +enthusiasm quickened the beating of our hearts. As to myself, I put a +good face upon the matter, but all the time I thought with anguish: "It +is war. I shall be alone.... War will sever us from all we love, blood +and tears will be shed everywhere. May God save France, and have pity +upon us!" + +On the 2nd of August war was an unquestioned fact: mobilisation was +proclaimed. My husband has served in the Navy, and had to go to +Cherbourg the next day. We then began preparations for the departure of +our sailor, who increased my cares by saying over and over again: "Don't +expect me to remain in the Navy, there is nothing to do there. I will be +sent to the east of France, and see the white of the Prussians' eyes." + +The luggage being ready, we went for a stroll in the village. War was of +course the one topic of the day. To qualify them for the toils of Mars, +the men had duly sacrificed to Bacchus, and their patriotism was none +the less fiery for that. Most women were silent. Many had cried their +eyes quite red. One day more, and they would be alone with groups of +small children. A very young woman, almost a girl, declared with a toss +of her light hair: "Bachelors who have but their own body to care for +ought to go and fight, that's right, but fathers of a family!..." Her +neighbour next door, Mme. Turgau, nodded assent. She had a baby in her +arms, and was pensively listening to her husband who, hot with anger, +was speechifying not very far off. In his quality of orator, he +discoursed not only upon Germans, but upon spies also. In the morning +two Germans had been arrested in Laon, and the day before a man who was +going to blow up a bridge had been shot. But look! Two strangers +appeared at the corner of the street. All faces grew serious, and +Turgau, advancing towards the men, demanded their papers. When they +refused to show them, the crowd grew nervous, and Turgau thought himself +insulted. Cries and bad names filled the air, until the soldiers, +astonished at the uproar, took the culprits away to examine their +papers. + +The lover of justice came back home greatly pleased with himself. People +gathered round him, and declared: "Policemen, gendarmes, all humbug! +Fortunately we are here to maintain order." And all together they went +to the next inn, and from the adventure drew this moral lesson: No more +strangers, France for Frenchmen! + +Pleasant and peaceful, the last evening was drawing to its close, the +last of many evenings that will never come again. The following morning +I went to the station with my husband. There was a large crowd on the +platform. The men, high in spirit, seemed delighted to go off to the +army. Silent and gloomy, the women stood close to their husbands, and +their eyes betrayed a sadness past remedy. Then came the train, full of +soldiers of the reserve, singing at the top of their voices. All get +into the crowded carriages, a whistle is heard, the train moves forward. +A last kiss, a last handshake. The dear face leans out of the window, my +eyes raised up towards it, until its features disappear and vanish in +the distance. It is all over; he is gone; they are gone. Towards Glory, +towards Death! Who knows? I came back home, forlorn and sad. In vain +Colette's endearing words and Genevieve's warm affection awaited me; +love had deserted the house. + +The following days glided by tiresome and empty, but fortunately we soon +found an occupation. A regiment of artillery was formed in the +neighbourhood. Two batteries were quartered in Morny, and willing +needlewomen were required to put the uniforms of the soldiers into good +condition. Very well. There are no opportunities for high deeds, let us +be content with small ones. We put together needles, scissors, and +thread, and thus armed ran to the school where other women were already +working. And what work! We were told to shorten trousers, to let jackets +out, to sew stripes, and to stitch numbers on collars and sleeves. A +noisy and merry activity prevailed in the yard. When off duty, the +soldiers gathered about the big nut-tree, whose shadow protected the +needle-women from the sun. Harmless jokes were exchanged, and Germany of +course had to bear the brunt of them. There was a tailor, a giant with a +jolly face, who declared that he would get all he wanted on the other +side of the Rhine, and for a ball of thread or a missing button would +send you straight to Berlin. These good-natured and simple ways were all +the more touching on account of the dangers which lay ahead. And, what +we highly appreciated, the soldiers behaved like gentlemen. We spent +many hours with them, and never heard a rough or coarse word. For +truth's sake, I must say their Captain kept a sharp look-out upon his +men. He was about forty-five, had nice eyes and a kindly face. We heard +his name, and found out that he was a famous man, whose works we greatly +admired. We had common friends too, and it was not long before we became +real comrades, and told him how eager we were to be of some use to our +country. + +"Don't you think we might nurse a few wounded soldiers in our house?" we +asked. + +The Captain was good enough to like the idea. + +"All right," he said, "if your rooms are large enough and airy." + +"Come and see yourself." + +The Captain came first alone, and the day after with two Surgeon-Majors. +They made calculations, and then declared that we might receive thirty +soldiers. Two empty houses our neighbours offered out of kindness would +contain twenty other beds. Fifty soldiers would compose quite a +sufficient ambulance, and to our heart's delight we might devote our +strength to the wounded. + +"In Laon, they will be only too pleased to send you convalescents," M. +Vinchamps told us; "plenty of patients will soon fill the hospitals; and +a doctor from the town will come every day to tend your invalids." + +This medical visit did not remain the only one M. Vinchamps paid us. +About nine o'clock, his day's work over, our new friend came round and +knocked at the window. Our talk was chiefly on war, the only topic we +took an interest in. + +"Men are good for nothing," M. Vinchamps said; "courage is their only +gift. That is why I am delighted with the present war. At peace, men are +out of their right element." + +"Then you must improve the occasion, and make the best of it, for +certainly there will be universal peace after the present war, and you +men will be for ever out of your element." + +No one answered, and our silence called up a picture of dead and wounded +stretched upon a plain where a battle had taken place. And again we +talked of Belgian courage, of that heroic Liege which had to face such +fearful odds, and did not yield to brute strength. We likened the +storming party to the turbulent waters which beat furiously against a +dyke. But we knew the dyke was strong, and would not give way. + +The Germans were not highly appreciated by Captain Vinchamps. + +"They are not intelligent," he declared. + +"But----" + +"They are not. I do not deny their qualities. They are fine imitators, +but no creators. They make good use of others' inventions, and derive +benefit from discoveries they would be unable to make themselves. Their +talents--quite practical--are not what is called intelligence. Cuvier, +Pasteur, Lamarck have no rivals on the other side of the Rhine, and +their work no equal. Besides, consider that for fifty years our +neighbours have thought of but one goal: a victorious war." + +"But that is very important just now." + +"Never mind. Intelligence will get the better of brute strength and +crush it." + +The mere thought of victory sent a thrill of rapturous joy through our +hearts. + +On going out through the yard, lit up by the moon's rays, the Captain +listened to the whistle of the trains, and said with a smile: + +"Food for powder!" + +At full speed the trains rolled on both lines day and night; the food +for powder went by without ceasing. + +Food for powder! + +And yet the expression is not right. For the soul of every man was +awake. At the call of war all men were ready to fight and to die; all +shouted "victory," in the assurance that it would come to us. + +In the village our confidence met some distrust. Mme. Tassin, who acts +as housekeeper when we are away, tossed her grey head. + +"I was young when I saw _them_ for the first time in '70. What shall I +do at my age if they come here now?" + +Genevieve was filled with horror at the mere suggestion. In the farm +near by Mme. Lantois expressed the very same unreasonable fears. "Do you +think we shall have them here?" she asked a young lieutenant, who was as +bitterly disgusted as we were. + +Meanwhile our gunners were ready from head to foot, and their horses +from mane to hoof. We heard the last exhortations of the Captain to his +men, and the next day we got up at four o'clock in the morning to see +them off. It was magnificent. The sun shone in triumph upon the martial +train; the flower-covered cannon had a good-humoured air; the horses +pawed the ground; and the gunners had not smiles enough to throw to us, +nor caps enough wherewith to salute us. + +Captain Vinchamps, before he took leave, introduced his horse. It was a +"skittish" little mare, he thought, clever and sweet-tempered. Once more +we wished him success, and once more hoped that the war would spare him +and his men; and all, soldiers, officers, and horses, galloped off, and +were soon hidden from our sight amid the poplar trees in the sun and the +dust. + +The last soldier had departed. The village was empty of men, and the +women from sunrise to sunset were working in the fields. We led an +uninteresting life. In fact we did not live in Morny, but in Belgium +where our soldiers were fighting. Our overburdened minds looked forward +passionately to the result of the first conflict. What was going to +happen? + + + + +CHAPTER II + + +First came a letter from my husband. He had written it in the first +fever of war. The letter was a week late, and he marvelled at the +splendid eagerness and union of France. "'Tis the world upside down," he +wrote. "In my detachment, out of 1200 seamen, not one was missing or +drunk on getting to Cherbourg. As to myself, I am more decided than ever +not to go to sea. I will see the Prussians face to face. Yesterday I had +a talk with a field officer, and he promised to get me an interesting +post. That is a good thing; I now depend only on him." + +I thought I saw him rubbing his hands with satisfaction. An interesting +post! It means, doesn't it, to run into jeopardy, to seek after perilous +missions? Oh, dare-devil! oh, heart of stone! Wrapped up in his joy, he +has no thought for the pangs of those whose hearts are hanging upon his +life! + +Soon after there arrived unexpectedly Mme. Valaine and Antoinette, +whose journey had been greatly delayed by the mobilisation. We had got +but scanty news from Paris, and listened in amazement to their +descriptions of the capital, the fine frenzy of the soldiers leaving for +the front, the plunder of German shops, and then in our turn told them +the little that we had seen in the country. + +When our stories and greetings were finished, it was time to prepare +rooms for the travellers. + +I will seize upon the occasion to give a short description of our dear +old house. Notched like a saw, the gabled front presents a row of +shutters, which, like grey eyelids, secure us from indiscreet looks. To +the right and the left two large iron gates, always carefully closed, +lead one into a paved yard, the other into a narrow road, planted with +trees. The side of the house, looking out on the high-walled garden, +throws off the reserve in which the front is shrouded; windows and doors +are always wide open to the air, the sun, and the creepers, whose +branches penetrate even the rooms themselves. Inside, a passage +separates the house into two parts, the dining- and the drawing-rooms on +one side, and on the other the bedrooms and the kitchen. Genevieve, +Colette, and Mme. Valaine have their rooms downstairs. Upstairs the +attic has been cut up pleasantly into three. Outside, parallel with the +house, a small building opens into the yard, containing a wash-house, a +room--the small room--a coach-house, a stable, and the whole is topped +by an attic. + +The house--this does not allow of discussion--is too small, or the +family is too large, and Antoinette, who wanted a room to herself, +declared: "I will settle in 'the small room,'" and we could not get it +out of her head, although we enlarged,--with some complacency--upon the +dangers she might run alone by night. + +"The walls are high, the doors strong. I am not afraid, and then there +are the dogs." + +Indeed, Gracieuse and Percinet, the collies we dote on, live next door, +and have sharp sets of teeth which they show to all intruders. + +"Grandmamma," said Antoinette the next morning, "last night, about +twelve...." + +"The proper time for crimes." + +"I was startled out of my sleep." + +"You were dreaming of the Germans." + +"No, no. Some one was in the attic above my room." + +"There you are! A spy! Have you run him in?" + +"Without joking, Grandmamma. I heard steps quite clearly." + +"Do you know that deserters are said to have escaped near Morny?" + +In process of time the deserters were proved to be dormice, but we +thought the mistake amusing, and ever after called the attic "the +deserter's attic." Life went on. Dull, spiritless, insignificant in +Morny; immense, tremendous, and tragical beyond there in the North and +the East. We longed for the postman the whole day long. He had few +letters for us, but he still brought papers. We read them carefully, and +we were none the wiser. We ought to have read between the lines, but we +could not. I assure you that, during the end of August, we were deaf and +blind. Our reason refused to believe the testimony of our senses. We saw +thousands and thousands of people whom Belgium and the North had cast +away, the Belgian army driven back from Flanders, the staff officers +settle in Laon, and we never came to the right conclusion. + +In the case of floods--long before they are out--birds fly with hasty +wings, beasts hurry away, and even snails climb up the trees. Less +clever than the beasts of the field, we were unconscious of the +threatening inundation even when the country round us already lay under +water, and floating wrecks were visible on all sides. + +One morning, at an early hour, we went with our arms full of provisions +to the station where seven trains had stopped, crowded with refugees. In +an instant the poor people had stripped us of our burden, and by way of +thanks answered our anxious questions. + +For thirty-six hours they had been travelling, men, women, old people, +children, invalids, crowded in the narrow carriages, and yet they were +happy to get away, to escape, as they thought, from a nightmare. Furious +bombardments, pitiless fights, burning villages--they had witnessed, and +told to us all the horrors of war. They had seen corpses in some places +so thickly packed that they remained standing, and the sight haunted +them, as did the horrible smell of hundreds of dead bodies burning on +funeral piles, or floating in long files down rivers of sinister aspect. + +For the first time we realised the actual atrocity of war, and with a +shrinking of the heart we eagerly questioned the lieutenant who convoyed +the train, as to what had happened. + +"Madam, I know nothing. I have been told an important battle is +imminent. Belgium is in ruins." + +"And we shall not go to Germany, and impose upon the aggressors the law +of retaliation!" + +"Of course we shall. Be patient. They shall rue it dearly. But when?" + +The hordes that covered the roads were still more miserable than the +travellers we had just seen. + +Day after day they trudged grimly along. We saw vehicles of all kinds, +carriages, carts, wains drawn by horses, oxen, donkeys, and even dogs, +loaded and overloaded with women, children, sick people, huddled +together with old clothes, kitchen utensils, articles of food for the +people, and straw for the animals. The men relieved the sorry jades by +pushing or pulling, and on both sides of the road rolled a flood of +ragamuffins. The women, with urchins hanging on to their skirts, bore +babies in their arms; boys and girls rode on bicycles; with great toil +old and infirm people dragged along heaps of shapeless burdens, tools, +saucepans, and the most unexpected objects of every kind. + +They went on without rest, and with only one wish, to get farther away, +and the very dogs followed, lolling their tongues out, their tails +curled between their legs, with a feeling of the universal distress +visible in their eyes. + +Some faces looked tragical, even desperate, but on most of them was +impressed a gloomy resignation. + +"The Prussians are coming!" they had heard, and snatching some hastily +made parcels, they had fled away with no other purpose than flight. + +They were but a distracted herd, flying from a destroying wave; they +possessed neither hearth nor home. All that they had was lost, burnt, +plundered, and every one of them was but a cypher in the nameless crowd +that besought the pity of France. + +This human torrent had its dregs. There was no excuse for those who were +harsh to the fugitives--and they were plenty--but society was upset, and +the worst elements came to the surface. Plunder-fed vagabonds, always to +be met in public calamities, profited by the woes of others, filched +from the rich, took toll even of the poor, ransacked abandoned houses, +and on their way back still managed to commit highway robbery and to +steal purses. Thanks to these scoundrels, many honest and pitiful people +were involved in the suspicion which wanderers often arouse. Fortunately +our people in Morny are trustful enough, and they did their best to +assist the helpless and relieve the hungry. Even in the poorest houses +the peasants deemed it a point of honour to share their food and lodging +with the wanderers. Several nights running, we gave hospitality to +unfortunate families, first to Belgians and then to people of the North, +small manufacturers of the neighbourhood of Fourmies. All told the same +heart-rending stories: the order to evacuate, the house left ten minutes +after, the bewildered flight on the road. Many had fled of their own +free will, driven by the breath of terror the Prussians spread abroad; +but all were way-worn, all talked of sleepless nights, hunger, thirst, +and suffering. + +"Alas," said a young girl, "there are some still unhappier than we are! +Graves have been dug by the wayside; one woman has lost her mother, +another her baby." + +And under their breath they whispered the nameless deeds, the monstrous +crimes committed by the Germans. + +Their stories left us half incredulous, and if terror seized upon our +soul, it was a far-off, unselfish terror. It did not occur to our minds +that the tempest was lowering overhead; we refused to believe that the +dyke over there had already given way, and that we ourselves might be +overrun by the tumultuous flood of invasion. And then, on Wednesday, +August 26, three Belgian officers announced that 12,000 Belgian +soldiers, "the remainder of an army forty thousand strong," would march +through the village the next day at five. + +The excited people gathered in knots on the road long before the +appointed time, and having nothing else to do let their tongues run on. +Much news was exchanged, some of which seemed insipid, and some +thrilling. + +The _Journal de Laon_, born with the war, ceased to come out owing "to +postal difficulties." This organ surely suffered from a secret blemish: +it was not born to live. Indifference. + +No trains came from the North. Indeed! And we had been told everything +would go on miraculously well, as soon as the mobilisation was over. +Astonishment. + +The people of the "Terres Rouges"--a remote quarter of Morny--persuaded +that the Prussians were approaching, made a great slaughter of their +plumpest pigs and poultry, and devoured them hastily. "It is so much +gained," they wisely thought. What a droll idea! Hilarity. + +But ... and this seemed odd. The ladies of the Red Cross, leaving the +wounded in the lurch, scampered away last night. Shame upon them! Surely +the strait-laced nurses would never be guilty of indiscretion, and yet +they commit strange blunders. Reprobation. + +The staff is established in Laon. Ah! Ah! That is worthy of note. It +will be interesting to see the town in its new aspect of headquarters. +Interest. + +And here are the newspapers a neighbour has brought straight from Paris! +Change of Ministry. Formation of a Ministry of National Defence. Oh! Oh! +This is somewhat curious. They are hiding things from us. Anxiety. + +While the village was busy in discussion, time went on, and the Belgian +army also. About seven, the boys that stood sentry over the road came on +shouting: + +"Here they are! Here they are!" + +They were coming indeed, white with dust, but still gallant-looking. +First came lancers, then gunners, a few foot-soldiers, and again +lancers. Here and there a spiked helmet topped a lance's point as a +trophy, and the gunners, along with their guns, dragged a canteen +carried off from the enemy. For three hours they went at a gallop, and +for three hours we shouted our throats sore, and the whole village with +us: + +"Bravo! Long life to Belgium! Success to the brave!" + +The soldiers, still galloping, answered at the top of their voice: + +"_Vive_ France! Down with Germany! Hurrah for the French women!" + +And, rushing forward, we shook all the hands that were stretched towards +us. That night I think we shook 12,000 hands as 12,000 men went along. +We ran, we were everywhere. Colette was madly imprudent, and I wondered +at her not being run over or crushed under the wheels of the cannons. At +last, about half-past ten, the village was silent, as we made our way +home with hoarse voices and tired arms, thinking only of our beds. There +will be time enough for serious politics to-morrow. + +The next day we went to Laon, Genevieve and I. If we were uneasy and +disquieted, where could we better calm our fears than in Laon? The +official reports were vague but rather encouraging, the officers +optimistic. The civilians thought there was no room for hesitation, and +unhesitatingly ran away. Many were already off. The cowards were +frightened, like hares, by the shadow of their ears. Our scorn was +greater even than their haste. We reserved our sympathies for the +soldiers whose bright uniforms gave a pleasant liveliness to the town. +We were less pleased with the checks put upon our movements. Passports +had to be produced at every corner of the streets, and then, after two +hours waiting among a noisy and ill-smelling crowd, to be signed in a +guardroom. This was--if necessary and comprehensible--very tiresome. + +All the same we felt uneasy on our way home. We were infringing the +regulations, that was as clear as day. "It is strictly forbidden to +take any provisions out of the town," the orders said. But there is no +use talking of obedience to hungry women, and we had--with what +pains--carried off from a greedy grocer rice, sugar, salt, and other +precious things, that ran short in the country. Fortunately we saw the +Mayor of Morny driving by, and from him we gratefully accepted a lift +for the sake of our parcels. + +The evening was lovely, the country smiling in the setting sun. The +harvest, somewhat delayed for want of men and horses, drew to its close, +and beetroot promised a splendid crop. Everything spoke of peace and +plenty. The Mayor with a word broke the spell. "From this place," he +said, pointing at a hill disgraced by the presence of a factory, "the +cannon was audible yesterday." + +"It is mere hearsay," he added, daunted by our protestations, and we all +came to the conclusion the hearers had but singing in their ears. + +Thus at the side of the Mayor we made a sensational entrance into Morny. + +At home they had taken in two Belgian soldiers, whose lucky star had led +to our door. In great haste the family had prepared a huge omelette, a +solid beefsteak, a comfortable salad. Then to pay their share they had +talked. Alas, what they said was not encouraging: + +"We have been beaten; the Germans are gaining ground." They knew nothing +more. The next day we had another Belgian to feed. Our ward, Pierrot, +met him in the street in quest of a dinner, and, showing him the way, +had brought the soldier into the dining-room. Our new guest told us +frightful stories, and talked of defeat and high treason; but, on the +other hand, he boasted of such high deeds he had performed himself that +we listened wholly unmoved to his wondrous tales. + +Defeat! Treason! We had no fear on that score. In spite of a vague +alarm, we apprehended no real danger. Some uneasiness stole first over +our minds when we got a telegram from Mme. Prat claiming Pierrot back. +It was the 30th of August. We ran to the station, and were there told +with the greatest serenity: + +"There is no train going to Laon to-night." + +"To-morrow will do, then; there is no hurry." + +We thought no more of the journey, for the majors' dinner took place +that very evening. All that wore a uniform were sure to arouse an +admiring interest. The soldiers were overwhelmed with love and +adulation. A little more, and we would have prostrated ourselves at +their feet. It was but right. What sacrifices could we make to match +what they gave us: their strength, their life, their youth? And they +were France herself; they were ourselves. Every woman who spoiled a +trooper said to herself: "My son too is a soldier." + +On this Sunday, then, the village was overjoyed to hear that soldiers +would be billeted on it. + +"A good thing. We shall see some officers, and perhaps hear some news." +And we kept our eyes open, ready to snap up the first piece of gold lace +that would come on. The said lace happened to be on the sleeve of a +surgeon-major, who to our anxious questions gave us an evasive answer, +and seized time by the forelock. + +"Oh, madam," he said to my mother-in-law, "shall I dare ask you...." + +"Dare ask it, sir." + +"To lend us your kitchen and your dining-room? We are ten +surgeon-majors, and we have nowhere to dine." + +"Certainly, my house is at your disposal." + +"But say nothing about it! It is not here that our quarters are." + +His companion, a giddy-brained youth fresh from the schools, who +hitherto had not opened his mouth, cried out: + +"We will say that the ladies are relations of ours. Mademoiselle will +not refuse to declare I am her cousin." + +The haughty Antoinette did not like the joke, and snubbed the joker. +Then Esculapius' disciples went away, to return speedily. We exchanged a +great many low bows, and, the ceremony performed, left the gentlemen for +fear we should disturb them. They seemed to want rest, judging from +their worn-out faces. We heard that one of our guests who had just +fallen into a doze was the famous Professor X, and we beheld his tired +face with some respect. In a clandestine meeting we had decided: + +"We shall have supper in the garden." + +"We will drink a cup of milk, and eat bread and butter." + +We are not of those who believe in the necessity of dining. Of course, +out of respect for our stomachs, we give them tolerable cheer, but +occasionally we are content with a cup of cocoa and a slice of bread. +And that night we had other fish to fry than to feed ourselves. Besides, +we were unlucky enough to have no maids at all at that time; the only +one we had left had refused to stay any longer in a place likely to be +invaded. + +Our modest meal over, we ran into the house. In the kitchen, the dinner +was getting on well. A savoury smell rose from the saucepans. A giant +scullion was helping a cook, who pontified solemnly. This strange cook +hid beneath his apron, assumed for the occasion, a uniform covered all +over with decorations. Beneath the trade of cook, also assumed for the +occasion, he hid that of an engineer in civil life, in military life +that of an hospital orderly. He was tall, spare, pale, red-haired, and +he looked unalterably calm. + +"Where are the Germans?" we asked the engineer-cook. "Will they come +here? What ought we to do?" + +He feared the Prussians would reach Morny, and in his opinion we had +better avoid the meeting. + +"Are we to run away, then, and wander about like the Belgians? Or shall +we take a ticket to Marseilles, Algiers, or Timbuktu? Is that far +enough?" + +Our interlocutor stilled our impatience with the slow sounds of his +voice. Really now, he had a castle ... in the air?... No, but in +Brittany, where his sister would be delighted to receive us.... And the +head cook, while draining dry his fried potatoes, gave us the address of +his mansion in Brittany. After the advice of the kitchen, we wanted the +counsels of the dining-room. A few sleepy-heads had already gone to +bed, among others the celebrated physician and the giddy-brained youth, +who had grown extremely serious. The remainder of the learned party were +chatting together amid the smoke of tobacco and the flowers on the +table. Without more ado we went in, and asked the usual questions: + +"Where are the Germans? Will they come here? What ought we to do?" + +A long conversation ensued. Alas, our guests were as pessimistic as +could be. The head major, a small man, thick-set, energetic, and dark, +did not hide from us the truth that we should see the Germans, and, +still worse, that they would lay siege to Paris. Grief and indignation +prevented us from looking at our own situation; we thought but of the +country itself. + +"Why," Genevieve cried out, "you think the Germans will conquer us! You +are expecting another '70?" + +"Never! never! The Germans will be beaten. Should they go to Marseilles +and Bordeaux, I should still believe in their final defeat, but the +moment is a critical one. We have been beaten; it is a certain fact; +there is no use being blind to it, and the Germans will go to Paris." + +A clear voice rose at the end of the table: + +"You talk as if we were lost," Colette said. "We are retreating? It may +be a wise measure. Our men are ready for anything. The Germans in +Paris!--but you do not know our soldiers!" + +"Very good," said the neighbour of Colette, a tall, fair-haired man. "Do +try to convince my friends; these ten days I have dinned the same +arguments into their ears. But you must excuse our despondency; +weariness is the cause of it; these last three weeks we have hardly +slept. And what do we see of war? Nothing that is not horrible and +disheartening--battle-fields after the fight, the dead, the wounded, the +stragglers--nothing that elevates, and idealises men." + +So the talk went on, and the dining-room rang with the praises the +doctors bestowed on their heroic patients. They spoke chiefly of the +terrible weariness of the men. + +"They are overcome with sleep," they said, "and to such an extent that +they don't wake up, even when we dress their wounds." + +A few minutes after, Colette said to her neighbour: + +"It is delightful to discuss with you. At least, you always agree with +me!" + +We all burst out laughing, and at this fit of gaiety the majors went +softly out for fear they would wake up the officers and the refugees +whom we were sheltering. + + + + +CHAPTER III + + +Sleep was long in coming that night. After much talking we were still at +a loss what to think. Were the Germans really at our gates? "I cannot +believe it," groaned Genevieve; "it is a collapse; it is the end of all +things." + +"If we are invaded, what shall we do?" + +The next day we renewed the discussion. + +"If the Prussians come, we have but to wait for them with a bold face," +said Genevieve and Colette. Mme. Valaine hesitated. + +"Mother," exclaimed Yvonne and Antoinette, "we cannot stay here. Think +of the risks we run." + +"What shame," retorted Colette, "to run away like a troop of rabbits! I +had never thought you were such cowards!" + +The others repeated with one accord: + +"And if mother was taken as a hostage? The Germans are capable of +anything; they have already committed many atrocities." + +Our perplexity was great. + +About ten o'clock there dropped from the sky three new surgeons, and, +pressing on them a cup of coffee, we renewed our anxious questions. They +told us plainly that the Germans were gaining ground, and that we were +sure to see them. + +"What do you advise us to do?" cried my mother-in-law. + +"Madam," Dr. Seseman declared--he was bearded, jovial, and +fatherly--"Madam, if you were relations of mine, I should urge your +departure." + +"Well, the die is cast, we shall go," declared Mme. Valaine. + +"Yes," I said, "but the house is not in order." + +A few days ago, as I went to Mme. Lantois to buy some eggs, the farmer's +wife told me with great satisfaction: + +"I feel quieter now, my house is in order." + +It was as much as to say that all she set store by had disappeared; the +family had hidden, buried, and walled up whatever they had been able to +hide, bury, and wall up. + +Our guests of yesterday's dinner had told us that the owners of a +northern farm had unpaved a yard, dug a huge hole, huddled in pieces of +furniture and pictures, and then filled up and repaved it. This farm +could await the invaders: it was in order. But our house was not in +order--that was obvious enough. + +"You have here," said our visitors, "a beautiful Empire clock. It would +be a great pity to have it sent to Germany." + +"And this lovely console table--and those vases...." + +A few minutes after the two officers, with whom we were gravely +discussing, asked: + +"Where is our friend Laison?" + +"In the garden with Colette, digging holes...." + +"Is he? then we will too." + +And soon after, our visitors, in their shirt-sleeves, seemed to strive +who would dig hardest; and we, just as busy, ran in all directions, and +brought in objects of every kind. + +In order to carry out our plan, we had to look for a favourable place. +In front of the house stretches a velvet lawn planted here and there +with firs and pretty reeds. We could do nothing there. But beyond there +are beds in the gardens, shaped like a lozenge, a crescent, and what +not, box-edged and planted with shrubs. That was the right place, and we +proved it by digging there six or seven big holes. The largest received +the drawing-room clock, carefully wrapped up in oilcloth, with other +clocks almost as dearly cherished. On this side, we buried silver, on +that, old china, with a great deal of bustle and haste. + +"Is the old Rouen jug buried? And my yellow tea-set? I will bury that +too; it is too lovely to lose." + +The work drew to an end, and, by a masterpiece of cunning, we strewed +the newly-dug ground with dry leaves, twigs, and small pebbles. + +Dr. Laison went into ecstasies about the garden he had made over the +grave of the clocks. He was thinking himself a match for Le Notre, when +he gave a start. "What is that?" The buried treasures, indignant at +their ill-usage, protested against it by the voice of the Empire clock, +which began to strike the hour. As we listened to the silvery yet hollow +sound which came from the earth, we were reminded of a tale by Edgar +Poe. But we had to apply our thoughts to other cares, and hide the linen +and clothes. After our guests were gone--loaded with grateful +blessings--we hardly spared the time to swallow a hasty dinner, and went +to give the finishing touch to our work. + +Now there is between the ceiling of my bedroom and the roof a very dark +and lofty space that might serve as a very good hiding-place; but the +ladder was too short to get to it, so we put it on a table, and I, +astride on a beam, concealed in the accommodating shadow the things +which my sisters-in-law, posted on the ladder like so many tilers busy +with new roofing, handed up to me. We spread out and heaped up, at first +linen, then clothes, furs, shawls, carpets, curtains, eider-down +coverlets, and a big lion-skin; with many exertions we even hoisted up +to the loft a console table. Colette, standing on tiptoe at the other +end of the attic, declared: + +"It looks quite empty; you can put in more things." + +"Thanks! We are quite stiff enough for once. Thank Heaven the Germans +don't come every day, or we should not be equal to the job." + +Downstairs we took down looking-glasses and pictures, and concealed them +as well as we could behind cupboards and bed-curtains. They showed a +little, but we hoped the Germans would see nothing of them. We could not +bury water-colours or oil-paintings, could we? + +At last the house was in order, and we went out for a little stroll. The +village was silent, dead, not a cat in the streets; all the doors and +windows were closed. It was evident that every one was giving himself +wholly up to the very sport we had just enjoyed. All were vying with one +another in hiding their treasures, and were racking their brains to find +unknown holes and undiscoverable hiding-places. I wish to state here +that there is a gap in our public instruction, a want in our literature. +Since we are provided with such alarming neighbours, every school-master +should devote two hours a week to teach our youth what precautions to +take in case of invasion. Moreover, in my leisure hours, I intend to +write a book on "The Art of Concealing applied to Invasion." This may +open a new field of literature, for they will certainly lose no time in +answering the work from the other side of the Rhine with "The +Treasure-seeker's Guide, or a Hand-book for the Complete Plunderer." We +shall have, therefore, to study the question and improve the art of +hiding. In this respect, it is true, an ancient instinct may serve as a +guide, an instinct which has had no better chance of expansion than in +the corner of France we belong to. This rich country has excited the +lust of all conquerors. Before the Christian era the Romans subdued it, +and later on the Franks laid hands upon it. Attila, as Colette said but +yesterday, may have sent a few patrols down here. Then came the Normans, +who levied contributions on us; and the English, who took their ease at +the inhabitants' cost during the Hundred Years' War. Later the troops of +Philip the Second plundered us, and last century, 1814, 1870--two +inauspicious dates--we knew the strangers twice more. Therefore, when +the alarm spread, "the enemy are advancing," the order of the day, which +we knew by right of inheritance, went round: "let us hide, let us hide!" +All kept on hiding, and we hid too. + +And our departure? We had decided to go, that was well and good; but how +should we go? We could not by railway, and we could not find a horse and +a carriage in the village for their weight in gold. Mme. Valaine went in +haste to M. Laserbe, who was setting out with three carts drawn by oxen. +He promised to take us and our luggage with him, as little luggage as +possible. + +"Never fear, I will tell you in good time. There is no danger for the +present." + +These words gave us confidence. We would fly, but whither, in this train +of sluggard things? I have mentioned the ridges that lie to the south +and the west of Morny. In the country these modest hills are pompously +called "the mountains." Now every one was convinced the Germans would +shun "the mountains." An army always goes along valleys, does it not? +And what would the enemy do in this uneven region, where orchards and +pasture grounds alternate with rocks and woods? "It is not the right +place to fight in," the people said. And in a hamlet in this happy part +of the country lives an old relation of ours, Mme. Laroye. We decided to +go to Cousin Laroye; we were sure she would receive us with open arms; +there we should see what to do next, and, when once the enemy had passed +over both sides of "the mountains," we could get to Switzerland, the +South of France, or Brittany as we chose. + +Meanwhile, after this busy day, we really wanted rest, and to-night at +least we would sleep our fill. But we do not shape our own ends.... At +half-past two we were up. Foot soldiers passed in the street. At three +we were standing at the window, busy pouring out wine or coffee. Our +poor, poor soldiers! So cheerful, so lively, so full of gay spirits but +a month ago, in what a state did we see them return! + +Bent, way-worn, they marched painfully. Yet they marched; but as soon as +they were ordered to stop, they dropped on the ground, and many fell +asleep on the spot. Still, when they heard we were giving something to +drink, they came tumbling one over another, and gathered around the +window. A captain advanced, quieted the disturbance, and ordered the +sergeants to distribute the bottles of wine by sections. At the sight of +this officer, I suddenly understood the gravity of the hour. +Dark-haired, with firm and yet fine features, he bore in his eyes the +bitterness of the retreat, the horror of the defeat. A look on his +tragic face informed me of the truth better than long speeches. Beaten! +We were beaten. France was lost.... + +O God! is it possible? Has God suffered this? No, no, it is not so; I +see now the flames, that protest in the feverish eyes: "We will die, but +we will struggle to the end." Yes, dear soldiers, brave heroes, you will +struggle against the enemy, happy that you can still take an active +part, while we, we can but wring our hands in despair, and support your +courage with love and earnest prayers. In this terrible moment, our +eager goodwill could do no more than ask: "Do you want a cup of coffee? +The water is boiling." + +"Madam, with pleasure." Then some one called the officer, and he had to +go without his coffee, for which, by the way, many were eager. + +The village was awake, and all were desirous to bring food and drink to +the soldiers. But the soldiers were so many that a great number +certainly got nothing at all. + +Day broke, and the men still passed on, always as dusty, always as +tired, all regiments, all arms mixed in confusion. We did our best to +relieve as many as we could. In the morning the crowd grew thinner; we +saw only stragglers and cripples. How many we took in to comfort and +nurse I cannot say; they were too many. I remember the clerk of the +telegraph pointing to his right hand, of which the fingers had been shot +off. + +"What shall I do now?" he said. "And the girl I am engaged to, will she +marry me?" + +"Of course she will, or she would not be French!" + +And then came a soldier wounded in the leg, and, in spite of his +sufferings, he hobbled on with a stick. In admiration, he indicated +Antoinette with a movement of his chin, and declared in his Lorraine +brogue: + +"That girl there, she has dressed my wound much better than a trained +nurse." + +A little linesman moved our pity still more, and even now we cannot talk +of him without emotion. He was very young, with a childish face; his +motionless features expressed an immense stupor, a grievous surprise. +What! that war! That was war! This wonderful thing we had so often heard +of! It was this retreat, these toils, these sufferings! For three weeks +he had not taken off his shoes, and his blistered feet were so swollen +that the poor fellow could hardly walk. Genevieve washed his poor feet, +and Colette, the over-fastidious Colette, wiped and bound them up with +tender care. We got him fresh socks, and the little foot soldier, after +a comfortable breakfast, went on his way again. As he left us, he looked +around him with amazement depicted on his face, and said: + +"The Germans will punish you for that." + +In these busy hours we had many opportunities to wonder at the energy +and vitality of our race. As soon as the soldiers, spent with fatigue +and disheartened, had rested a bit and swallowed something hot, they +renewed their vigour and even recovered gaiety enough to tell us their +adventures, to laugh at the German shells, which often do not burst, and +whose fragments run over the cloth of their uniforms, they assured us, +without doing any harm. + +"But"--and there they dropped their voices to a whisper--"we have been +beaten, because there are traitors among the generals...." This opinion +drove us to despair. We did not give credit to it, but what would happen +if the men reposed no trust in their chiefs? And what could we answer to +the poor fellows? I recalled to Genevieve's memory Captain Vinchamps' +saying: "Beaten soldiers always call out treason, and they are not +wrong; a traitor is not merely a man who basely and selfishly sells his +country; he is a traitor too when he is not equal to his duty." + +We did our utmost to hearten our guests of a moment, to cheer them +physically and morally; and then one after another they resumed their +journey. A touching detail: every lame soldier was attended by a +comrade, who took charge of him, carried his knapsack, held him up, and +was as careful of him as a mother of her child. About noon, when all had +gone away, Yvonne and Colette, who kept a watchful eye upon the street, +cried out: "Something is happening towards the pond," and set off +running thither. They found that a soldier had suddenly gone mad. +Half-naked, up to his waist in water, he shrieked and gesticulated, and +four men had a hard struggle to master him. + +Trifling as it was, this incident brought the people's excitement to its +highest point. + +"He is a Prussian," said one. "He is a spy," retorted another. This time +the people snatched at their luggage, were off in an instant, and came +back an hour after. The level-crossings were not open to civilians for +the present, or at least to carriages. Our state of mind was that of a +fish caught in a net. Terror spread amain, and won complete power over +the public mind. None knew what he dreaded, and all men reasoned +themselves out of reason. Our arguments were proved absurd and grotesque +by the event. A mist was over us; it was no more the pillar of fire; it +was the pillar of cloud. It was no more the shadow of approaching glory; +it was the black shadow which impending invasion casts before. + +News kept coming. + +"The Prussians are at Marle." + +"No, they have been driven back." + +"Perhaps they won't come down here." + +Driven back! Oh, you simpletons! Have you not just seen our army pass? +Are you not conscious of the void, which draws on the enemy like a +cupping-glass? + +In the village, so lively, so busy but a few days ago, is there a single +uniform left? + +At heart the people felt uneasy; the cars were loaded, the horses +harnessed, the drivers on the look-out. Animals and people were but +waiting for a signal to rush upon an unknown fate. + +The signal came. + +It was about six. Tired, I was lying down in the drawing-room, when all +of a sudden a gun-shot resounded in the air, and directly after followed +sharp firing. At a bound I was up in the attic, at another I flew to the +garret window. Like a gargoyle stretched out on the edge of the roof, I +scanned the horizon. Northward a light puff of smoke vanished in the +upper branches of the poplar trees. Nothing was to be heard; but I +beheld the confused flight of all creatures that were out in the fields. +A man standing in a car lashed his bewildered horse with all his might; +fowls and even pigeons hurried away to poultry-yard and dovecot. + +What had happened? I hastened down. The house was empty. I jumped out of +the window. At the corner of the street I caught sight of Genevieve. I +ran after her as fast as I could; we met at the cross-road, where a +crowd had gathered. + +"What is the matter?" A patrol.... An English patrol. + +We cast a look at the field-grey backs which rode away on big horses. +English? it may be! + +"But at what did they fire?" + +"It was a signal." + +"No, they have shot carrier-pigeons." + +"You are mistaken, they have arrested a spy." + +In fact they had taken away a French soldier, bareheaded, who looked +about him with a profoundly ironical air. + +"Oh," murmured the crowd, "it was easy to see he was a spy; he seemed to +laugh at us." + +He was laughing at you! I am sure he was, the poor man! English +soldiers! English soldiers! Oh, you blind of one, of two eyes, threefold +idiots, how foolish you have been! They were twelve in number, and the +village was armed, and the men were there, and Prussians in flesh and +bone, as quiet as can be, took the high road to Laon! + +We, quiet too, came back home. There now! We had had our warning! Our +hearts were still throbbing violently, but all the same we plucked up +courage again. + +"The English keep watch and ward!" + +Each one laughed at his friends' fright. We thought particularly +ridiculous the attitude of one of our neighbours, Marthe Tournillart, a +tall young woman, ruddy-cheeked and dark-haired, who at the first shot +had rushed headlong on her overloaded barrow. Resolutely she laid hold +of it, and with her two children hanging on to her skirts, fled away +bewildered but energetic, she knew not where; but she fled straight into +the hottest of the fight, had one taken place. + +Nevertheless the passage of the patrol was looked upon as suspicious. +"We put no trust in this lump of flour," the peasants thought, like La +Fontaine's mice. "If we hear the guns now, it is the right moment for +flight." + +Yvonne ran to M. Laserbe. When and how were we to go? The messenger came +back struck with dismay. Laserbe refused to take charge of us! The +traitor! And he had pledged his word! He alleged he had no places left. +Well, what were we to do? Whither could we turn? Could we go on foot? +To-night? + +Mme. Valaine hesitated. She thought it dangerous in this troubled time +to run away by night through woods and fields. + +"We will see what to-morrow brings," she said. + +"Mother, to-morrow may be too late," retorted Antoinette. + +"The first thing to do," said I, "is to have supper. There is a soup on +the table which will give you wings." + +It was about nine. Hazardous times do not improve punctuality. We sat +down to table, and had hardly enjoyed a few mouthfuls of the soup I had +boasted of, when hasty steps resounded in the street; we heard a knock +at the shutter. We rushed forward. + +"The Prussians are coming," whispered one of our neighbours. "They are +ten miles away. They have been seen on their way to Morny. French +officers have been to the Mayor's, and have pulled down the flag. Every +one is going. Good-bye; we won't lose time...." + +I am going, you are going, we are going. Go on, oh flock of sheep! + +Our own house is greatly alarmed. Mme. Valaine does not know which way +to turn. "Make haste, we must go at once. Get our things ready." +Thinking Laserbe would take us, we had packed up just what was +necessary, and what was necessary meant thirteen bags. We must discard +them. Feverishly we unpacked and abandoned the heavy bags; bundles would +do. A little linen, one or two light dresses, cloaks, shawls, a basket +filled with food, and we were quite ready. Had I not early in the +morning buried in the depths of the garden a sealed-up glass jar full of +jewels? And with the gold pieces my mother-in-law had brought from +Paris, had I not made a band I wore around my waist? We were ready, no +doubt of it. + +We did not know what to do with the bags we were bound to abandon. We +dragged them upstairs to a loft next my bedroom, thrust them into it all +topsy-turvy, and hurriedly heaped up big logs at the entrance. +Everything was in order; the dogs were on their chains; we had but to +go. + +Here we are in the street, all doors shut, and off we go. We wait one +minute to calm our hearts and to drop a tear. + +Dear little house, white walls, virginia creepers, when shall we meet +again? And what will you look like? Let us begone! It is time for +action, not for regret. + +Our neighbours next door, the couple Tillard, were putting the donkey in +their cart all ready for flight. + +I have read somewhere that people should help one another in misfortune, +and so I blurted out: "Oh, M. Tillard, I suppose you are driving to 'the +mountains.' We are going too. Would you kindly take one of our parcels +with you?" At a loss what to answer, Tillard muttered between his teeth: + +"Hum! already loaded.... Don't know which way...." + +That is enough. "Thank you.... I understand." Another pause, this time +at M. Lonet's, my mother-in-law's brother. Stern-faced, with knotted +brows, our uncle refuses to go. Not he! He is fonder of his house, of +his gardens, than of anything, and the Germans cannot scare him away. He +bends on our caravan a glance of mingled scorn and pity, and, on going +out, Genevieve whispered in my ear as a last protest: + +"He is not a coward." + +If fear could not enter M. Lonet's heart, it reigned in the village. The +whole place was deserted, and we were among the last to go. Here and +there a flickering light showed that hasty preparations were still being +made in a few houses. Terror oozed from the closed shutters, hostile to +the expected foe, and from the doors, which presently the dwellers would +half open, to sneak away. At the end of the village, in a yard, a +lantern moved to and fro, a horse was harnessed, people hurried up and +down. + +"Lucky rogues," Colette cried out, "who possess a cart!" + +That is true. Our bundles already seemed heavy to bear. But, full of +courage, we went on, left the high road, crossed Cerny-les-Bucy, dead, +empty, mute. Another struggle and we were in the open country. Thus we +marched on--a strange little train, six women, attended by a small boy +and two dogs--silent, with heavy hearts, and then a voice complained: + +"It is so heavy." + +Yvonne had taken charge of the dogs, and had perhaps the hardest work, +for these animals, as soon as they are out of doors, pull on their +chain, until they almost tear out your fingers. + +The road was deserted. Nobody in front of us, nobody behind. We were +safe from attack. We decided to rest awhile. Halt! We gathered our +luggage into the middle of the road, and sat down in a ditch. +Speechless, we looked at and listened to the night. + +I shall never forget the night of our flight, as I watched it in that +meadow. Silvery night studded with stars, lit up by the moon, warm and +sweet and so quiet! Fields and meadows, bathed in moonlight, stretched +on all sides. Southward a wood showed like a shadow, and from the damp +meadows rose a mist, which followed the brook. You might have said that +large puffs of cotton wool hung in the air upon invisible threads, above +which emerged the tops of pollarded willows. Not a sound was heard. Only +far away a carriage rattled, or a dog barked; and close about us the +crickets sang their shrill song. A god-like presence filled the world, +and the serenity of inanimate things contrasted sharply with the mad +fear of men which swept us away. On this same night, uniformly kind to +all, whole armies marched, dreaming of death and destruction, while +thousands of wayworn fugitives wandered on towards uncertainty, misery, +despair. + +Boom, boom! Two formidable detonations from the fort of Laniscourt shook +the air, and aroused us from the torpor which crept over us. Was it a +signal? We did not know. We went on. Go, take up your burden again, +hasten, the way is long. We went on, but slowly; we were tired, and +baggage always retards the advance of an army. Poor snails that we were! +The flood was approaching; it had driven us away; and if in our +unreasoning prudence we resembled snails, we had not the good luck to +carry a house with us. What shelter should we get? Where should we lay +our tired heads? We advanced anyhow, our ears pricked, our eyes on the +look-out. An alarm! This shadow on the road, which moves on...! black, +apocalyptical, it passed by, and greeted us without astonishment: + +"Good-night, ladies; a beautiful night, isn't it?" + +We recognised old Lole, a well-known beggar, bent with age, loaded with +a wallet full to the brim. Another shadow, a white one this time, +crossed our path a few steps farther on; it was a small dog, which did +not stop, but hurried on his way to Morny. The times were hard for dogs +too. + +"And then, look behind that stack--two, three, five dark forms ... they +are people, aren't they?" But, still more afraid than we, they hid +themselves, and we passed on triumphantly. Without striking a blow, we +crossed the woods, and got to the fields again. On approaching +Mons-en-Laonnois we heard eleven strike. The silvery sound of the bell +seemed to drop from a very high tower, from the starry sky, perhaps. +Here we made a feeble and vain attempt to get a carriage. No one in the +streets; the very garret windows were shut up, the doors barricaded. At +the end of the village, we halted. We were hungry, for the good reason +that we had left on the supper-table the creamy milk and crusty cake, +which were to end our frugal meal. But we had taken with us a few +savoury chicken _pates_, which my prudent mother-in-law had made the day +before. We cut slices of bread and butter, and, sitting by the wayside, +made an excellent meal. We were gay, but our gaiety was fictitious. We +laughed at a light anxiously flickering behind a shutter. It seemed a +prey to nameless terror, and, conscious of our own courage, we made +merry over it. The poor thing surely believed a German patrol was +feasting at the gate! + +Two hours after, we got to Vaucelles, then to Royaucourt. We were tired +to death, and made up our minds to seek shelter. All the barns were full +of refugees, all the yards were encumbered with refugees' horses, all +the streets were crowded with refugees' vehicles. We too were refugees +now. + +"Will there be any room for us," we wondered, "no matter where, so long +as we can rest?" We stopped in front of Mlle. Honorine's inn: "Good +accommodation for man and beast." It was just what we wanted. We gave a +knock at the door. + +"Mademoiselle, mademoiselle, open the door, please ... just a small +room, only chairs to sit down." But none so deaf as those who won't +hear. Nothing would have roused Mlle. Honorine from her sweet slumbers. + +At length we made up our minds to rest outside, on the threshold of the +unrelenting house. An accommodating bench very kindly welcomed three of +us, Genevieve and Antoinette, wrapped up in their cloaks, stretched on +the stony ground of the courtyard. As to myself, I chose for a +resting-place a flight of steps. Crouching down in a comfortable corner, +with Pierrot nestled in my arms, I covered our bodies with my shawl, and +summoned sleep in vain. The stone was very hard. Yet I was comfortable, +and had no mind to go away. But we soon remembered we were running away, +and that it was high time for us to be off again. "Get up! get up! It is +half-past two." We rose reluctantly, yawned, cleared our throats, +stretched ourselves. Antoinette was so weary and so ill that we had +much trouble to move her. At length we were all up. We cursed the +household that had behaved so unkindly to the poor wanderers, and, +leaving the inhospitable village, we turned to the right. The road wound +its way through the woods. The moon had gone down; it was pitch dark; +our hearts quivered with fear; our eyes searched into the shades of +night; and we strained our ears like the dogs. The poor beasts +disapproved of our nightly expedition, and sniffed at tufts of grass +with great anxiety. + +"This black mass here, lying on the wayside, is it a dead body? No, it +is but a log. And there, those white spots, aren't they faces? No, they +are birches. Don't you hear a noise of steps? No, it is the breaking of +a dead branch." We stopped to take a little breath. We were out of the +forest; we had reached the top of the hill. Quite bare, it was not +really a plateau, for the ground spread itself out in large waves. We +walked along, dragging our luggage up and down the road. Genevieve and I +carried the heaviest bag, and tried many experiments to make it lighter. +We put it on our shoulders like an urn, on our back like a sack of +flour. Like the queen of the turtles, we hung it on a stick, of which +each of us took an end. From time to time we stopped a minute to change +hands, or to listen to far-away noises. Then a slight quivering broke +the stillness. We thought we heard a distant rumbling. Sometimes there +were explosions--bridges were being blown up. Day was already breaking. +A pallor whitened the sky towards the east. We reached Urcel, prettily +placed among orchards on the slope of a hill. Worn out, we sat on the +edge of the pavement like so many swallows on the edge of a gutter. We +were in high spirits, we exchanged jokes, and all of a sudden: + +"Yvonne, Yvonne, laughter will end in crying...." + +Indeed, the poor girl, still half-choked with laughter, was now sobbing +bitterly. We gathered round her, and tried to comfort her. + +"Get up, get up, the inn will be open in a minute, and we shall have a +cup of coffee. Come." + +At the first glimmering of the dawn, the shop opened a shutter like a +fearful eyelid. + +We went in. The landlady, in a dressing-gown, with her black hair loose +over her shoulders, dragged herself along, and raised her weeping eyes. + +"Oh, Heavens! they are coming here, aren't they? What an unhappy, poor +creature I am! What will become of me? And my daughter, aged fourteen +years? What will become of us?" + +The woman's despair amused us, and we tried to comfort her. + +"The Prussians will never reach this out-of-the-way place. Perhaps a +patrol or two will come, and that is all. All the world is seeking +refuge in 'the mountains.' Everybody knows the Prussians won't come +here." + +On leaving Urcel, we plunged into the misty shadows of a valley. But +when we got on the other side it was glorious, dazzling. The sun was +just rising, and beneath its first beams the country smiled and +glistened. The meadows, bathed in dew, sparkled as though decked with +gems; the air was mild, nature thrilled with joy, a lark carolled to the +sun. Pierrot, drunk with light and space, danced about like a little +faun, and we ourselves, for an insect, for a flower, for a bush covered +with bright berries, leapt like goats. Our thoughts were lighter than +the soft mists melting in the sun. + +War! It is but a myth. + +Invasion! an idle tale. + +Danger! an illusion. + +Weariness, pangs, mental sufferings, all were forgotten. We were young, +we were strong; we breathed the fresh air with ecstasy, and the +splendour of the hour intensified our love of life. Danger is life. War +is victory, and blessed be the hand which bestows on mankind black +nights and white mornings, dull cares and consoling joys. + +With light hearts we took to our cheerful road. We marched for one hour, +and then doubts arose. + +"Mother, you have taken the wrong road, I am sure. Chevregny is not so +far...." + +Yet at a turn of the road we caught sight of Chevregny, nestled in +verdure, crouched in a hollow way. We marvelled at the pointed steeple, +at the red tiles or blue slates of the roofs. So we prepared to make an +entrance into the village worthy of us and it. We sat by the wayside and +took small looking-glasses and powder-puffs out of our leather bags. +Powder is as necessary to women as to soldiers, isn't it? We did our +hair, brushed our dresses, and then went down the village street quite +smart. We turned to the right and entered the big farm of Mme. Laroye. +Surprise, exclamations! Arms lifted up to the sky, and then clasped +around us in a close embrace! Boundless friendship and endless +hospitality were promised us. + +"But tell us, dear cousin, who are all these people we see gathered in +your domain?" + +Mme. Laroye had already given hospitality to twenty-one refugees in her +barns and cart-sheds, and had received into the bargain certain solid +citizens of Laon, persons whom she honoured with her friendship and +best rooms. We did not allow them to move from their quarters. + +"If mother is provided for, dear cousin, it is all that we want. Don't +bother about us; we will sleep in the hay-loft; it will be delightful." + +When these matters were settled, we refreshed ourselves. How delightful +it was after that painful night to take a bath, to loll in an armchair, +to sit at table where fresh bread, golden butter, and transparent jam +smiled upon us. We found a charm in the smallest pleasures, and thought: + +"Now we are quiet, now we are in safety, we shall suffer nothing at the +hands of the abhorred invader; we shall not see the shadow of their +helmets on our walls; we shall not hear the tramping of their horses on +our pavements; the booming of their cannon will not roll over our +hearts!" + +But what did we hear? + +We stood up, speechless with horror. + +The street rang with loud cries, and those cries were: + +"The Prussians! The Prussians!" + + + + +PART II + + + Frenchman! I saw thy child + Who cried alone on the road. + I have comforted him. I have reassured thy wife. + Thy field lay fallow, I have tilled it. + When Peace reappears again on earth + May thou reap the fruits of my labour! + + Published in German in the _Lillerzeitung_, translated into + French, and reproduced in the _Gazette des Ardennes_. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + + +Placid and heavy on their placid, heavy horses, they slowly advanced +along the street. Of giant stature, they came on, revolver in hand, with +the self-reliance of brutal strength. Their red-edged caps made their +hard-featured faces still harder. It was a sight to strike Nature +herself with horror, and, hidden behind the muslin curtains, we sobbed +bitterly. The guests, huddled together in the dimly lighted room. Were +silently weeping; the women crossed themselves, and watched over their +children as if it were old Bogy's steps they heard. The men tugged +nervously at their moustaches, and shook their fists in the empty air. +Our gestures made the poor people uneasy. + +"Heavens!" the women groaned, "don't show your face at the window!" + +"Don't open the curtains!" + +"Don't draw their attention to the house!" + +"How frank they are," an old woman whimpered. "How splendid to be frank +like that! As to myself, I could not be so." I suppose she meant +courageous, but courage was not in question. We thought of nothing; we +felt nothing; we were only looking at the men. We were glaring with all +our eyes at a sight that crushed our souls. Grief left a huge void in +our hearts. The enemy was there, and it was all up with us! I think we +had suffered less if we had seen the Germans arrive in a town. A town is +always somewhat of a courtesan. It gives a hearty welcome and +hospitality to every one; it is daily a prey to strangers of ill repute. +If invasion beats against its walls, if a hostile army crosses its +streets--one human flood succeeding so many others--the town scowls at +the foe, and then loses all memory of him. But there in a small village, +hidden in a fold of the French ground, in a tiny hamlet which a hostile +mind never chose for a shelter, the presence of the invaders seems to +profane the very grass; and ever after the poor little place will remain +an unhallowed spot, which bloodshed and years will not purify again. + +After the horsemen had passed, there rolled along cannon and +powder-carts, whose rumbling set our teeth on edge. + +"Grandmother, look there!" cried out Colette. + +On a powder-cart, looking very unhappy, sat the small dog we had met in +the meadow. + +So the Germans had traversed Morny; they had followed close upon us. + +At last there came an end to the procession. The street was empty. No +one uttered a word, and we ran away to cry to our hearts' content. +House, yard, barns were all crowded with people. I took refuge in the +garden. Nature seemed covered with an ashen veil, the very sun was +obscured. Had the radiant morning really begotten this sad noon? Like a +wounded animal looking for a dark shelter, I fled to the orchard, and +crouching down in a corner close to the wall I wept most bitterly, +without knowing why. Some one called me; I had to go back to life, or +rather a life, unknown, unsuspected, in which all was changed. The +Prussians were advancing through France. + +On arriving at the house I met only with grief-stricken features and +swollen eyes. We had no mind to eat. Only a few refugees, already +indifferent, and the dogs did not lose their appetite. But standing at +the dining-room windows we saw a sight worth seeing. The Prussians had +taken possession of the village, and were looking for what they might +lay their hands upon. They seemed to think little Mme. Laineux' shop +had been created for their own special use, and they set about +plundering it according to rule. They went up, three steps at a time, +got among the groceries, made their choice, and came back, their arms +filled with bottles and bags. In short, they carried away all that was +eatable and drinkable in the house. They went up and down without +interruption like two rows of ants busy stripping a sack of flour, one +row full, the other empty. The grocer's wife, a small woman, dark and +pale with large black eyes, stood by, unable to withstand the +plunderers. She locked the door. The first soldier who encountered that +obstacle went to the window, broke a square, turned the door-handle, and +muttering threats reopened the door. + +With a look of despair, Mme. Laineux went and fetched an officer who was +eating upstairs. + +"Come and see what your men are doing." + +The officer came, looked round, and declared: + +"C'est la kerre, Matame!" + +And he went back to his lunch. + +The shop cleared out, the men made farther search into the house, and +discovered a small store-room, which they emptied with equal activity. +For the pleasure of the thing, they cut stockings to transform them into +socks, and spilled ink on petticoats and blouses. The last comers took +the trap from the coach-house, the horse out of his stable, put the +horse in the trap, and drove off with a light heart. + +A bitter disenchantment filled our tired hearts. Nothing would have +astonished us. In the afternoon two soldiers entered the farm, but at +the sight of the yard crowded with men and dogs, withdrew. Broken down +with weariness, we went early to bed. A ladder about twenty feet high +led to a square opening through which we climbed into the hay-loft. +There every one of us made a hole in the hay and buried herself in it. +Now, in theory, hay offers a soft and sweet-smelling couch. The reality +is slightly different. You may find comfort in this bed if you are +wrapped up in cloaks and shawls to keep out the cold of the night, but +the odour of the hay will make you sneeze, you will soon feel stiff in +your legs, and hard blades of grass will prick your ankles and your +neck. + +Despite minor annoyances, my companions were very soon slumbering. For +my part I could not sleep. I was feverish and ... my golden waistband +played tricks and got into my ribs. The slanting light of the moon gave +an added pallor to the faces of the four sleeping girls, whose presence +on their bed of hay, beneath the beams of the loft which spiders had +covered with their grey lace, was astonishing enough. It seemed as +though the four heads had been put there for a whim, and the bodies laid +down somewhere else. I fell into a doze. I saw hundreds of Prussians +pass before my eyes, laden with goods, and carrying away the very +houses. Then there came a multitude of galloping horses, which all +vanished from my sight, and I was asleep. + +The next day an impudent sunbeam woke us up by caressing our eyelids. In +the barn below the refugees were bustling about noisily. The first +moment after awaking was cruel; we had, as Stendhal says, "to learn our +misery afresh." One after the other, like fowls getting out of the +henhouse, we went down our long ladder, and ran off to wash and to hear +the latest news. + +That day also was a day of tears. + +The villagers, frightened to death, had not dared to unlock their doors, +and we heard only in the morning that a French convoy had been taken by +surprise and captured by the Germans at Neuville, no more than two miles +from Chevregny. + +Then a scout--a fact completely unconnected with the former--had been +killed by the enemy at a cross-way, near Mme. Laroye's house. We went to +see the place, where the two white roads cross each other; large +reddish spots still marked the ground. Kneeling down, we kissed this +blood which cried for revenge, and from our inmost soul we besought +Heaven that France should be victorious over her enemy, so that her +heart's blood might not be shed in vain. + +Some peasants, who had witnessed the scene, gave us an account of it. In +great numbers the Germans came down the road. All of a sudden, two +French scouts appeared on the outskirts of the wood, saw the enemy, +fired at them, and then turned back. One of them was lucky enough to get +under cover, but the other, severely wounded, was unhorsed, and fell +down. Stretched by the wayside he made an attempt to get up, but his +adversaries rushed upon him, and in a confused scuffle beat him to death +with the butt-ends of their guns, and rode away at full gallop. + +The victim was to be buried that very morning, and as we wished to be +present at the funeral, no time could be lost. When we arrived at the +churchyard two men were already digging a narrow grave. The body, +wrapped in a white sheet, was lying on a stretcher. There was no coffin. +Soldiers should lie in the soil for which they have died. The red spot +beneath his head grew larger little by little, and the blood that +trickled down made a dazzling rill in the white sand. We approached him +with a shrinking heart. With pious hands the grave-digger lifted up the +sheet to show us the face of the dead man. An aquiline nose and a firm +chin were still distinguishable. The rest of the features were clotted +with blood and shapeless. Nearly choked with sobs, we could not help +wondering from which wound the blood had flowed, when suddenly the truth +flashed upon us, at a gesture of the old grave-digger, who pointed at +what were, but the day before, the boy's eyes. His eyes! oh, you +cowards! villains! They had not only beaten him to death, they had put +his eyes out! He was defending himself like a brave soldier. He was +alone against twenty, and they had murdered him. There on the white +road, in the sunshine, they had committed their crime; the shades of +night had fallen upon him before he descended to the tomb. + +Oh, vengeance! vengeance! We wept, we cried, and nothing could comfort +us. We wept over the gallant soldier of France, who fell so near us; we +wept over all the dead and wounded, and above all we wept--oh, +narrowness of the human heart!--over the one soldier we loved, whose +uncertain fate tortured our hearts. Oh, my Posy, my treasure, my love, +my pride, have you not asked for a dangerous mission? Have you received +your death-wound, outnumbered in some lonely corner? Have they...? the +terrifying thought! ... oh, his eyes! ... his eyes!... It was beyond +endurance. Crushed with grief, I fell senseless. When I came to myself +the priest had said the usual prayers, and was gone. My companions stood +up, shedding silent tears. The two villagers gloomily filled the grave, +and the earth fell with a hollow sound on the poor body. One of the men +broke off in the middle of his work, and told us of the scout's death. +What he said confirmed what we had already heard. "Curse them!" he cried +out, and, with a gesture of rage, seized his spade, and began again to +fill the grave. + +But we had not done with emotion yet. + +"Do you know that the Germans took three hundred prisoners yesterday?" +some one asked us. "You will see them pass on the road." + +The churchyard is terraced to the street, which runs down a steep hill, +and thence already we caught sight of a few horsemen, closely followed +by soldiers on foot. They were French. At the sight of the enemy, our +grief, all of a sudden, turned to wrath and madness. Here they were in +our own country, the very same we saw yesterday, no doubt. They were +those perhaps who had blinded and killed the scout, and they were +taking our brothers to captivity. Oh, for the power to strike, to kill +those men! To hurl down upon them some of those big stones, half +loosened by time! We shuddered at the mere sight of them, a bantering, +conceited, happy mob. The faces of Yvonne and Antoinette, standing among +the crosses, were wet with tears and convulsed with rage. Hatred was so +clearly visible in their eyes that the faces of the Germans grew hard +and stiffened as if they had been given a slap in the face. They pass, +they are gone, and now the prisoners are coming. They seemed to have +made up their minds to accept the situation. They were hot, and talked +among themselves in a low voice. The officers drove in a jolting car, +motionless and spent. We could not see them very well, but we could +distinguish the stripes on the Captain's sleeve, and then the cart +disappeared from sight at a winding of the road. The way was open; we +went home, and when we were alone, Genevieve and I fell into each +other's arms, and without saying a word wept again inconsolably. Towards +the close of the day the garden tempted us. It is a dear old garden, +full of shade and of old-fashioned, sweet-smelling flowers. It is about +four yards above the level of the street, and if you sit on the wall, as +large as an easy-chair, you can see all that goes on in the street +below. Like souls in agony, we dragged ourselves along the alleys edged +with box, doleful and weary. From the wall we observed the four points +of the compass. Not a Prussian in sight. So we began to talk to little +Mme. Laineux, who looked out of her window just over the way. Close to +her stood a young girl about fifteen years of age, whose head, framed in +a handkerchief tied under the chin, was the most exquisite ever seen. +Raphael might have drawn her fine features, her clear eyes. Even her +hands browned by the sun were pretty; even her waist was elegant in +spite of an unbecoming frock. O France, you are rich in all treasures, +and that sweet little maid is not the least of them! The grocer's wife +confided her sorrows to us in a bitter tone. Two old men passing by +stopped in the street to condole with her; then a third person, shabbily +dressed, joined in the talk, and from the very first proved interesting. +He was a soldier, escaped from the yesterday's fight, and he told us his +adventure in detail. + +"Tuesday," he said, "we slept in Arden, a small place we had reached at +five o'clock in the evening. The horses were not tired, and we might +have marched on. At least, we ought to have been up at three, instead of +which we set out again at six o'clock, and were not bidden to make +haste. We did not know that the enemy was treading in our steps. About +nine we approached this place, quite easy in our minds, when we heard +the people cry: 'The Prussians!... To the right-about! Quick! Quick!' +Convoys like us are not looked upon as fighting men, do you see; we +ought to be a few miles behind the front. We were but scantily armed; +some of us had a revolver and no bullets, the others bullets and no +revolver. What could we do against the cannon, which peppered us from +the top of the hill? We were ordered back. + +"The drivers made what speed they could, when, just at the turn of the +road, one of the carts managed to tumble down; those that followed at +full speed were thrown down upon it, and thus made a barricade, which +held up all the rest. The guns fired without ceasing. Our Captain came +up: 'Nothing to do, my lads; we are caught. Be quick, get a white flag.' +We looked for a white flag.... There was none. At length a white +handkerchief was hoisted on a stick. And then a troop of horsemen +cantered down upon us. 'Lay yourselves in the ditch,' we heard. The +horses pawed our backs, and I assure you the Prussians did nothing to +hold them back. I will show you." + +And the man, taking off his jacket, bared his bruised and swollen back. + +"Still lying in the ditch, I noticed close to me the opening of a +gutter-stone stopped up with mud and grass. I tried to pull it out; it +gave way. I got into the narrow passage, and cried out to my companion: +'There is room but for one.' + +"'It is one safe and sound,' he answered, and stopped up the opening of +the pipe again. + +"For twenty-six hours I lay in there, with the Germans overhead. Never +in my life did I think of my wife and children as I did then! About +eleven o'clock, when all the noise had ceased, I ventured out of my +hole. People who were working hard by took me in, dressed my wound, and +gave me civilian clothes. I hope to escape to the woods and join the +French army again." + +And so saying the man went away. We called him back to slip some +biscuits and chocolate into his hand. With a smile he pointed to his +full pockets, and said, "I am well stored, you see. I will share with +the others." Alas, he was not alone! The convoy amounted to 800 +soldiers. About 15 had been killed, 350 taken prisoners, and the rest +were hidden in the woods. The boldest or the luckiest might reach the +French lines. The others would probably wander about, like wild beasts +who hide themselves, would suffer cold and hunger, and then after +weeks or months of this wretched life they would be caught and sent +to Germany ... unless they were shot. + +Our thoughts were mournful as death when at nightfall we climbed a +second time to the hay-loft. We could not sleep, our anxiety was too +great. Were the Germans still gaining ground? Would they sweep onward, +like a cloud of insects, towards Paris, whose splendour and renown +dazzled and attracted them invincibly? Oh, may they burn their wings +there and be carbonised to the last one! The next day we went to see the +place of the skirmish. The fields on both sides of the road were all +covered over with things the soldiers had thrown away. In some places +the grass was heaped with knapsacks, papers, clothes, and arms. We +tramped on; the road wound its way through meadows and woods, and then +got into a funnel-shaped valley. Here had been the thickest of the +fight. The cavalry came up from behind; there were the guns on the rocks +to the right and left. Alas, the convoy had really been caught in a +trap! The three carts still stood in the middle of the road, and the +meadows were thickly strewn with soldiers' things, papers, and discarded +arms. Colette discovered a beautiful sword hidden in a bush; she +quickly put it back again, that presently she might come and fetch it. +It would be so much gained. A passer-by gave us some other details. +There was a body here, another there. It was to be feared that a few +more dead soldiers were hidden in the wood. On our way back we picked up +all the letters, books, and papers which we found, hoping we might later +on forward them to the soldiers' families, and at the same time tell +them news of the unfortunate convoy. We passed through Neuville, and +there we saw the ammunition captured the day before, heaped up in a +yard. Another Cerberus, adorned with a spiked helmet, watched over +mountains of bullets and boxes of cartridges. There was seven million +francs' worth, said the peasants. + +Returning to the village, sunk in despondency, we heard the sound of a +drum, and we arrived just in time to listen to the proclamation which +the rural constable read aloud: + +"Arms and clothes, belonging to French soldiers, must be gathered up, +and brought without delay to the Mayor's house.... By order of the +German authorities," said the reader, a small hunchbacked man. + +And tears rolled down his cheeks. + +At Mme. Laroye's we found a change for the better. The refugees had set +out homewards, and the friends from Laon, by taking leave, enabled us +to live once more after the fashion of civilised people. With pleasure +we stretched our limbs, which three nights had stiffened and tired out, +in a comfortable bed. + +From that time Fate proved merciful, and for a few days spared us new +troubles and violent emotions. Of course tears always trembled on our +eyelids, if some incident happened to revive our wounds; but after so +many mental pangs the surrounding peace was a solace to our minds. Life +sprang up anew in our hearts, and with life, spirits. Many a time--was +it a reaction?--we burst out laughing, broke into mad, inextinguishable +laughter. Liza more than once set us in a roar. Liza is Mme. Laroye's +maid,--a maid who has land of her own, who possesses a mile away a +house, a horse, a dog, and, in ordinary times, a husband. But, as the +times we live in are by no means ordinary, Zidore--for he is called +Zidore--had joined the army, to make war against the King of Prussia. + +Was Mme. Laroye alone? Liza would discharge with assiduous attention the +duties of her place. Had Mme. Laroye friends or relations to entertain? +Liza went home again, and reappeared only to give herself up to her +menial duties. Liza is a tall woman, clumsily built, with a funny +Hun-like face. Her small eyes, her high cheekbones, prove that a drop of +Asiatic blood runs in her veins. Have I not hinted, in a former chapter, +that Attila may have sent a reconnoitring party down here? But if Liza +has inherited her strong frame and her snub nose from her ancestors, the +Huns, to whom does she owe her restlessness and her pusillanimity? No +doubt to her great-grandmother, the Frankish woman, who had to submit to +the wild Asiatic. For Liza was not brave; Liza did not dare face the +Prussians. From Laon, Morny, and other places, people fled to Chevregny. +It was then an additional reason for Liza's fellow-villagers to run away +farther too. The women had made up their minds to go. As soon as the +enemy was descried from afar, Liza's horse--Mouton--and Mme. Laroye's +horse--Gentil--would be put to, and both fiery steeds--as fiery as their +names--would take their mistresses to a safe place. + +But, alas! man proposes.... A cry arose: "The Prussians!" Liza heard it, +snatched up a big loaf in bewilderment, and went full gallop towards the +forest with her dog at her heels. After her galloped a troop of her +companions just as bewildered. They went down the road, struck across +the country, cleared the hedges, and plunged into the forest. In the +heart of the wood they stopped, blessing their star which had led them +to this wild and safe spot. At that very moment they became speechless. +The report of a cannon resounded in the air, then a second one, and a +full volley followed. The poor wretches had thrown themselves headlong +into the valley, where the convoy struggled against its foes, and the +grape-shot fell upon them without mercy. The harmless troop, however, +lifted up its suppliant arms towards Heaven, which did not see them at +all, for the foliage was too thick, and muttered hollow prayers to some +sylvan divinity which heard them not, for the cannon was too loud. Then +they ran away and cowered under the bushes. Shells bespattered them +facetiously with moss and earth. They crouched in a hut that happened to +be there. A malignant cannon-ball carried off a corner of the roof. They +stuck close to the trunk of a tree. Merely to tease them bullets tore +off its leaves and its branches, which rained gently down upon their +heads. The unfortunate fugitives, at last gloomily resigned, sat in a +circle, and waited for the end in the calm of despair. Then all sounds +ceased. They opened one eye, then the other, stretched themselves, got +up, counted themselves, and discovered with the greatest amazement they +had lost neither one hair, save those which they had torn in terror, nor +one button, save those which panting fear had burst from their corsage. +These refugees of the forest had no thought of leaving their precious +shelter. They ate the provisions which in their prudence they had +brought with them, and Liza's big loaf proved a great success. They +spent the night in the hut, and slept with one eye open, raising their +unquiet heads whenever they heard the tramping of a Prussian horse on +the road. In the morning nothing was to be heard. I do not know who was +courageous enough to poke her nose first out of the wood; I expect it +was the dog. At last, however, our villagers plucked up their courage, +and with common accord went back to their native hamlet. Mme. Laroye did +not receive Liza exactly with open arms, but with that gentle irony of +which she has the secret: + +"Well, well, Liza, I understand. 'The old lady is too slow,' you +thought, 'she will disturb us. She had better stay at home.' And so you +scampered off." + +Liza protested, and we laughed, and Colette pointed the moral of the +adventure. + +"It is very funny, Liza's story. But don't you think it is just like +ours?" + +The Prussians had forced open most of the houses, and had anticipated +the taxes which they hoped to levy. Fowls, pigeons, geese without +number, and even plump pigs were absent. At Liza's house the ravishers +had shown a certain modesty. A sack of flour, a few pigeons, one or two +ducks only had disappeared. But the intruders had turned the room +topsy-turvy. Did they look for treasure? And, by a sad whim, they had +seized upon two photographs, whose red plush frames were the ornament of +the mantelpiece--Liza in the garb of a nun, and Zidore in a soldier's +uniform. For what purpose had they torn up these precious pictures? + +"And Zidore had it taken the first day I saw him!" So the enemy had +destroyed the fond keepsake of a happy day! + +Really, the age we lived in was hard, and the Prussians heartless! All +the world was so firmly convinced of this that everybody stayed indoors +as much as possible and ventured reluctantly out of the village, for +fear of dangerous encounters. No one was bold enough to risk horse and +cart on the road, since the first soldier that came might requisition +both. Happy indeed was the owner who was not compelled to turn back and +drive the Prussian to a far-off place. Thus it happened that many a +villager, who, having gone out with team and horse for a few hours, +came back home on foot and alone three or four days later. From this +you may see that communication was not easy, even between places at no +great distance from one another. An old lady, seeing the Germans arrive +in Chevregny, died of the sudden shock, and for several days it was +impossible to send the sad tidings to her son, who was no farther off +than Laon. Indeed, we knew not what was happening in the neighbourhood, +still less at Morny. "The country is overrun with Prussians," we were +told. + +So the emotion was great when it was rumoured that flour ran short in +Chevregny, for Chevregny fed two other hamlets and a great many +refugees. Every morning the baker's shop was carried by storm. Every +morning the housewives had to wait their turn for an hour to get a loaf. +It was a heart-rending sight to see how the baker toiled; his wife did +not know which way to turn; his boy knew not what to be at. At this rate +the flour sacks would melt away like snow in an April sun. We had to +find other sacks, or famine would break out in the village. One morning, +then, Liza announced: "My horse is required to go and fetch flour at +Pont-Avers." + +In the country the word "requisition" does not exist. You are +"required"--that is all. Mouton, then, was required to go and fetch +provender. Very well. He could not tempt the greed of the Germans, being +well stricken in years, and somewhat lame. + +"But who will drive Mouton?" asked Mme. Laroye. + +"Well, I don't know, perhaps me," said Liza. + +"You don't say so, Liza," her mistress cried out. "There are men enough +left in the village to do that. Now a woman has to stay at home, that is +her right place." + +In the afternoon Liza came back, and said in a triumphant tone: + +"The blacksmith is driving to Pont-Avers. I have told them it was not a +woman's job." + +The good creature was delighted with her saying, and repeated over and +over again: + +"I told them so ... it is not a woman's job." + +Alas, how many things women had to take charge of which were not +"women's jobs"! How courageous and hard-working they were, the women of +the villages! The men had gone to the war, and left the harvest +ungathered. "The work must be done," said the women, and, without a +moment's rest, they bent in toil to the earth. We, too, did our share. +Perched upon steep ladders or hazardous trees, we picked thousands of +small blue plums, which Liza crammed into big-bellied casks. After +mysterious treatment the fruit was expected to turn into an exquisite +brandy, pronounced by the well-skilled old gossips a cure for every ill. +Better than that, we shut up with our own hands Mme. Laroye's +hiding-place. For who would have believed it? Her house was not in +order! She had buried a cash-box full of golden coins in her garden, but +we thought she had better remove a great many other things just as +valuable as money. Besides, she had a hiding-place. It was not a +fanciful hiding-place like ours, but a serious hiding-place, contrived +by a workman, a past-master in digging and masonry. The cellar opens +into the arched entrance of the house. In a corner of this cellar is a +trap-door which, lifted up, leads to a break-neck flight of steps hewn +out in the rock. At the foot of the steps is a smaller cellar, which is +the hiding-place. We took down the other silver, linen, fine old shawls, +at which we gazed with envious eyes, and then the wine. + +"Not all the wine, dear cousin, not all. They will never believe you +have no wine at all." + +When the trap-door was closed, we carried down with great trouble a few +barrowfuls of earth, which a skilful hand raked over properly. Then we +stamped upon it, swept the cellar, scattered grey dust over the fresh +earth, and put old boxes and tubs in the corner. Shrewder than a +Prussian would he be who saw anything here! Alas, it was a beast who +brought our fine work to nothing! In the course of time we heard that +Uhlans on their way through Chevregny put horses into the cellar. The +horses, as they are wont to, pawed and scratched the ground. + +"It sounds hollow!" cried the Prussians. + +"It sounds wine!" they went on, in a fit of inspiration, and then +discovered they had been cheated. + +I do not know what became of the other objects, but I know perfectly +well the way Mme. Laroye's wine went. + +In spite of these interesting occupations, we were bored. And yet we had +discovered in Bouconville, three miles off, a well-stored shop which +supplied us with cotton, wool, and stuffs to give work to our idle +fingers. In spite of Mme. Valaine's anxiety, we went, two or three +together, and brought back in triumph what was wanting. But we never +ventured into the wood, and on our homeward journeys we cast sidelong +glances at the "sand-pit," whose green shade always allured us. Such is +the name of a few acres of wood, belonging to my mother-in-law, where I +hope some day to install my household gods. There a brooklet murmurs, +and hard by shall be my house, with a willow charming and majestic, an +ash lofty and elegant to give me shade. There I shall live happy on milk +and honey--goats and bees will be mine--with my husband and the children +which I trust God will grant me. We shall be once more in Arcady. + +Thus I mused on my way home, when suddenly some German troops appeared +on the horizon to dispel my dream of Arcady, and sent me home in haste +to the shelter of the farm. + +I have said we were bored. Life was chiefly unbearable for want of news. +What was going on? For two days we had heard an echo of the guns. Was +there a battle? The first Germans we had seen had told us with a sneer: + +"Parisse, Parisse, within dree tays we are in Parisse!" + +Had the progress of the haughty boors been stayed? Hope trembled at the +bottom of our hearts; hope, which dared not grow, and which we dared not +avow. + +Ten times a day we left our needlework or our book to run to the garden. +We listened. A kind of rumbling was all we heard. Was it to the east, +the north, or the south? Was it a singing in our ears or was it +cannon-shots? + +"What if we placed our ears to the ground?" + +And so we lay on the grass like so many dead bodies, and concentrated +our whole souls in listening. + +"There certainly is a rambling." This conviction filled our hearts with +joy and anxiety, and the whole day long we fidgeted about the house. +Besides, we could not stay for ever in Chevregny. We had to make up our +minds. + +"Since the Germans are here, there, and everywhere," I said, "we had +better go back home, where at least we are comfortable and at ease." + +In Chevregny, to be sure, comfort is unknown. For instance, cleanliness +does not hold a large place in the people's life, though we had +transformed the bakehouse into a very decent bathroom. Every evening +Pierrot was washed at the pump, and pretended to throw the water which +deluged him to the bright and passionless moon. + +As long as the weather kept warm it was pleasant enough, but all the +same home would be better. But before taking so long a journey, we +thought it well to think over it at leisure. A word from M. Lonet +settled the matter. "There is no danger," he wrote; "some one ought to +come back; the house might be occupied." + +If one of us went, then we would all go. Union is strength. Boldly we +had come to Chevregny by night, nine in number, including the dogs. +Nine in number we would go home by day. We had spent a week in +Chevregny. + +On Tuesday we had Gentil put to. Liza huddled our luggage into the cart, +helped Mme. Valaine and Pierrot up, and sat on the box. In a few feeling +words, one and all took leave of our kind cousin, and we followed on +foot. + +We walked on without hardihood, casting suspicious glances before and +behind. The mere shadow of a helmet would have put us to flight. +Besides, the horse might be requisitioned, and Liza left us at Bievres, +and drove home as fast as she could. In Bruyeres we met with a big dog +almost as alarming as a Prussian. Percinet is fond of fighting, and he +cannot bear the sight of his kindred alive. Two days before he had +satisfied this thirst for blood by killing two dogs. At the entrance of +Morny we passed three riders on the road, dressed in green, booted and +spurred, with their helmets on. We did not think them mere gendarmes, as +we heard afterwards they were. They contented themselves with gazing at +the dusty, weary group that went by. At length we got home. Dear little +house! it had not altered! Its white walls were still there; so was its +grey roof. The Virginia creepers shook their branches like arms to wish +us a hearty welcome. We threw the gate open. The dogs rushed into the +stable at a cheerful bound. + +Leaving the luggage in the lobby, we dropped into the dining-room +chairs, and gave a deep sigh of satisfaction. + + + + +CHAPTER V + + +We were at home again! This was a set-off for the misfortunes with which +a wretched fate had loaded us. The house was as snug as we had left it, +and we had but to return to our old habits. So we did and exactly! The +cake we had left, at our flight, was still lying on the table. As we +were hungry we each snatched our share, and ate it with ravenous +appetite. It was a bit hard, but all the same delicious. We wandered +through the house with joy. We were at home again! How many of those who +had fled from the invasion had renounced the pleasures of home for +months or even years? Some of out friends at Morny had not yet come +back. Yet could we pity them? A thousand times no; at least they would +never endure the trials to which the conquered are exposed, and which, +after a momentary calm, once more had depressed us. The presence of the +Germans, quartered in the village, seemed unbearable. + +Ah, poor, poor snails that we were! In spite of our efforts, the flood +had overtaken and submerged us. The tree we tried to climb was too low; +the inundation covered everything; and we could not foresee the end of +the nightmare. How long should we have to groan and struggle in that +all-devouring water? We besought God to deliver us, and God seemed deaf +to our prayers and blind to our tears. We called to you who were on the +mainland over the mountains, insurmountable as the great wall of China. +Our hearts called to you, and no one answered. For a fortnight the +floods had been out, and already we were losing patience. + +Morally drowned as we were, we still had a physical need of food. A +household of seven persons and two dogs must furnish its larder and +cellar with abundant provisions. The grocers of the village had but +empty shops; our neighbours were unhumbled, because each was the owner +of a plot of ground. Less favoured than the poorest of the poor, we had +no crop at all. What would become of us? I have said we had no crop. I +was wrong. We even had a superb crop. The pear trees, even those which +these last fifteen years had yielded no fruit at all, had deemed it a +point of honour to do their best, in hard times, and were all laden with +huge plump pears, which made your mouth water. They were not ripe yet; +but, determined not to tempt the green-uniformed marauders, we made up +our minds to gather them. For two days we picked them, and filled basket +upon basket with pears, long or round, green or yellow. + +Then there was the problem to solve, where to hide them? We laid our +heads together, and by unanimous consent decided upon the deserter's +attic. On one side, the attic was full of faggots; on the other, behind +the chimney that comes up from the wash-house, there was a floor-space, +about eight feet square, and there we laid our beautiful pears amid +shreds of paper instead of straw. To conceal their retreat, we heaped up +at the entrance old boxes, hen-coops, and a garden roller in elaborate +disorder. Nobody would ever have thought that this innocent pile of +rubbish was a treasure-hoard. But we, who knew, put one foot here, +another there, and at a bound we were on the floor in the very abode of +the pears, where cunning paths allowed us to visit our friends and +choose the juiciest among them. We never made these visits without a +groan, for we always forgot the existence of a big cistern, fitted up in +the roof, and constantly knocked our heads against this iron ceiling. +But the shock itself kindled our imagination, and struck out a flash of +genius. + +"Suppose we put the wine into the cistern!" + +We thought we had given all our wine to the French soldiers, and then we +discovered in the bottom of a box about thirty bottles, which we +resolved to hide from the Germans' thirst. I must admit that our +sobriety equals the camel's. We drink hardly anything besides water. A +bottle of wine a week satisfies the needs of the whole family. But, all +the same, we did not want our wine to moisten German throats. So through +the yard, up the ladder, over the boxes, the bottles went their way. Not +too well poised on a tottering scaffolding I wriggled into the narrow +space between the beam and the cistern. I held out a groping hand, into +which was placed the neck of a bottle, and little by little the +receptacle was filled. We went quickly to work. My sister-in-law carried +up the bottles with care; I laid them down with a gentle hand. For it is +well known that a Prussian ear detects the clinking of bottles a mile +off, and of course the Prussian, contiguous to the ear, being +forewarned, rests not until he has secured the too imprudent bottles. +But all of a sudden I was aroused by a loud shout, instantly hushed to a +discreet silence. + +I jumped down from my scaffold, leapt over the pears, scaled the boxes, +tumbled down the ladder, and found myself in the midst of a perplexed +group. + +"Grandmother, what is the matter?" + +Yvonne and Colette, prying in the cellar, had discovered a fair-sized +keg, which gurgled when it was shaken. + +The treasure-hunters thrust in the bung with an effort, inserted a tap, +drew out a glass of the liquor and brought it to me. + +"What is it?" + +Unctuous, yellowish substance. Was it oil, or syrup? I looked at it, +shook the glass, smelt it, even tasted a drop with the tip of my tongue, +and then announced: + +"It is glucose." + +Glucose! glucose! and we had no sugar left! Every morning we drank milk +and coffee unsweetened by honey. Mme. Valaine declared my diagnosis +right, and we leapt for joy like marionettes. + +There was no more meat, no butter, and eggs were uncommonly rare, but +sweetened dishes take the place of everything. Baskets full of pears! A +keg of glucose! Thirty bottles of wine! Who talked of dearth? For +truth's sake I must say glucose did not answer as well as we expected. +When I tried to sweeten the milk with it, the milk turned sour, and with +it the experiment turned also, to my shame. + +On the other hand, by stewing the beloved pears with glucose and wine, +I obtained an unforgettable dish, over which a jury of cooks greedily +licked its lips. And every other evening, for two months, our scanty +menu was thus composed: soup, stewed pears, bread at discretion, fresh +water at will. The glucose went to keep the wine company in the cistern, +except for a few bottles of either liquid, which we craftily concealed +in the garden, and in case of need we had but to cry out: + +"Pierrot, go and fetch the bottle that is in the reeds or in the blue +fir ... or in the big yew...." + +It was much more amusing than simply to go down into the cellar. + +Thus our life was not uninteresting, but our chief occupation was to +watch the horizon, east and south, where our soldiers were fighting. The +guns were coming sensibly nearer; we heard them growl day and night, and +when it grew dark we saw shells burst above the hills. We spent many +hours in the garden looking out for these illuminations, hoping we might +understand something from the way they went. Then came the gleam of an +explosive, striping the sky with a flash of lightning or with a slow +trail of light. The better to observe, we got up the ladder, and sat on +the wall. To the casual passer-by we might have resembled a flock of +crows at roost waiting for gossip's tales. Mme. Valaine had no taste +for these perilous exercises, and contented herself with the stories we +told her. For us the only spectacle we thought worth while was that very +one which almost rent our hearts. How eagerly we wished for the shells +to burst nearer, nearer, to set the house in a blaze so that we might be +set free from our chains! + +About the 25th of September took place the first shock between us and +the German army. It was nearly eight o'clock in the evening. The supper +over, I went into the garden, and was peering at the dark sky, heedless +of the cold wind which caused my hair and my shawl to flutter, when a +frightful uproar broke the silence. Gruff voices cried out vociferously; +heavy boots kicked at the gates; the angry dogs barked till they choked. + +"Good Heavens! what is happening?" + +I threw myself down the ladder, fled through the garden--those days were +full of wild races--got to the house, and saw Genevieve hasten forth, a +key in her hand. + +"They want us to open the gate," she said, "and we must." + +Yvonne seized the dogs by the collar and dragged them in. The gate was +hardly unlocked when those without threw it open, and at the same time +overran the yard. They were furious, and one of them shouted out in bad +French: + +"When the Germans knock at a door, it should be opened immediately." + +"You think so, do you, you Boche!" + +On hearing us speak fluent German they softened, and looked at us in +amazement. + +They all had the same round faces, which the lantern of an under-officer +lit up. + +They wanted a lodging: barns, stables to shelter men and horses. All +that was difficult to get! + +"There is room but for one horse in the stable." + +"Well, that will do for two horses and two men." + +"And here is the wash-house." + +"Six men will sleep there." + +The others withdrew to look for a lodging somewhere else. The remainder, +who seemed to be harmless blockheads, were convoys. We heaved a deep +sigh, but hardly had a mouthful of air reached our lungs, when the yard +was already swarming with a new mob. Standing on the steps I engaged in +parley with the _Feldwebel_. + +"The house is chock-full, and eight soldiers are already lodged in the +outhouses." + +He was young, big, and stout, and his hard-featured face was deeply +scarred. + +Of course he did not allow himself to be prevailed upon. + +"It is all the same to me," he answered; "make room for me if you have +none." + +He ordered me to open the coach-house, but when he saw it crammed up +with all sorts of things, he made a wry face. + +"And up there?" he asked, pointing at the deserter's attic. + +Good Heavens! the pears! the wine! I was trembling with fear, and was at +a loss how to answer when the man altered his mind: + +"I would rather have a bedroom to myself," and so saying he opened +Antoinette's door. + +"That will do," said the person, and waving back the silently waiting +soldiers he kept but two of them with him. We began to remove a few +things from the room, which Antoinette had always kept for herself, and +before the sergeant's taunting eyes we carried away clothes, books, and +knick-knacks. The door we had left ajar was suddenly thrown open, and a +little coxcomb of an officer came in and cried out in a cheerful tone: + +"Oh! oh! Two at a time!" + +That was more than we could stand, and leaving blankets and coverlets we +ran away. + +At the corner of the house a brutal arm stopped me, and a soldier I +hardly saw in the night muttered something I did not understand about +money--five francs. I tried to break loose from the man's hold, and +answered at random we were no shopkeepers and sold nothing. + +"If you are busy," he said, "another lady would do." + +In the dim light of a glimmering window I caught sight of a +Slavonic-featured, black-bearded, sneaking-eyed face that belonged to +one of the stable-dwellers--a perfect brute. He looked so strange, his +voice was so peculiar that I suddenly understood the meaning of his +words. Frightened, I shook my arm to get it free, set off running, and +got so quickly out of sight he might have believed I had been swallowed +up by the night. I rushed into the house, banged the door, turned the +key in it, pushed the bolts, and even then I was not sure I was secure. +I wished for padlocks, bars, chains, to protect us against such +creatures. We thought we would never dare go to bed. + +With Mme. Valaine I went through the house to test the wooden shutters. +In the street the carts of the convoy stood close to the house; here and +there we saw a lantern glimmer. Lying under the awnings the drivers +tumbled and tossed, and from time to time uttered heavy groans. Those +carts reminded us of monstrous beasts, hunch-backed and mischievous, +which squatted at our door to watch and threaten us. The yard was pitch +dark, all seemed to be in a sound sleep, but for the horses, which +kicked and pawed the ground of the narrow stable. The men were snoring; +the dogs shut up in the lobby whined gently. We talked in a low voice +and went on tip-toe. In our own house we felt beset with dangers and +cares. Without taking off our clothes, we laid ourselves down, our eyes +wide open, our ears attentive to all outside sounds, our nerves on edge. +So we waited for the break of day. + +The Germans got up at the first glimmer of a misty sun, and we watched +them through the trellised shutters. They had cooked a potato soup, a +grey and sticky stuff, to which they added some brandy, and which they +ate without conviction. + +For hours together they peeled vegetables, hummed tunes, whistled, +dawdled up and down; but they never drew a drop of water from the pump, +and they seemed wholly unacquainted with the fact that a human being +ought to wash. Then they began cleaning their arms most carefully, and +deluged them with petroleum and oil. Our amazement was the same which +the sight of wigwams or niggers' cabins might have roused, seen for the +first time. Their guns, leaning against the gate, confirmed this +impression. Real savages' arms, the bayonets were about a hand's +breadth, and notched like a saw. At the mere thought of the wounds such +teeth would make in the flesh, an icy chill ran through our veins. + +About nine, after half an hour's monotonous shouting, the convoy filed +off, and soon after vanished from sight. As soon as they were gone we +rushed out. The street swarmed with people, like an ant-hill which a +clumsy foot has trodden on. Well! well! German boots leave traces. The +High Street of Morny had never before witnessed such filth. On all sides +lay dirty straw, muddy rags, formless scraps of iron. The horse-dung +looked clean compared with the rest. + +As to ourselves, we cried with horror at the sight of our poor yard, +into which we could not put our foot. Oily pools stood here and there; +the pavement, bespattered with mud, was covered all over with dirty +rags, greasy papers, vegetable peelings, and, overtopping all the rest, +what Antoinette pompously called "human dejections." And yet in a corner +of the garden was a closet formerly intended for the gardener.... But +such people.... + +Disgusted and bewailing, old Tassin spent the whole afternoon in +cleaning the yard, and made more than one unpleasant discovery, such as +about 40 lb. of rotten meat concealed in the straw. The "small room" was +in a sorry plight. The pandours had emptied the ink-pot into a +work-table, scribbled the walls all over, broken a vase, taken away a +woollen blanket, an eider-down, and a door-curtain. As to the mattress +and the spring-mattress, we could not have touched them with a pair of +tongs, covered as they were with spots of grease. It is agreeable to +receive Germans! + +Antoinette instantly made up her mind to change her room, and easily +transformed one of the attics. + +We went roundly to work, and the "small room" was soon as empty as a +Pomeranian's head. We had made up our minds that the creatures should +bring straw with them if they required hospitality a second time. To the +King of Prussia himself we would have grudged a bed, lest he should +leave it in as bad a condition as his men. + +The convoy came back that very evening. Our guests of yesterday went +back to their lodging. Only the inhabitants of the "small room" did not +return. Perhaps what was left them of conscience reproached them with +theft. + +Early in the morning the carts went off, and after three hours' work old +Tassin declared he had removed all traces of their second visit. The +whole village complained that the rascals had not only dirtied whatever +they approached, but had stolen what they wanted, wasted provender and +oats, and had thrown down whole sheaves of wheat for their horses to lie +on. + +In the first weeks of the occupation the invaders bled the country to +death. In Morny they took thousands of fowls, hundreds of pigs and +sheep, and I don't know how many horses and cows. M. Lantois' black +bull, which his ravishers had tethered to a cart, and then abandoned in +the middle of the road, protested in a wild, fierce, and fitful roar +that he repeated every other minute for hours together. The farmers +dreaded marauders still more than official requisitions. For what was +requisitioned they obtained, if they insisted, a note of hand, often +scribbled in pencil and almost illegible, but at least proving they had +been deprived of something. The soldiers of course took an unfair +advantage of their victims, who knew not German, and cheated them in +every way. We were often asked to translate such I.O.U.'s as had been +composed according to the writer's own fancy. "Paid and carried away a +horse," wrote one requisitioner who had but paid with lies.--"Exchanged +two horses of equal worth," another pretended, when a broken-down hack +had supplied the place of a good mare.--"Received 40 lb. of bacon." And +the honest customer knew he had gained 450 kilog. on the pork-butcher. + +In spite of all, the country people attached great importance to these +notes of hand, and the marauders gave them none. They went two or three +together, got into the houses when the people were working out in the +fields, searched them from top to bottom, and laid hands on what pleased +them. They stripped the hen-houses and dovecots; they would drop in +unawares when the people were about to sit down to dinner, and then +divert themselves by seizing and feasting upon the dishes before the +balked peasants' very faces. Thus eaten out of house and home, the +village would soon be starved. The Mayor of Morny and M. Lonet resolved +to go to Laon and seek some protection against the raiders. The answer +they got from the Germans was that, first, rural matters were no concern +of theirs, and secondly, that the people were expected to give +everything the soldiers asked for. + +A word to the wise is enough. + +Those who have not known the evils of invasion cannot imagine the rage +and despair which filled our hearts at being thus enslaved and ground +down. Impotent wrath, overwhelming despondency took hold of our souls, +at once humiliated and revolted. Like true civilised people, we could +not understand why we were forbidden to claim justice, to seek redress; +why we were expected to yield to brute strength. And there was no use to +cry out for help, to crave assistance. It seemed to us that we were +forsaken by God and men. + +But was the trap shut tight? Were we, for instance, whose interests, +life, and dearest affections lay on the other side of the front, without +means to break through the enemy's barrier? Were we actually prisoners? + +My mother-in-law made up her mind to go to Laon in order to consult +competent judges. I was to accompany her. This poor Laon, which I had +seen but a few weeks ago bright with French animation, in what state did +we find it! We saw a few civilians only, with hard and hostile faces. On +the other hand there were a great many grey-clad Germans in the streets +with their helmets on, bustling about in the best of humour. They seemed +at home everywhere, and masters of all the houses. Most shops were shut +up. I tried to get into the only one I saw open, but nobody was in it. +Only in the recesses of the back-shop a big hand was busy about a +saucepan, and heavy steps shook the spiral staircase. It is easy to +understand that I had had enough of it, and that I hastened out with +all possible speed. The sight of their forsaken shops would have rent +the hearts of the owners had they been gifted with second sight. One of +them, I suppose it was a grocer's, had been smashed to atoms. Glass +jars, drawers, looking-glasses were but things of the past, and the +floor was covered all over with a litter twenty inches high, of +biscuits, sweets, macaroni, rice, and odds and ends of all kinds. We +went to see the Mayor, and asked him the questions which we were anxious +to have answered. Were the Germans to settle in the country? Was it +possible to go to Paris? His answer was like a death-knell. + +Nothing was to be done. The Germans were not likely to clear out. He +deemed it folly to try to go away. I left the room heart-broken. + +We arrived in Morny just in time to see some German infantry march +through the street. They came from the front, and their ill-looks filled +us with joy. They trudged along with weary faces, and were all muddy, +and bent as if with old age. "Just look at them," we said. "Where do +they come from? Surely they are beaten men. Is the French army +advancing?" + +Colette, hidden behind the curtains, never failed to throw her wishes +after the Germans as they passed through the village. + +"Die, die, die. Die, you nasty red-haired fellow. Die, you fat brute. +Die, you young whipper-snapper. Oh, a wounded man! Die too, poor wretch; +die, die, die"; and the litany drew to a close only when the regiment +had filed off. + +"That is to help the French," said she. + +Many an adventure befell us in the month of October. I can merely refer, +for instance, to a certain officer who at eleven o'clock one night +wished to lodge "twenty horses in our barn"; or to four requisitioners +who dragged us out of bed at five in the morning, and forced us to dress +in haste, merely to prove we had no pigs. These same soldiers delighted +to talk German with French women; tried to convince us that England was +responsible for the war. "The whole world is against us," they said in a +sulky voice; "the French, the English, the Russians, the Belgians...." + +"But you are so numerous." + +"Not so numerous as all that." + +I remember also that we were once awaked by two drunken soldiers, who +insisted upon our opening the window, and who at our refusal threatened +and vociferated for an hour, promising to come back and set fire to the +house. + +On the other hand, listen to the tragical, horrific history of one +afternoon--it was a washing day; the charwoman had forgotten to close +the gate. Two or three of us were in the yard, when a sergeant and four +men made their appearance. Horses were waiting in the street. The +sergeant was of lofty stature, stupid, grave, blue-eyed, and +dark-bearded. He asked us if we could furnish lodgings for "Herr Mayor +and his ten men." The honour was not tempting. We pleaded want of room, +we wrapped up our obvious ill-will in a mass of words. Antoinette +carelessly pointed at the "small room," and hinted that we had no other +left. The men withdrew, the horses rode away, and we sang songs of +victory. + +But the following morning, about seven, I heard a noisy knock at the +door. I hastened out, and reluctantly admitted the visitors of +yesterday. From the top of his head the sergeant announced that "Herr +Mayor was very cross, furious even, that we declined to receive him." He +had sent the ruffians now to see how many rooms we might place at his +disposal. I felt sure anxious ears were listening behind every shutter +in the house. The alarm had been given, and the sluggards were making +what speed they could. The fellows entered. The family gathered +together, scared and haggard. A few of them were dressed; the others +were in dressing-gowns. The Germans examined the rooms whose morning +disorder had been hastily concealed, went up to the attic and down to +the cellar. The sergeant then pronounced judgment in a solemn voice. We +might have offered five bedrooms to the German army. + +Five bedrooms! And we had but five rooms, containing five beds! Where +should we have slept? On straw with the dogs! That was a happy thought! + +"And you would have offered Herr Mayor that small room overlooking the +yard! Herr Mayor!" + +As a matter of fact we had offered Herr Mayor nothing. But the poor +wretch was as much shocked as if we had proposed to lodge the Crown +Prince in a pig-sty. + +Well, then, to punish us and to teach us the respect due to German +officers, we were condemned to take into our house Herr Mayor and his +ten men. + +Death-like silence. A thunderbolt had fallen and struck us dumb. The +soldier went on: + +"Get dinner ready at half-past twelve--a table for one in the +dining-room, for men in the kitchen." + +At last we found our tongues. + +"You talk of dinner! But we have no provisions to cook. Meat is not to +be had at the butcher's...." + +"You will be provided with meat. We want wine--champagne." + +"Champagne!" We laughed in the face of the man. + +"There is no wine in our cellar. We drink nothing but water." + +"Anyhow, mind you do things properly." + +This was said in a threatening voice, and we made no reply. + +The sergeant had executed his mission, but he thought fit further to +admonish us on his own account. + +"Are you aware that the Germans are unwilling invaders? They did not +want to make war. Who wished it? Can you doubt? It was England." + +"Was it? Oh, really!" + +"And the civilians should be kind to the soldiers, who are very +well-behaved. For instance, we ourselves all come of distinguished +families. A private soldier is not necessarily a scoundrel." + +"I know that," Genevieve answered. "My brother is a soldier. But as +patriots yourselves, you should understand that we are patriots too, and +that it is painful for us to receive the enemy." + +"The enemy! The enemy!" + +The sergeant, bounding with rage, struck the pavement with the butt-end +of his gun. + +"No, we are not the enemies of women and children; we know how to behave +ourselves...." + +While he discoursed, one of the young men of "a distinguished family," +standing on the staircase, caught sight of my husband's shoes on a +shelf. He seized a pair and put one shoe into each pocket. Turning round +he encountered Yvonne's looks, and hastily replaced his spoil. Twice, +thinking himself unobserved, he recovered the shoes. But being too +carefully watched he gave it up as a bad job, and his superior officer +concluded his speech in these words: + +"If the French went to Germany the civilians would receive them kindly." + +Indeed! I was pleased to hear it. But if the German women are ready to +give a hearty welcome to our soldiers--and that is quite easy to +understand--it does not follow that we ought to deal in like manner with +their sons and husbands. We have never pretended to govern ourselves by +the fashion of Berlin! + +At length they went away, and we had but to yield and prepare our +saucepans. We would rather have given a dinner-party to Gargantua and +his family than prepare food for a German officer and ten men just as +German. We went to Mme. Tassin in our extremity. She would surely come +to our help, in spite of rheumatism. The meat--about half an ox--was +duly brought; half of it was for soup, half to be roasted. In the +wash-house, Mme. Tassin made a gigantic soup, flavoured with a thousand +vegetables. In the kitchen we peeled mountains of potatoes, and prepared +two bottles of French beans, which a soldier had brought in, stolen I +know not where. Antoinette, uncorking one of the bottles, broke its +neck, and cut her finger. Her blood poured upon the beans. Hurrying to +help her I tore off a bit of my finger. + +"Never mind! get on with the potatoes!" + +At length the work was finished. + +Huge and lean, wall-eyed and mouthed like a pike, Herr Mayor arrived +with happy nonchalance, and seated himself at the table. His attentive +servant for very little would have served him on his knees. Dinner done, +Herr Mayor required tea, and, being presented with a teapot, he demanded +a liqueur, to flavour the tea. A few drops of rum were all that was left +of an old bottle which happened to be in the dining-room. I took it in. +As distant as Sirius I saluted the intruder. With a smile Herr Mayor +made a low bow. Something like intelligence lit up his pale eyes. He +cleared his throat, and faltered out: + +"The ladies ... would be ... safer in Paris ... than here...." + +I gave the rum-bottle to his servant, removed a hundred miles off, and +answered: + +"Certainly, sir." + +I withdrew. + +In the kitchen the ten men seemed to be rather constrained; they talked +in a low voice, but did not lose their appetite for all that. My +mother-in-law stood by, thinking that too many things might have led +them into temptation. At last they went away; Herr Mayor too. His +servant informed us that he would come alone to supper, and that he +desired eggs and pancakes. With slow steps the officer went down the +street. Behind the buckler of our blinds we burst out into bitter +invectives: + +"Be off, you old cut-throat! you old scout! You grind the weak; you +bully women! You have eaten my finger-tip and have drunk the blood of +Antoinette! Cannibal! Man-eater!" + +The cannibal came back in the evening, ate a small _pate_, was pleased +with the poached eggs, and satisfied with the pancakes. Then he smoked +his cigar at leisure, and all the while remained unconscious of severe +eyes watching him from the garden. Yvonne and Colette made a wry face. +"The sight of him is enough to make you sick. Fancy! I saw him put a +whole egg into his mouth! His glass was covered with grease when he +drank. Ugh!" + +The next day after, another tune was played. + +At twelve, precisely, Herr Mayor arrived, and calmly declared that, as +his servant was out on urgent business, we must have the kindness to +wait upon him ourselves. + +"A pretty request, truly!" + +Mme. Tassin was nowhere. The omelette, done to a turn, was getting cold +in the kitchen. Meanwhile Herr Mayor was waiting in the dining-room. It +was high time that the dish should make the guest's acquaintance. I made +up my mind. + +"I will take his dinner to the man." + +"Never! You wait at table!" + +"And upon a Prussian!" + +"He did it on purpose, of course." + +I persisted. + +"I assure you I shall not deem myself degraded. And I promise you the +man will feel uneasy sooner than I." + +So beneath Herr Mayor's haughty nose I put the omelette _aux fines +herbes_. + +To the same nose I presented the roast veal with boiled potatoes, which +is dear to all German hearts, and thought I might rest on my laurels. +Then I saw that I had forgotten the sauce. Herr Mayor was chewing dry +veal, sunk in melancholy. I put the sauce-boat on the table within reach +of his hand. + +"I had forgotten this; I am not in the habit...." + +What did I say? Herr Mayor looked uneasy. He nearly begged my pardon.... +"Indeed, I am afraid I disturb you...." + +Ah! you deign to notice it? And you might as well have dined at the +village inn? But you don't think that you and your ten gormandisers have +reduced our stock of vegetables to nothing, and swallowed up our last +egg! + +But you have not always an officer at hand to give you information, and +so I thought I might improve the occasion. "What is the cannon," I +asked, "which thunders day and night in the south?" + +"We have been fighting in Craonne for the last ten days," said he; "the +battle is said to be coming to an end. Just before we were in Fismes." + +Herr Mayor pronounced Fismesse. In a doleful tone he bewailed the evils +of war. + +The regiment he belonged to had suffered forty per cent losses since the +beginning of war. He himself felt very ill. He had slept in the open air +seven rainy nights running. Had I any kinsman in the war? + +"Of course, my husband; and I get no news at all from him. That is the +worst of all privations." + +Herr Mayor nodded assent. These partings were cruel. Frau Mayor, too, +would have given a good deal to accompany her Mayor. As to ourselves, +our situation might change for the better. It was, for instance, to our +interest that the Germans should advance. The front would then be +removed farther from us. I answered that we should welcome no such +change for the better. But suppose that just the reverse happened? If +the Germans were driven back, the front would also remove farther? +Wouldn't it? + +"Oh! no, no.... Really, this war was stupid. England delights in making +mischief, and the French are mad to enter into an alliance with the +English, when another country was so eager to come to an agreement with +them. France and Germany would get on well with each other. What, then, +prevents a thoroughly good understanding?" + +"A mere nothing, sir; a grain of sand.... Alsace-Lorraine, sir." + +Herr Mayor shrugged his shoulders. He had forgotten Alsace-Lorraine. + +His lunch was over. I asked if he intended to come and dine at our +house. + +Again he seemed at a loss what answer to give. + +"H'm, h'm ... I am not sure. I will let you know." + +His grey cloak streamed in the air, and Herr Mayor went away never to +return. + +Some days after I met him on the road. He bowed very low, and with a +smiling face inquired after my husband. The double-faced fellow knew +only too well I had not heard from him, but in common politeness I was +fain to inquire also after his health. Herr Mayor was better, much +better. In a week he would be back at the front, and if he happened to +hear from my husband's regiment, he promised to send me the news. + +And with many a bow Herr Mayor smiled himself away. His face was not +ever smiling. The peasants were terrified at his way of carrying out +requisitions. On the other hand, it was rumoured that he believed +himself sprang from the thigh of Jupiter--I beg your pardon--of Wotan, +and spoke to no one. + +The family did not fail to exercise its flippancy at my expense. They +asked for the recipe of my philtres to charm Prussians; they urged me to +write a treatise on the art of training Germans, and prophesied a fine +future for me as a tamer of tigers. + +I did not mind being scoffed at. Too many cares claimed my attention. +Besides, Barbu and Crafleux had just appeared in our orbit. But I am +anticipating. Our chief anxiety was commonplace enough. The food problem +was hard to solve. Fortunately, in spite of direful predictions, bread +did not run short at the beginning of the war. Milk we had every day. +Though Mme. Lantoye had been robbed of several cows, and though children +were provided for first, she always gave us some. We had almost +forgotten the taste of meat. Butter and cheese, hard to discover, were +extravagantly dear, and eggs were as scarce as in Paris at the end of +the siege. We had laid by a small provision of rice and macaroni, +articles of food no more to be found in the shops; but we had decided to +keep this reserve for extremities, in case, for instance, a bombardment +kept us in the cellar. We all agreed to live from hand to mouth upon +what we could come by. My reflections were profound when, after half a +day's search, I found one egg, from which I had to concoct a dish for +the whole family. You laugh? A proof that you lack imagination. With a +single egg, as a base of operations, you can make pancakes, or +apple-fritters, flower-fritters, or bread-fritters, or any fritters you +like. By the way, I advise the use of nasturtiums. Rose leaves, on the +other hand, are rather tasteless. But here is something better. You make +some pastry, then beat up your one egg with a glass of milk, a few +crumbs of bread, a bit of cheese, if you have any; then you pour the +mixture on the pastry, put the whole in the oven, and when it is baked +you will find a dish that will feed six women. Oh! we made no +complaints; not yet, at least. Really when a _menu_ consists of a potato +fricassee to which laurel and thyme have given a zest, artichokes with +melted butter and chervil--butter, replaced by grease, alas!--fresh +salad, and juicy pears, who would not pronounce himself satisfied with +such a meal? Marmontel, who loved good cheer, Marmontel in the Bastille, +where he so highly appreciated the fare, Marmontel himself would have +been delighted with it. + +The want of light was the worst of our evils. Petroleum was no more to +be had, and candles were hard to come by. Linseed oil and modest +night-lights grudged us a glimmer by which we gloomily went to bed. +Therefore as soon as the night fell the fiend of melancholy seized upon +us. The dull light spread a gloom over the room we sat in, and from the +black corners dark thoughts seemed to rise and grow upon us. So we would +rather walk in the garden, or even look out of the window, when night +fell, than sit at our work or our writing-table. How many hours have I +spent leaning out of the window in a nightgown, and watching the shells +burst. In September and October, just after the Germans' arrival, there +were beautiful moonlit nights, worthy to be worshipped on bended knees; +yet I felt an inclination to imitate Salammbo and cry to the moon with +arms uplifted: + +"O moon, I hate you. You are deceitful, unrelenting, and cold, and even +the pale glimmer you send us you steal. There is nothing true but the +warm and cheerful sunbeams, which give us light and life. You fling your +silver arrows where you please, and throw what you choose into the +shade. You slip your sly rays into closed rooms, through cracks and +chinks; no secret escapes you. You favour illicit love, unpunished +crimes, acts of violence, and foul deeds. All those things you feast +upon, O moon! But your light is never so pleasant, your caress never so +soft, as when you shine on a battlefield, on places where men kill one +another. You take pleasure in the sight of dead bodies, shrivelled +limbs, wide-open mouths, features distorted in the weird horror of +death. You play on bloody weapons, on dark-mouthed cannon; you pass by +the wounded, crying for help, by dying men whose death-rattle is +unheard, and you smile yourself from the charnel-field, glad to leave +the victims in the unfathomable shades of night." + +Moon, I hate you! Everywhere and always you have looked on murderous +battles, unbrotherly contests, man maddened against man. You saw the +formidable army of Xerxes contend with the Greeks; you saw the Roman +Empire quivering at the onslaught of the Barbarians. But can any sight +you have ever witnessed be compared with that which you look down upon +to-day? Europe in arms, cannon spreading death everywhere, thousands of +men killed in the marshes of Poland, on the hills of Galicia, in France, +on the plains of Flanders? Are you pleased, O moon? + +Moon, I hate you! + +To shun the moon, to shut out the sound of the guns, I close the wooden +shutters, pull down the window, draw the curtains. The cannon are not +silent. Chilled with cold and horror, I fling myself on my bed, bury my +head in the pillows, creep under my blankets. The cannon still roars, +and shakes my bed. I wake up, and the cannon roars louder than ever. To +have lived, and have been sometimes careless and merry, we must have +been as mad and as blind as the moon herself. But we cannot attain to +the moon's insensibility, and that is why our laughter often turns to +tears, and humour ends in a sob. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + + +Morny being near to the battlefield, we naturally saw many soldiers. The +village sheltered four convoys at a time within its walls. Officers and +non-commissioned officers were billeted on the inhabitants, and we had +to bear our share of the common misfortune. And thus Barbu and Crafleux +fell to our lot. + +Barbu and Crafleux were two Prussian officers, escaped from a toy-shop, +and carefully wound up before they were let loose from Germany. They +always arrived side by side, with the same automatic stride, the one +tall, thin, and--bearded; the other short, stout, and--_crafleux_. I +must explain that _crafleux_ in the popular speech of Laon means a +misbegotten, rickety creature. The name was not well chosen, for the man +was solid, though ugly; but his round, clean-shaven face, his pig's eyes +sunk deep behind white lashes, well earned him the nickname. And Barbu +himself was no Adonis. He had a small head, with regular features, a +pointed beard, an aurified smile, cheeks seamed with scars. His style of +beauty is not that which I commend. But what matters the want of good +looks? Barbu and Crafleux revealed to us beautiful souls; they were two +model Prussians. + +One morning, then, the village constable brought in a smart sergeant, +who seemed to have been taken out of a bandbox. All bows and smiles, the +young man asked for rooms, and we dared not refuse him. The contest with +Herr Mayor had been a warning to us. + +"This will do," he said, entering Genevieve's room, "and this," passing +on to Yvonne's and Colette's. He withdrew, still with a smile on his +face, giving us full liberty to prepare the rooms and to rail as we +chose. + +"Alas!" groaned Genevieve. "Never again shall I like my room, after I +have seen a Prussian loll on my bed." + +"To begin with," I said, "you won't see him. And secondly, I have a just +and clear conception of a Prussian's method of repose. He stretches +himself out as if he were on duty, and his head on the pillow is +carefully adorned with a helmet. He is just as proper to look upon as +his photograph would be, taken after a review." + +We hung tasteless chromolithographs in the place of pretty +water-colours; we took away all the books, the knick-knacks, and the +papers. Here and there Colette pinned up peacock's feathers--"to bring +them ill-luck," she said. Then both rooms waited with a grim air for the +unwelcome guests. Presently the orderlies came in, brought heaps of +baggage, got everything ready for their masters, and withdrew. An +indiscreet curiosity prompted us to take an inventory of the riches +deposited with us. Yvonne and Colette spat, like two angry cats. + +"Look here! Isn't it a shame? For a single man, two boxes! five bags! +portmanteaux! Well, if he wants so much to go and fight...." Crafleux +was more modest, but Barbu had certainly imported a whole dressing-room +from Germany. The day after his arrival he showed off heaps of small +brushes in small boxes, small creams in small pots, small scents in +small bottles, and photographs and photographic apparatus, electric +lamps and re-fills for these lamps, sporting guns and india-rubber +cushions, soft blankets and uniforms without number. But he was chiefly +remarkable for his befrogged pyjamas of sky blue or Chinese flesh +colour! The sight of him must have been affecting when he had on his +helmet by way of nightcap! So Barbu and Crafleux installed themselves +downstairs, and we upstairs. Yvonne settled down in a tiny attic, and +Colette slept on a couch in Antoinette's room. I gave Genevieve a share +of my own bed in the room which already sheltered the youthful Pierrot. +We were not very comfortable, and what was worse, we suffered from the +cold. This requires an explanation. Some time ago a direful rumour had +spread about: "They have requisitioned a great number of mattresses in +Vivaise." Now Vivaise is a village not far from Morny. "You may be sure +they will do the same here," said the well-informed. And so, in all +houses, the beds were only half as high as before; and he was cunning +indeed who could say what had become of the missing part. We, for +instance, have plenty of mattresses: large, soft, elastic mattresses +which would make you wish to be ill and keep your bed--and should the +enemy of France rest upon them? That shall never be, we declared. By the +unanimous exertion of the whole family, climbing, pulling, pushing, +toiling, we succeeded in hoisting up most of these useful objects, and +hiding them in the loft under the roof. Every bed was left with one +only. When Barbu and Crafleux intruded themselves into the house, we +were hard put to it. One of us made shift with a palliasse, while +Genevieve and I slept on a hair mattress. This plan is not to be +recommended unless you choose to mortify your flesh, or to copy the +fakirs of India. We could have put up with our uncomfortable bedding if, +to add to our misfortune, the cold had not seized upon us. Our present +guests laid their hands upon heaps of blankets, their predecessors had +stolen two, and so we had just enough, and nothing to spare. + +We went to sleep as straight as arrows, one on each side of the bed; we +woke up in the morning twisted into knots, one against the other, like +two shivering cats. Despair drove Yvonne from one extreme to the other; +either she lay half-smothered with heat under an enormous eider-down, or +benumbed with cold under a thin cotton blanket. The authors of our +hardships tasted the honey-dew of sleep upon beds of down; they knew not +that threatening fists were shaken at them upstairs, and that bitter +invectives vowed them to execration. Yet I think that when logs +unexpectedly tumbled down, and pieces of furniture joined the dance, +they gave a start and felt uneasy. But on the whole, as quiet as +Vert-Vert at the Visitandines, they led a happy life, got up between +nine and ten, saw about their convoy, fed well at the village inn, often +went shooting, or, if they had a mind, drove out to Laon, came back home +to rest a while and dress for dinner, and then about ten, eleven, or +midnight, got back into their rooms and their comfortable beds. + +I hinted that war, conducted in this fashion, was not disagreeable. +Barbu knew that I was laughing at them. + +"But our comrades ... who are fighting...." + +"Do not lead such a pleasant life ... I am sure of it." + +"And I think ... French convoys take their ease too." + +"Well, I hope so." + +But really, Barbu, it was only right that you should live in comfort, +for none knew better than you how to appreciate it! + +One day, going in to return a newspaper he had lent me, I surprised this +lover of comforts seated in an arm-chair, his feet on the fender, his +head resting on a cushion, his back on another, a book in his hand, a +lamp behind him. He looked a perfect picture of self-satisfaction. But +such delights cannot last for ever. "The present convoys are going to +the front," some people said. Do you hear, Barbu? You will go to the +front. You will change your carpet for the mud of the trenches, your +pleasant fire for an icy fog, the studious light of your lamp for the +red glare of the shells! You will go to the front! + +They did not go to the front. They were to pass one or two nights in +our house, and they stayed a month! + +The village groaned under the reign of the invaders. Every morning the +housewives on their way to the baker poured out their complaints. + +"Have yours decent manners?" + +"Oh, mine are very hard to please!" + +And the gossips began to tell their grievances, for many of these +undesirable guests were in truth very hard to please, and their manners +were detestable. They wiped their filthy boots on the beds and +arm-chairs, deluged the carpets and floors with water; they burnt the +furniture and linen with their cigars. They came back very late at +night, generally tipsy, went to the kitchen, searched the larder and +sideboard, and cooked an extra meal with the stolen goods. The mistress +of the house deemed herself very happy when she was not aroused from a +well-earned sleep and ordered to go and rattle about saucepans and +kitchen ranges. Of course, Barbu and Crafleux would have repudiated such +methods with disgust. Barbu and Crafleux piqued themselves on their +gentlemanly manners. Barbu and Crafleux were two model Prussians. + +For truth's sake I must admit that occasionally they came home after +midnight amiably drunk, and--I am a credible witness--danced a jig in +the yard. But these are venial sins, and our watch-dogs themselves, who +from the first day had been hand in glove with the officers, looked +indulgently upon such gambols. Gracieuse was even accused of cherishing +a guilty passion for Crafleux, having once been discovered, curled into +a ball, upon the bed of the gentleman aforesaid-a most improper act for +a lady dog brought up never to enter the house. Another fault was +ascribed to Barbu. On the officers' arrival, we had held a secret +meeting to discuss the question of lights. At length we decided to give +one candle to each man, having laid by a box in case of emergency. +The next morning we discovered a scandal unheard of. Barbu ... his +candle ... a virgin candle, a white, shapely candle! The criminal had +burnt it up in a single night! A huge candle which in the present state +of things was worth its weight in gold! A few waxen tears, still hanging +to the socket, bore witness to the poor thing's death. We put in its +stead a dumpy one, whose loss we should not feel so deeply, and after +that he must provide others for himself. He must provide his firing +also. As a matter of fact he did. One day the officers demanded fires in +their rooms. + +"Very well, the charwoman will look after it. But ... fuel runs short." + +Barbu wrote at once a note of hand, gave it to the smart bustling +sergeant, and the day after ten sacks of coal were brought and +discharged in the coach-house. We gazed at the black heap with envious +eyes, for we used to do our cooking and warm our rooms with a poor +faggot of wood. + +The officers very well knew that we lacked all kinds of stores, and +Barbu asked me once in a roundabout way if they might offer us some +petroleum and sugar. + +"We have just received an abundant supply," he said, "and shall be +enchanted if you will make use of them." + +This was worthy of reflection. We answered at last that we would +gratefully take their proffered goods, on condition that we might pay +for them. + +My sisters-in-law made a great outcry against this proposal. + +"Never," said they, "will we receive presents from Prussians!" + +"Gently," I replied. "To begin with, we pay in cash for their +'presents'; then our hospitality, forced as it is, is worthy of some +recompense. And, indeed, it is ridiculous to speak of 'their' +merchandise. Is it not stolen goods? Does it not come from our bonded +warehouses and stores? Besides, is it not a good deed to help in +exhausting their provisions?" + +So petroleum and sugar, flanked with coffee and rice, reappeared in the +house, and were highly appreciated by all, in spite of their Teutonic +origin. + +But when the officers carried kindness so far as to offer us a hare of +their own shooting, they embarrassed us sorely. Though we were not +tempted to accept the gift, we thought a denial would offend our +dangerous guests. + +"We have too many," Barbu said artlessly; "yesterday we have shot a +roebuck, seven hares, and twelve partridges in the wood of Bucy." + +In our own wood! Very well, we accept the hare; it will not pay for the +rent of the shooting, so we feasted upon jugged hare, and found the very +French flavour much to our taste. + +Barbu and Crafleux were two model Prussians. I do not unsay it. I even +think I have proved it. But a Prussian is always a Prussian, and the +best of the brood will never understand certain things. + +"Is your piano dumb?" asked Barbu one day. + +A few dances might have cheered up the house, he thought, and the roar +of the guns and the clatter of German feet in the street would have +been the best possible accompaniment. Another day, this same Barbu--to +tell the truth he talked to me with his pipe in his mouth, but you +cannot expect much from men brought up in Heidelberg--this same Barbu +asked me if I would not go for a drive to Laon with him and some +fellow-officers. + +"It will be a good opportunity for shopping," he said. "No? The other +ladies will not either? Last week I dared not ask you, our carriage was +too modest, but to-day we have one of the Prince of Monaco's coaches." + +Barbu still wonders why we refused. Then something still better +happened. When the officers had settled themselves in our house, we made +up our minds that the Germans should not catch sight of us in the +passage, and the order was given, "Disappear"; and the Germans never saw +the pretty faces which swarmed about us. But since I am a married woman +and proficient in German--my mother-in-law does not understand a word of +it--I had been appointed spokeswoman to the officers in case of need. + +But one day I suppose the intruders caught sight of a golden head in +flight, and Barbu asked me: + +"There are young girls in the house?" + +"Yes, my four sisters-in-law." + +"Really, we had not the least idea of it." + +The next day I happened to go into the drawing-room. The blinds were +down, and the door was open into the passage. An unaccustomed object was +lying on the table. Bless me, it was a box of chocolates! Delicious +sweets, no doubt of it! And on the cover Barbu had written in his +neatest hand and best French, "Sacrifice to the invisible spirits." +Every one came and contemplated the gift and the autograph with +laughter. Then we allowed the poor chocolates to get damp in the dimly +lighted room. They disappeared three weeks after as mysteriously as they +had come, the day of "our Prussians'" departure. May they lie lightly on +Barbu's stomach! + +At last the convoy left Morny. On the morning on which they were to +start Barbu plunged us into an ocean of perplexities by asking us: + +"You do not mind my taking a few snapshots of your house, do you?" + +"Certainly ... not, sir." + +"I should be very happy if one or two of the young ladies consented to +sit at a window." + +And nobody had prompted him in that! In vain I objected that the hour +was early, and that my sisters-in-law got up very late. + +"Oh, it does not matter," said he. "We will wait for them. Ask the +ladies to get ready, and we will come back in half an hour." + +Think how nice it would be in a year or two in Berlin, or Leipzig, or +Heidelberg, to show a few photographs! "Here are a few souvenirs of our +victorious stay in France! In that house we led a very happy life. The +young ladies whom you see were reluctant hostesses, but the French, +breathing revenge, were obliged to welcome us!" + +The whole family was in a fury of anger. + +"Of course, it is out of the question to comply with all the wishes of +these wretched Prussians!" + +Two days before Barbu had invited his brothers-in-arms to dinner. Upon +this occasion he asked us for a table-cloth, a large table-cloth. + +We took out of its dark hiding-place a damask cloth and eighteen +napkins. + +"Is that what you want, sir?" + +"We wish vases also." + +"Will these do?" + +"And we desire flowers." + +"Take some asters from the garden." + +And then: + +"May I take a photograph of your house?" + +"Sir, I cannot prevent you." + +"Will you put a smiling face at the window?" + +No, no, a truce to jesting. Give him a flat denial. But how? On taking +leave the Germans would certainly try to shake hands with us, that is +their way, and we were determined not to shake theirs. Would they take +it amiss? + +More than once it had proved hazardous to irritate these dangerous +guests. Mme. Valbot in Lierval saw her house plundered. Why? She had +refused to sew on a button for the officer who lodged in her house. + +Old Vadois, the confectioner in Laon, was listening to the tales of "his +Prussian." + +"The people are not kind enough to the soldiers," the officer said. "The +French are better received in Alsace-Lorraine than we are here." + +"So the French are in Alsace-Lorraine!" the old man cried out, with a +blissful look. + +"Soldiers, take this man into custody, he speaks ill of the Germans," +roared the officer. And they threw the poor wretch into a dungeon, where +he slept on straw. + +Our neighbour Polinchard, who is something of a simpleton, was pruning +his pear-trees one day, when he saw his enforced boarders making +fruitless endeavours to open a fastened door. + +"Not through this one," he cried, waving them back with a motion of his +pruning knife, and pointing to the usual entrance. + +"What now!" cried the soldiers. "He threatens us! He threatens Germans! +Away with him to prison!" + +The culprit was condemned to two months. That is why, on reflection, we +hesitated to offend Barbu and Crafleux. They had been kind, well-behaved +men, certainly, but in the village they were looked upon as haughty, +violent, and hard-hearted. + +"What will Barbu say," we wondered, "if, when he holds out his large +paws, we put our hands behind our backs? Will he send us to prison, and +put us on bread and water? Will he fasten us to the stirrups of his +horse and drag us to Laon all six in a line? or will he give some such +order as this to the commandant of the village: 'Should an opportunity +come, billet fifty men on these people'?" + +A pleasant prospect! The moment was critical. I made up my mind to +brazen it out. There is always--I had quite forgotten this--a chord, or +rather a cable, in all German hearts, and this chord or cable is +sentiment. Let us, then, proceed by sentiment. + +I advance. My countenance is that of an angel; my eyes are full of +melancholy, my voice is honey-sweet, my hair ... no, it is not +dishevelled, or at least only morally dishevelled. I began to talk. Of +course my mother-in-law had no objection to their taking photographs of +the house. But they would permit us not to appear at the windows. The +gentlemen would understand our feelings. They were men of heart and +intelligence. They had been very kind to us, and we were very grateful +to them, but ... I became animated. "But we are at war with you ... we +cannot help seeing in you the invaders of our country, and I am sure you +are aware that certain things are painful to us! You know how hard it +would be to your wives and sisters to receive strangers. You cannot +wonder at our dealing with you as with adversaries. And I must tell you +that every time I see you I think with an inward thrill of terror, 'This +man may kill my husband.'" + +I had done. I wept with emotion. Crafleux was gazing at his boots with a +shake of his head. Tears stood in Barbu's eyes, and through this +sentimental haze he saw his wife receiving French soldiers. As to +myself, I felt I would soon have to blow my nose. My mother-in-law +beheld the scene in silence, waiting to know the effect of my harangue. +It proved effectual. + +"Madam, believe me, we understand and respect your feelings. We have now +only to thank you for your hospitality, and to assure you we shall +always remember it." + +They bowed themselves out of the room, bowed again from the threshold, +bowed again in the yard. We heard the gate close behind them, a silence +while they took a few snapshots, and then the rolling away of their +carriage. + +They were gone! Gone for ever! And no hindrances had stood in the way! +They had gone leaving behind six sacks of coal.... They had gone even +leaving a letter of recommendation for the officers who would take their +place! + +God forbid I shall ever revile the memory of Barbu and Crafleux! + + + + +CHAPTER VII + + +After the convoy's departure Morny was empty. The only Prussians left +were those who held the lines of communication and a few soldiers at the +sugar factory. We walked abroad without meeting the enemy at every turn; +in brief, we felt at home again. We were all like people crushed by a +landslip, who recover their breath, and take on again their former shape +as the earth disappears which overwhelmed them. But, alas, it was out of +the question to forget the past! Empty barns, stables, and poultry-yards +deprived of their inhabitants bore witness to the passage of the +scourge. + +Other things also proved that the wind was blowing from the east, whence +came the all-devouring grasshoppers. + +One morning, as I came back from a quest after milk, I stood still, +struck with amazement, and followed the example of the dairy-woman in +the fable. I looked at the village steeple, and could make nothing of +the time it proclaimed to the four points of the compass. Old Tassin +happened to pass by. + +"Well, Mme. Valaine," said he, "what do you make of this? It is German +time up there. We are Prussians now!" + +I lifted up my eyes to the sky, and, seeing the sun, felt easier in my +mind. No change there; it was eight, not nine o'clock. Yet they had made +fruitless attempts to set the sun by the German time I was sure. That is +why I saw officers cast reproachful looks at the sun, which dared tell +the French time in a territory occupied by Germans! That was playing +them false. That was treason, and the sun would rue it bitterly. + +A certain regiment, passing through Morny, chanced to trust to the +village clock, and did not reach its goal at the appointed time. The +delay was the cause of a failure, which put some big-wigs with helmets +on into a rage. In short, the village constable was ordered to put the +machine right, the German time being the only right time under the sun. + +However, the departure of our guests set us at ease, and the whole +village along with us. As the village might not revictual itself +officially, it revictualled itself by fraud, and as much as possible. +Now there lives in Morny a sympathetic drunkard named Durand. Fond of +quarrelling as he is in his cups, when in a sober state he is a good, +kindly soul. He had been invalided, because his hands were twisted by +gout, and this infirmity rendered him equally unfit for the work of the +fields; so he became a tradesman. He deals usually in rabbit-skins, +scrap-iron, and rags. His business and stock-in-trade consist of a box +set up on two wheels, and drawn by a good-natured yellow dog. Scrap-iron +may hide a good many things, and with a view to present circumstances +our friend contrived to extend his import trade. Far from me to hint +that Durand, in ordinary times, snaps his fingers at the gendarmes and +laughs at the laws, practices as common in our border departments as +unseemly everywhere. But he improvised with the war a wonderful cunning, +thanks to which he smuggled all sorts of necessary things into Morny, +under the Germans' very eyes. In his surprise packet were concealed +butter, grease, chocolate, sugar, to say nothing of candles. The +housewives scrambled for the provisions, which rose almost to the usual +level. The weary dog put out his tongue and laughed, for he knew well +that we were getting the better of the Germans. + +He was not the only one to laugh. The peasants, too, laughed in their +sleeves when they saw the Germans stock still in "the mountains." At the +first moment of invasion, the people were struck with dismay. The +arrogant enemy, sure of victory, seemed to meet with no obstacles. +"Handsome men, well armed and equipped. Ah, there is no reason to laugh +at them!" said the old women. They thought the situation hopeless. But +now it was whispered about, "They won't pass 'the mountains'; they won't +cross the Aisne." At this conviction their hearts rose, which yesterday +had been filled with bitterness. Evidently the invaders had been +stopped; they knew not how, but the fact remained. + +One morning I encountered a knot of gossips in the street. They talked +of a new attack on Soissons. Mme. Tassin assured us that William had +said they must pass, and pass they must. Without stopping in my walk, I +interjected: "And General Pau said that they won't pass, and pass they +won't." It was reported that a French prisoner had spoken these words in +Laon. Whether General Pau had really expressed himself thus I don't +know. But the Germans gained no more ground; we were sure of that; but +it was no less certain that we were caught in a trap, that we could not +stir a limb. We had good hopes the trial would not last long. All the +same the situation could not be helped, and we resolved to accept it. +In the village, things were going tolerably. While the baker's wife, +gallant soul, made her bread, the work of the fields progressed slowly. +They left the beetroots as long as possible in the earth, expecting that +"our French" would come back before the harvest, which was superb. At +length they had to submit to fate and bury the precious roots in vast +silos. With us the days crawled by like centuries. It is true that the +housekeeping entirely rested with us; it was no use looking for help in +the village; women who had not a good many children to look after were +working out in the fields. Only Mme. Tassin consented from time to time +to come and help us. But how many hours, what long evenings, remained to +fill for six women shut up in a house! What, indeed, can you do at home +but dream if you are a hare, and sew if you are a woman? We sewed. + +After Barbu's stay a little petroleum was left, which we used with +miserly care. At dinner we contented ourselves with a night-light, and +when we worked only our heads were allowed to come within the circuit of +the lamp. + +We made sets of baby-linen for poor little ones who took it into their +heads to be born into the world, when their fathers had gone off to the +war, and had left larder and purse at home empty. We competed with one +another in the making of caps and shirts. Yvonne is amazingly clever, +and when she has a mind to sew works no end of wonders in a trice. Our +ambition increased with success. We fashioned web-like laces, and our +embroidery might have aroused the jealousy of the fairies. Generally we +kept silence. Sighs frequently answered the guns, and if we talked we +poured out plaints of pity for those who fought, or called up +remembrances of happier days. + +"Just think, there are people who get letters!" + +We moaned at the thought of our deprivation. + +"Lucky people! They know if their relations are dead or alive." + +"At this very moment there are some who read the papers!" + +"Oh, rage! oh, despair! oh, hostile blockade!" + +"And there are some people who know the truth! When shall we see a +newspaper again?" + +"At this very moment some are enjoying ... nice things to eat!" + +"Oh, for a tea at Rumpelmayer's!" + +"Oh, for chocolates from Pihan!" + +Such memories did but sharpen the thorn of our hunger. And yet we had +not lost all the pleasures of life. For instance, do you suppose we had +given up having tea in the afternoon? By no means. It is highly +important that women should swallow something good and hot about five +o'clock. Simple toast was the only dainty we allowed ourselves. +Well-buttered toast with a well-sugared cup of tea is not to be +despised. Hold! Toast, yes, but no butter! The little we had was +jealously salted and reserved for cooking. And tea? Do you think tea a +native of the department of the Aisne? Tea was no more to be had. Sugar +was so scarce that we never ate a single lump without a family council +to decide whether it was the proper moment. Fortunately I found a recipe +of my grandmother's at the bottom of my reticule. I requisitioned all +the licorice in Morny. Mme. Lantois' walnut-tree provided us at little +cost with a basketful of green shining leaves. Walnut leaves are like +good women: in the long run they may lose their beauty, but they retain +their virtue. These leaves then, boiled with licorice, gave us a +delicious drink all the winter, which had nothing in common with the +pale decoctions we nowadays moisten our throats with at the end of a +dinner-party. I had been careful to say negligently: "This tea is +excellent for the complexion. Regularly taken, it would greatly improve +the skin, and give it a matchless bloom." + +No one ever missed the afternoon tea. This ceremony, indeed, was often +transformed into a great patriotic meeting, vibrating with despair and +lamentations, or with enthusiasm and hope, according to the news of the +day. For news we had, though I said we got none, and it was commented +upon with passion. Our news of course was all unofficial, and evil or +good rode fast. It spread throughout the country; it floated in the air; +it came from every quarter. When I left Mme. Lantois' dairy with a can +full of milk, my pocket was also full of news; likewise if we went to +the baker, or if we called on M. Lonet. + +The initiated came back in a hurry, called the whole family to gather +round, and feverishly told the news. We ended by putting a bell in the +dining-room, known as "the war bell." If one of us heard anything fresh, +she rushed into the room and frantically rang the bell. From the garden, +the attic, the bedrooms we flocked, allured by the hope of good tidings. + +"What has happened? What is going on?" + +Marvellous things always happened. + +Periodically--at least twice a month--neighbouring towns were retaken by +the French. + +"You know, that cannonade ... so violent ... simply meant that our +soldiers recovered St. Quentin." + +Noyon also was reconquered I do not know how many times, and La Fere +retaken with bayonets. Once the news really seemed worthy of belief. The +Germans had put it up in Laon: "La Fere has been in a cowardly manner +retaken by the French." We thought it true. Really, now, who would make +up such an adjective? The Germans had certainly used it. On inquiry it +was found that the adjective, like the news, had been invented, and the +bill had never existed at all. Glorious feats were just as frequent on +the front near us. + +"The Route des Dames ... you know?... The French have held it since +yesterday. And to-night they have carried the village of Ailles." + +"Really, I thought they took it last week." + +"Last week it was a false report; to-day the thing is certain." + +And the Allies! Think how they worked! + +"Seventy thousand Russians have just landed at Antwerp. The English are +shelling Hamburg. Our Northern army is advancing, yes, it is...; +deliverance will come from the North." + +Ah, the secret of making legends is not lost! Popular imagination +invents hundreds of them. But nowadays they cannot live long. Books and +newspapers cut their wings as soon as they are hatched, and the poor +things flutter an instant, and then die. But imagine a corner of a +country like ours, perfectly isolated from the rest of the world for +some ten years, and deprived of all news, all writings; suppose the +peasants should be questioned long after upon the events of the present +war, from their statements you might compose the most beautiful epic +poem ever heard. As in the good old time, its title would be, "The +Gestes of the French by the Grace of God." + +Frenchmen, my brothers, I know you were splendid. You fought like lions, +like the heroes that you are. Your glorious feats are too numerous to be +counted. It was our despair not to know them. But, in revenge, we +invented feats for you, fresh ones every day. Once, for instance, the +French, masters of the stone-quarries of Paissy, made good use of a +secret passage, and leaping unexpectedly from out of the ground, flick, +flack, flick, spread death and dismay among the Germans; then, like +jacks-in-the-box, they disappeared as if by magic. Struck with +consternation, the Germans would have thought themselves dreaming had +not too many proofs testified to the reality of the brief apparition. +And what do you think of the _chasseurs a pied_ who, behind a hedge at +Malva, planted a forest of poles with a cap on the top of every one, and +then, when the enemy with loud cries were in the very act of rushing +upon this trap, shot them down to the very last man? + +And don't let us forget the Africans. Ten negroes from Senegal--you +understand, ten--sprang out of their trenches on a night as black as +ink--of course we did not know whether negroes were or were not in the +trenches--noiselessly crept along the ground through brushwood and +darkness, and shouting their war-cry bounded forward into the village of +Chamouille. Panic-stricken, the German soldiers fled, while the +officers--seventeen in number--not one more, not one less--let the +Africans cut their throats like so many lambs. The ten negroes lay down +once more, flat on their faces, and crawling along on their hands and +knees, went back to their trenches without a tassel missing from their +caps, without a rent dishonouring their large breeches. These anecdotes +were our daily bread. Innumerable were the villages taken by surprise, +the convoys seized, the batteries triumphantly brought in. We were +always breathless; every one of us lent a half-sceptical ear to +everything that was said, and tried to detect a little truth among all +this fiction. Who invented or transformed the news? It was difficult to +know. Many a time Mr. Nobody-knows-who had confided it to Mrs. +So-and-So, who told it to Mr. Everybody. But generally the information +came from the best sources. If M. H., the Mayor of Laon, had really said +all that was ascribed to him, he had done nothing else but commit the +secrets of our army to the office-porter or the fruiterer over the way. +On the other hand, it is hard to conceive how many secrets our +countrymen extracted from their German guests. Speaking of the officers +to whom they gave hospitality they assumed a mysterious air, and hinted +that, walking delicately, they had elicited from them avowals as +mortifying for their pride as encouraging for us. + +But there was another origin, quite modern, for the news no one wanted +to take upon himself. It was no difficult riddle. The news came from +Heaven. Aviators dropped it. Letters had been picked up here and there, +said rumour; some of them were evidently home-made, and were but laughed +at--this one, for instance: "Friends, take courage; reinforcements are +coming." A touching contrivance of some ingenious liar to cheer up his +neighbours! + +Other messages, written in a kind of official style, were so precise +that they seemed worthy of attention; and one of them, known throughout +the country as the message of Magny, was for a long time looked upon as +authentic by the most competent judges. Oh, we were very credulous, and +you laugh at us, all of you, who read the papers every morning at your +breakfast. We were so cruelly crushed by the invaders, so uneasy at +hearing nothing, so eager for news which might have been bones for our +anxiety to gnaw that we greedily snatched at all the falsehoods we came +across, and found our mouths a minute after full of sand. + +Was there no means of encouraging us? Floods of sentimental ink were +wasted elsewhere upon our fate, but the smallest drop spilt in the +Vernandois or the Laonnois would have done us more good. + +We had not deserved thus to be forsaken, for we were admirable. I +maintain, laying aside all useless modesty, I maintain that we were +admirable. Our persons and properties had been given up as hostages. A +line was chalked out on the map; it was the part to be sacrificed. In +this part we were shut up, bodies and souls, with no possibility of +shaking ourselves free. We not only suffered it to be so; we agreed to +the bargain; we resigned ourselves to hunger, misfortune, oppression. We +submitted to see our houses plundered, our forests levelled with the +ground, our lands destroyed, so that the rest of the country might be +safe, the metropolis undamaged, that France herself might be free to +recover her power and to prepare her vengeance. Exposed to violence, +requisitions, even to reprisals, we did not give way; we wished for +victory, never for peace; we thought of France, not of ourselves. But +what unbearable pangs did we bear! We laboured under "the hope deferred +that maketh the heart sick," as the Bible says. Sometimes we seemed to +think the burden too heavy for our strength and impossible to be borne +any longer. What became of us when, in the last days of October, the +Germans arrogantly announced that they had won a victory at Soissons, +that they had broken through, and that they were going on to Paris...? +"Parisse!... Parisse!..." + +We were heart-broken by it, sunk in desolation, and when thereupon came +the welcome message of Magny, full of excellent things, although +scandalously false, should we not have believed it true? Rather than not +to have believed it, we should have framed and hung a copy in every +house! + +The message of Magny made its appearance on All Saints' Day. On coming +back from the cemetery we watched the shelling of a French aeroplane, +which laughed at its assailant, and the smoke of the shells was like +small round balls gilt by the sun. The cannon rolled furiously in the +direction of Noyon, and we thought: "If they have passed, it is not over +there." + +In the village we heard the good news that every one whispered in his +neighbour's ear: "They haven't passed; on the contrary, they have been +soundly beaten at Vailly. Besides, aviators have dropped a letter near +Magny, copies of which are passing from hand to hand." + +They have not passed! They have been beaten! Oh, joy! how lovely is the +day! And how near is the Capitol to the Tarpeian Rock! Yesterday we lay +on the ground broken with the shock; to-day, lively and drunk with joy, +we rush with a bound towards the regions of trust and hope! + +Our best source of news was Mme. Lantois'. The kitchen of the farm is a +large, gay, bright room, whose painted walls, black and white flags, +glittering copper saucepans, and cages full of song-birds, are pleasant +to the eye. A select society was to be met there about five in the +evening. To find a seat you had to disturb one of the cats which lay +enthroned on all free chairs. To upset a cat is high treason. To remain +standing would have looked uncivil. I used to get out of the scrape by +taking on my lap Gros-Blanc, Ye-Ye, or Belle-Limace, who seemed to +approve of this arrangement. + +All tongues were let loose. + +First, we exchanged and commented upon the news of the day. What +troops--infantry, cavalry, artillery--had been seen in Morny and its +neighbourhood, whether there were many of them and which direction they +took, whether the trains were loaded with soldiers or ammunition--these +were the questions asked and answered. Then we were told what wounded +soldiers and prisoners had been brought to Laon, and heard what +motor-cars had traversed the village. Twice the Emperor himself was seen +within our gates in an iron-plated car, preceded and followed by two +cars occupied by soldiers armed to the teeth. Upon this occasion the +Prussians of the village posted on both sides of the road had bawled +themselves hoarse to such a degree that they had been obliged to run to +the next cellar in order to moisten their gullets. Hundreds of pairs of +eyes, moreover, had watched the sky and discovered aeroplanes--English +or French--which had been fired at by such and such a battery. The +German flying machines had been disporting themselves here or there. The +captive balloon--"William's sausage"--had perched above certain points. +How many of us had, the night before, observed the signals that came +from Laon or glittered in the "mountains"? + +The ears had just as much to do as the eyes. Guns had been fired from +this quarter and that, German cannon or French, ordnance or fieldpiece. +In one direction a mine had been fired. In fine weather we heard the +sound of rifles or the crackling of mitrailleuses. One stormy day the +workmen declared that they had heard the French bugles sound for a +charge. What a fine harvest of news we gathered every evening! What +would we not have given to be able to hand it on to those who might have +turned it to good account! When we had gone all over it again there +followed a warmly conducted debate; we drew conclusions as to the +successes or reverses each side had met with, or as to the positions +they occupied. + +But as it is impossible always to be discussing strategy, and as we +could talk only of the war, we fell to telling stories. And many of them +touched upon our general flight before the Germans and its failure. + +M. and Mme. Lantois, with their son Rene, a big lad of eighteen, had +tried to run away too--not, like ourselves, on foot, but in a cart drawn +by two stout horses. The prudent hands of the farmer's wife had heaped +up in the bottom of the vehicle two sacks of flour, a keg of wine, a +barrel of salt pork, two hundred eggs, and even thirty bottles of +petroleum. No matter whither they would have to go, they were thus +prepared for any events. The first hours all went well, but near +Nouvion-le-Vineux the fugitives were overtaken by the French army. They +were ordered to draw up on the roadside and wait. Night fell. The +soldiers kept on advancing. A cannon happened to break down and got +somewhat injured. So the weary farmer went to sleep leaning against a +post, while his wife, lantern in hand, gave a light to the poor gunners, +who, cursing and swearing, did their best to mend the damaged wheel. The +stream of men flowed on uninterruptedly till the morning. The good +people, who had kept out of the way all this time, thought the moment +propitious to resume their journey. They put the horses to, and were +about to move forward, when they were startled by a loud shout. Fresh +soldiers were advancing, and ... they were Prussians. + +"I am sure," Mme. Lantois said, "that at this point they were not three +miles away from our rearguard." + +Horses, cart, provisions, and even petroleum--ogres turn up their noses +at nothing--were swallowed in a mouthful. The three fugitives, despoiled +and abashed, came back on foot to Morny, all whose inhabitants returned +to their houses sheepish and downcast. + +In other places the Germans were not even put to the trouble of +despoiling the people, who of their own free will sacrificed to the +new-comers. They mistook them for English soldiers. In Festieux, for +instance, not far from us, the urchins of the village cried out: + +"The English are coming!" + +And the peasants crowded about them. They had already stripped +themselves for the French, but all the same they were eager to welcome +the Allies. And they poured out wine and coffee, they offered fruit and +biscuits. The woman who told us this story, after she had shared a whole +pail of lemonade among "those poor boys who were so hot," went to the +tallest of the band, a man with gold lace, and, in a very loud voice so +that he might understand French the better, said to him: + +"Well, as a reward, you will bring us William's head!" + +The man spread out his face in a broad grin, and, wiping his mouth with +the back of his hand, answered: + +"We no English, we Germans...." + +Tableau! + +This comical scene had its tragic side. In the same village were still +two French foot soldiers. A kindly soul ran to call them. + +"Come quick, there are English soldiers here! We are all brothers." + +Smiling, the soldiers came up. + +"You idiots!" they cried, "they are Prussians!" + +And, climbing upon a carriage which happened to stand there, they opened +fire upon the invaders. + +The Germans replied, a refugee was wounded, the women screamed, all fled +and hid themselves. Of the two courageous soldiers, one, alas, was +killed, and the other taken prisoner. + +More than once we heard accounts of the fighting from eye-witnesses. +M. and Mme. Robert, large landowners of Ailles, told us how their +village had been occupied by the enemy. Every day German patrols had +been seen in the place; but one morning the French came back. All fell +into raptures, kissed one another, marvelled at the return, dug up their +treasures, and kept the day as a feast. In the evening the youths of the +village went for a walk with the Zouaves, listening to the warriors' +tales, and the fiddler of the village played madly the sole tune that he +knew. + +The next morning, about half-past five, Mme. Robert, looking out of the +window, said to her husband: + +"Look, some one is trying to get in through the orchard gate." + +In truth, some one was coming in. The Germans had arrived in great +numbers; they sprang up from all sides. + +Our soldiers were ready. A close fight took place in the orchards, in +the gardens, in the barns, and chiefly in the big yard of the farm. At +the outset of the skirmish an officer had pushed the inhabitants into +the kitchen: + +"Stay there, don't go out." + +The defenders of the village had to fight against fearful odds, and yet +many Germans seemed to play their part reluctantly. Some of them took +refuge in the barns, and hid themselves to avoid the scuffle. Then a +captain came up, armed with a kind of whip, the leather thongs of which +were weighted with tiny leaden balls, and with this he vigorously lashed +his soldiers until they returned to the hottest of the fight. The +Zouaves fought like lions, but they were only 250 against an enemy ten +times superior in number, and in spite of their efforts at last gave +way. Another German officer, noticing civilians in a room, cried aloud +with anger, and shut them up in an empty cellar. For a long time the +prisoners heard the noise of the fight going on above their heads, and +little by little it became less violent, and then ceased completely. +Only the third day, in the morning, were the poor people taken out of +the cellar, half-dead with hunger and cold. M. and Mme. Robert were +still dressed as at the moment of the surprise, their naked feet light +slippered, he with a night-cap and white ducks on, she in a +morning-jacket and short petticoats. They were not even allowed to go in +for a minute to eat a bit of food and take clothes and money. It may be +supposed that the German soldiers, always thrifty, had safely put into +their pockets all that was worth stealing. Accompanied by soldiers, the +poor people had to go on foot to Laon, half-naked and starved. + +"Going through Chamouille," said Mme. Robert, "I was so hungry that I +ate the potato peelings I found in the street." + +In Laon, the prisoners were set at liberty, and they went to relations +of theirs, who did their best to comfort and clothe them. + +"Such rich people, too!" concluded the scandalised narrator. + +Discussions and stories were not the only things that allured me to the +farm. I had a secret there, the mystery of my life. I realised a dream +cherished since my girlhood--I learned to milk the cows. At nightfall I +jumped out of my window, fled to the warm stable, and there strove hard +to draw milk from Lolotte's distended udders. She was a splendid +large-horned cow, which has since been requisitioned so that her milk +might be reserved for his Excellency the General So-and-So. The good +animal mistook me for an awkward calf, and, looking at me with +commiseration, endeavoured to lick me tenderly. Oh, we acquired many +talents we never had dared to aspire to before the war. We sawed wood, +we dug in the garden. And everywhere it was the same; all tried to make +up with their imagination and their work for the many things that were +wanting. Rene Lantois contrived an excellent blacking with soot and wax. +Our neighbours grated and boiled their beetroots and so made treacle +that they used instead of sugar, while a grocer manufactured sweets +which were a great success among the urchins of the place. And the +forest saw more women cutting wood than ever it had seen men. + +When we were dissatisfied with the local products, we went off to Laon. +I think that a longing for movement peculiar to all captive animals +chiefly drew us to such adventures. + +Laon may be small and provincial, but while you are there it gives you +the impression of a town. You see tall houses, narrow streets, and +policemen just as you see them in a capital. Booksellers, chemists, and +dentists smile at you at every corner of the streets. These +institutions, which civilised people cannot do without, are scarcely to +be met in Morny. Therefore, and despite the uncertain times we lived in, +we rarely let a fortnight pass without organising an expedition to our +county town. Two or three of us went off, accompanied by the anxiety and +good wishes of the family, and returned home in triumph, bringing back +good news, balls of thread and worsted for our needles, and on lucky +days a few pounds of provisions. + +Thus it was that Yvonne and I went once to Laon on foot--the only method +of travelling at our disposal--with our neighbour Mme. Lantois. Our +shopping done, we could not help going in the direction of the "Agence," +a big building, a sort of agricultural Exchange, in which French +soldiers were being nursed. Of course we were forbidden to visit the +prisoners. But by good luck, two hundred and fifty of them were just +starting for Germany, and we had but to wait a moment for them. We saw +them go down the flight of steps, limping and looking piteous and ill. +They fell into line on the foot pavement. Oh, what sad happiness it was +to see once more their dear caps, their red trousers, their lively +faces, when we had met only wooden heads for nearly two months. Many +were too weak to stand, and they dropped on benches, or on the steps of +the staircase. A Turco sat down on the pavement with a far-away air. +"Mektoub!" As they were going away we wanted to get something to give +them. Not a shop was open save the chemist's over the way. We went in to +buy cough lozenges of all kinds. Owing to the circumstance the chemist +let his whole stock go at the lowest possible price, and his wife loaded +us with piles of handkerchiefs. So we divided our poor gifts right and +left. A big dark-haired lad felt the fine linen with pleasure. + +"A handkerchief! Think, these last two months I never had one!" + +Their guardians did not prevent us from talking to the prisoners, but +when they caught sight of an officer they sent us rudely away. Most of +the captives had been wounded and taken in the neighbourhood of Craonne, +Berry-au-Bac, and La Ville au Bois. They did not complain, said they had +been pretty well treated, but they were unanimous in adding: + +"The English are most wretched; they are tormented in every possible +way." + +Presently we saw the English prisoners get down the steps in their turn, +half a dozen big, thin men with worn countenances that moved our pity. + +A stout German under-officer thought well to give us his opinion: "Here +are the English!" said he. "Look at their pigs' heads. They ought all to +be shot; not the French," he added, to be agreeable, "only the English." +We wanted the poor Tommies to have their share too. As I was threading +my way through the crowd and they were stretching out their hands, their +guardian, with a blow of his large claws, swept away the boxes of sweets +and put them into his pocket, amid the laughs of his comrades. It was +too late to make good the German's mischief, for the soldiers were +already moving forward. The less injured limped quickly away, a car +drove the others to the station, into which no civilian was allowed to +penetrate, and after many salutations we watched them go to captivity +with a sad heart. + +Our visits to the county town were not all marked by such incidents. One +day, Yvonne was copying--in order not to lose a word--the official +reports, in which we read: German victory here, Prussian success there, +Austrian army advancing this way, English forces retreating in that one, +and, believing nothing of it, she burst out laughing as she traced the +news with her ironical pencil. A stern-looking sergeant came up and +announced: + +"You not laugh, townspeople, all that true." + +But we laughed all the same. Every one laughed at those reports, the +sincerity of which was doubtful, which appeared to us still more false +than they were, and which yet were the only threads which connected us +with the rest of the world. + +Fortunately, the benevolent Germans resolved to keep us informed of +what going on, and published a weekly paper at Laon, the _Journal +de was Guerre_, which appeared for the first time in November. The +purpose of this publication, we were told, was to let the invaded +know the truth about the war. Oh! a German truth, of course, carefully +dressed up, for their self-respect prevents our enemy from showing +us unveiled so indiscreet a person as Truth. And the people laughed +more than ever. They laughed from Sissonne to La Fere, from Anizy +to Marle. I must say that the newspaper was--according to us, if not +to the authors--ludicrous both in matter and manner. It was written +in a language closely connected with the French. With a knowledge of +philology and some application you managed to make out even the +obscurest sentences. Thus, after a little practice, we succeeded in +reading the new idiom quite fluently, if we were still unable to +appreciate its niceties. + +The first number of this precious periodical was a real poem. It was +addressed to "the high and chivalrous sentiments of the true French +nation." Its authors did not despair of explaining to the French nation +that its Government and its Allies had shamefully deceived it, and hoped +that it would soon see who was really responsible for the war, what +humane and disinterested part Germany had borne in the whole affair. In +another article peace was openly hinted at, and the author set forth the +advantages which France would get if she listened to reason, that is, if +she abandoned the Allies and sided with gentle Germany. And then, +forgetful of all reserve, the Germans added that, in case of peace, the +Government, far from requiring a contribution of war, would probably be +inclined to "build a bridge of gold to France"--what a good promise we +had there!--as Bismarck did in '66 to Austria. "It seemed weakness," the +profound politician added; "it was strength." If the learned members of +the German Universities had but attended a common school in France, they +would have learned that which our La Fontaine wrote: "If we force our +talent, we shall do nothing with grace." Maybe they had understood that +sweet manners are not congenial to their nature, that the voice of the +cannon alone suits their temper. We should not see them propose to +France with bows and smiles the fate of vassal that Austria had +accepted in '66. On the second page, the _Journal de Guerre_ magnified +the capture of Antwerp, and described its consequences in pompous +phrases. Then the author of a small and acid article concerning the +relations of France and Russia concluded with this sentence, as witty as +it is nicely turned: + +"Varus, Varus, give me back my millions and my billions! If Russia +listens to that! It is very doubtful!" This is a literal translation. + +Indeed, we laughed. Not a Homeric laugh, of course, stifled laughter +maybe, a tittering rather than a hearty laugh, a catching laugh which +the enemy might have happened to overhear, a real laugh all the same. We +should have felt doubly prisoners if we had not made fun of our jailers, +and to be prisoners only once was quite sufficient. + +As we knew German, we fell upon the papers we came across and bitterly +enjoyed the high praises they bestowed on their high deeds. They +pleasantly jeered at the "parti-coloured army" of the Allies, at the +negroes who, according to them, "tremble with cold like a leaf tossed by +the wind," which, the Prussian libellers added, must produce a bad +effect in a battle. + +A number of _Simplicissimus_ completed our edification. The proud +German Michael was represented spitting his seven foes on his mighty +sword. The Cossacks, bullying women and children, turn up the whites of +their eyes at the sight of a single Uhlan, and fall on their knees. In +Lorraine the German soldiers, by way of a change, leave off firing at +the French: "Let us keep a few of them to kill with bayonets," they say. +In conclusion, an Englishman helps his little Japanese monkey up the +noble oak-tree where the German eagle is perched: "Go on," he says, "try +to pluck some feathers from his tail." + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + + +The literature of the day, then, gave us little comfort. And every week +the _Journal de Guerre_ played the very same tune. Yet about the end of +November we read in its columns a proclamation from the General-Governor +of the place, which every one was bound to acknowledge interesting, if +not agreeable. This proclamation brought us the orders and prohibitions +of the almighty authorities. + +"It is expressly forbidden to give assistance and shelter to French or +Allied soldiers. Owners of arms of all kinds, telegraphic and telephonic +apparatus, and bicycles, are ordered to bring them to the military +authorities. + +"It is expressly forbidden to keep live pigeons of any breed. + +"It is expressly forbidden to go without passport from one place to +another." + +The tyrant who issued the orders concluded with these words: + +"The population have nothing to dread as long as they submit to the laws +of war and comply with our orders." + +With our orders! With this you may go far, and they went very far. + +The general regulations did not concern us nearly. Unfortunately we +never met wounded or straggling French soldiers; we possessed neither +bicycles nor telephonic or telegraphic apparatus; we owned no pigeons +whatever, and we were content to assure our neighbours of our sympathy, +when, not without groanings and great sorrow, they slaughtered the +inhabitants of their dovecots. This massacre aimed at the suppression of +all carrier-pigeons, and in many farms the application had not waited +for the law. At Mme. Lantois', for instance, an under-officer and two +men had dropped in unawares, strangled and taken away as many pigeons as +they were able to carry. + +"Don't take the big white ones," besought the farmer's wife. + +Naturally, the Germans are too wise not to be suspicious; those French +people might be cunning enough to disguise their carriers as big white +feather-legged pigeons. + +One night, old Leprince heard a noise in his out-house. Half undressed, +he hastened out, and met face to face four soldiers, who in broken but +energetic language ordered him back to his mattress. The old man watched +the intruders go away, went to his dovecot, and by the light of his +lantern saw the floor bespattered with blood and scattered all over with +pigeons' heads. + +But after the proclamation the slaughter surpassed any previous raids. +It is easy to imagine the emotion that spread among the cooing tribe, +famous for their attachment to family sentiments and home life. How many +young ones just hatched were killed! How many loving couples severed +from one another! Bewildered, the poor things fled in bands throughout +the country, and made common cause with the crows, pecking corn in the +fields. If a Prussian happened to pass, he lifted his gun to his +shoulder and fired at the white birds. If the frightened flock sought +refuge on a roof: "The deuce take the pigeons!" the angry peasant cried +out; "am I going to pay 1500 francs because two dozen birds have +alighted on my house?" Then stones were thrown and off went the birds. +The order was explicit; for every pigeon saved, the owner was subject to +a fine of fifty francs. Therefore all dovecots were shut up, and no one +dared give asylum to the proscribed. The race of bicycles, also +persecuted, was equally bewildered. The helpful bowels of the earth +swallowed some of them; the mouth of a well engulfed a few others. Some +I know spent two months in a brook, and then let themselves fall to +little bits rather than serve the Germans. True patriots were the +bicycles. As to those which had not managed to escape the Germans' +attention, they were taken to the mayor's house, and clearly showed they +were out of temper by grating, creaking, gnashing the teeth of their +wheels and screws the whole way long. This did not prevent the invaders +from using them on the spot with great satisfaction. + +Of the regulations as to passports we had a proof before letters, so to +say. + +On a certain morning of November, Yvonne and Antoinette, attended by +Pierrot, went to Laon. For Yvonne a visit to the dentist was urgent; +Pierrot wanted a Latin grammar. About five in the evening we began to +feel uneasy. The night and the fog fell in concert, and the travellers +had not yet returned. At half-past five Mme. Valaine and I ventured out, +ready for anything, and at two miles' distance from the house we saw the +little group, walking along very fast, and with a candid air. + +"Why, here you are! Frightened not to see us back? There was no reason +at all! Look, we have got the _Journal de Guerre_, a pound of +chocolate, and some sweets!" + +We dined with a good appetite. Three days after we heard a loud ring of +the bell, and two German officers, attended by the Mayor, were shown in. + +"The young ladies who lately were arrested at the level-crossing live +here, don't they?" + +We looked at one another, struck with amazement. Yvonne and Antoinette +alone seemed to be acquainted with the circumstance, and modestly +acknowledged they were the young ladies in question. + +"Well, they are to be at the Commander's office in Laon at two o'clock. +You need not be afraid, thanks to the Mayor, the affair is already +settled." + +At two o'clock! It was now past twelve. There was not a minute to lose. +We were ready in an instant, and on the way to Laon the offenders told +the truth. + +"Oh," they said to me, "we have been so frightened! You know, we did not +want to worry mother, but you can imagine that we ourselves were +terrified." + +"We were already late," said Antoinette, "when at St. Marcel we +discovered that we had lost Colette's ring. We went back to the town, +found the jewel half-crushed, and hastened once more on the way home. It +was about half-past four, the night was rapidly falling when we got to +the level-crossing. + +"'Passports!' we heard. + +"'But we have none ... they have never been required.' + +"'Then go back to Laon, you are not allowed to pass.' + +"'Impossible! We have no house in Laon; my mother is expecting us at +Morny.' + +"'Wait a minute,' said a voice, and, riding on a bicycle, an officer, +attended by two men, came out of the fog. We explained the whole thing +in our best German, for he did not speak French at all. He was +courteous, and seemed inclined to let us go, when he was struck by a +sudden idea: + +"'Are you English?' he asked. + +"Yvonne understood, 'Do you speak English?' and answered: + +"'Yes.' + +"'So, you are! Then you don't go. Come into the house.' + +"The soldiers gathered round and looked curiously at us. One of them +carried a lantern, which made all faces red. Our hearts beat violently. + +"'Sir, please let us go home. We are not English ... my sister mistook +your question.' + +"You will explain this to me; come in first." + +"The door was thrown open; I stood on the threshold, when Yvonne caught +my arm: + +"'Don't go in, don't go in!' + +"I looked around me. We were alone among these ten men, whose looks +seemed very strange to me. Around us nothing but the lonely fields, the +darkness, and the fog. In front of us a row of untidy beds; on a +broken-legged table a wretched lamp completed this picture of a +disreputable house. + +"'Oh no, I pray you, let us go away; let us return to Laon.' + +"'If you don't come in, and quickly, I will shoot you.' + +"And the officer snatched up his revolver. + +"Out of despair we went in, the ten men pushed us and rushed in after +us. + +"'You pack off post haste,' the officer said. + +"The soldiers disappeared, except one to guard the door. + +"'Well, you were wise to come in,' said the officer, 'or I would have +ordered my men to fire at you.' + +"To exemplify his officer's words, the facetious guard pointed his +revolver at us. Pierrot chose that very moment to shriek with terror: + +"'Oh, I am so frightened, so frightened!' + +"We were frightened too, I assure you; yet we did our best to comfort +the poor boy. I explained our case to our judge, and produced the +twisted ring, the cause of our being late. + +"'We live in Morny, were born in Morny, our anxious family is waiting +there for us. Here are our papers; you see we are French students, and +not English.' + +"At last the interrogation was at an end. Pierrot's tears were still +falling fast when the officer--a small, dark-haired, Roman-nosed +nervous-looking man, more like a Meridional than a German--allowed +himself to be convinced. + +"'Well, I permit you to go on my own responsibility. It was a piece of +good luck you met me here, or you would not have reached your home. +Never go out at nightfall without a passport. Now go.' + +"We had but waited for his permission, and were off as soon as it was +given. Pierrot trotted along, still shaken by his sobs. + +"'Poor Pierrot, no more crying, it is all over. Take this chocolate. But +you know you are not going to tell tales. You may have one sweet more. +Don't say a word of what you have seen. Mme. Valaine might be worried +about it. Keep these cough lozenges, you will eat them to-morrow.' + +"He took the bribe, and, consoled in his mind, promised not to open his +lips about the adventure. So we came back with our heads high, and +without a tremor in our voices." + +"You throw off the mask now! You had not relied on the solicitude of the +Germans, who wanted to know if you had come home safely." + +In Laon, the Mayor, red and merry, overflowing with fatness and +self-importance, told us simply that the thing was settled, as our +declarations had proved true. He was sorry we had been disturbed to no +purpose. And we too. To walk for three hours at full speed in order to +listen to such rubbish! I shall be believed if I say that ever since +then we never felt inclined to travel without passport, which, besides, +was soon afterwards strictly forbidden. The general regulations were +increased by rules peculiar to every village, differing slightly one +from another according to the local commandant. Those inflicted on Morny +seemed to us the most disagreeable. They saw the light one after the +other. At any time of the day you might meet the rural constable in the +street, his drum by his side, a scrap of paper in his hand. He looked +ashamed of his paltry function, being used by the military authorities +to announce to the world all kinds of nonsense. + +"Order to stop all clocks and timepieces in all houses." + +Why? Who will ever pierce the mysteries of a German brain? + +The kitchens of the farms seemed empty when the pendulums which for ages +had animated the rustic oak clock-cases suddenly stopped, when in the +best bedrooms the shepherds and shepherdesses who adorned the +mantelpieces ceased their tick-tack. Yet in many a room a discreet +murmur survived, and the owner was ever on the look-out ready to stop +the unwonted noise if any search impended. Then came another commandant +who did not care for the order, and little by little the people made +their clocks go as before. + +"Order to bring to the _Mairie_--now called Commandature--one lamp out +of every two." + +A selection was made, the best lamps were hidden, and the rest given to +the invaders. + +"It is forbidden to let dogs and _cats_ go out." + +Poor pussy was astonished at the obstacles put in the way of her +nocturnal adventures, and it is said that every garden and field mouse +danced three times in honour of the German Emperor. + +But what seemed to us more ridiculous than anything was the latter part +of this announcement: + +"It is forbidden to let the dogs go out; it is forbidden to let them +bark." + +Who indeed had invented this fantastic order? Some old grumbler maybe, +who was prevented from sleeping by a loquacious bulldog, and as we had +relapsed into feudalism, this temporary lord thought that nothing should +disturb him. I am surprised that he did not throw blame upon the frogs +in the neighbouring marshes. As our fathers, armed with poles, were wont +to beat the ditches by night, repeating, as they did it: "Peace, peace, +you frogs, let his Lordship sleep," so their sons of to-day might have +beaten the marshes, saying: "Peace, peace, you frogs, let his German +Lordship sleep." + +Prevent the dogs from barking! Really, now, we did our best, and for a +few days, even for a few nights, we nearly reduced them to silence. In +our house, Gracieuse, a chatterbox by nature, had a great many +interviews with the cudgel, which worked well, and all about us the +nights were still. It was but the cannon's turn to speak. In vain, for +the moon appeared, white and round and fascinating. Her four-legged +admirers did not bay to her in chains. You may imagine the poor animals, +crouching down in their narrow kennels, fastened with too tight a chain +and too tight a collar, lying squat in the dark, and thinking with +terror of the new and inexplicable severity, or casting a sly look at +the whip or the broom which the master snatched up if any sound came +from their throats. This lasted about a fortnight. Then one evening a +pug-dog stirred up the others to mutiny by yelping furiously. The +shepherd-dogs followed, then the hounds. And the curs, plucking up +courage, made their deep bass heard, until at last, their muzzles lifted +towards the sky, their mouths distended from ear to ear, the whole +canine tribe began to bay the moon. + +"It is forbidden to go out after five o'clock in the evening and before +six o'clock in the morning." + +"It is forbidden to keep a light burning after eight o'clock in the +evening." + +"How convenient it is!" moaned Mme. Lantois. "The dairymaid does not +live at the farm, and this will oblige us to milk the cows one hour +earlier in the morning, one hour later in the evening." + +But the dispensers of orders did not mind putting the farmers out, and +every one had to submit. We consoled ourselves for imprisonment in our +houses for thirteen hours on end by thinking that in case of a nocturnal +incident, under every roof, from every garret-window would spring a +head, with which one might exchange one's impressions. What was +something more of a hardship was to veil our lights after eight o'clock +in the evening. Most of our neighbours go to bed shortly after the sun, +but to townswomen as we are it seemed impossible to sleep before eleven. + +Our fruit, our crops, our wine were requisitioned; well, we understood +why. But for mercy's sake leave us our evenings, for none can enjoy them +if they are taken away from us. On winter nights rooms are comfortable +and warm, furniture friendly, and household gods favourable. Ideas float +in the air and may be turned into talk or dreams. I warrant, it is the +vigil of thinkers that has civilised the world. + +In the morning everything has a cold air, inanimate objects are hostile, +a dull light reluctantly falls from the windows, and for some hours you +strive hard to tame life again and make it bearable. I beseech you, let +me live in the evening. The Germans did not allow us to live in the +evening. More than once, when the bell had rung eight o'clock, we heard +fists hammer on the shutters, and harsh voices cry: + +"Go to bed; French no light, no light." + +Yet it took some trouble to discover that we were not sitting in the +dark. These people had to thrust their noses through the chinks of the +wooden shutters to perceive that there was no light in the room. The +window-curtains not being sufficient to mask the light, we set our wits +to work in order to conceal it. Genevieve and I stuffed the shutters +with two big cloaks; Colette established a cleverly contrived screen all +around her lamp, and Yvonne hung up an extra blind. Every day, when the +lamps were lit, one of us went out to supervise the windows, while those +within waited for information. + +"Is my window all right?" + +"At the top, on the left side, there is a tiny bright spot.... Good, now +it is quite dark." + +"And in my room?" + +"Just a small streak at the bottom." + +Into the smallest details of our life the Germans had managed to +introduce something vexatious. + +Yet Morny being a quiet village, with a prudent Mayor at its head, we +were not so much to be pitied during the first months of the occupation. +It might perhaps be thought that we were too easily resigned to fate, +that we yielded too readily to the enemy's orders. Of course a +rebellion, followed by fearful punishment, would look well in a story. +But to what purpose should we attempt what would certainly bring new +harsh measures upon our neighbours? Ah, if the least of our actions +might have been useful to the country we were burning to serve, how +eagerly we--even the women--would have risked all to be helpful, and +exposed our lives, our liberty. But, alas, we were persuaded that we +were helpless, useless, even of no worth at all. We were mere ciphers, +as unimportant to one army as to the other, just like clods of earth in +the fields! I know that a well-placed clod may cause a man to fall, and +you may be sure that when we found an opportunity we never failed to +make a Prussian stumble. But it would have been downright folly to think +of an open rebellion, and we knew it well, though we sometimes talked of +it. + +The German soldiers said: + +"French women not bad; Belgian run after us with hay-forks." Alas, what +a price poor Belgium paid for her heroism! + +Soon after their arrival, the invaders took care to explain how they +intended to be obeyed, and to insist that the community would be +responsible for all individual acts. The Hussars were very near burning +Chevregny while we were there, because some one--evidently one of the +French convoys escaped from the fight, and hidden in the wood--fired at +a battalion passing on the road. One man was wounded in the foot. +Furious, the commander talked of setting the whole village on fire, and +it escaped only because the priest proved that a soldier had fired the +gun and not one of his flock. + +At Laon, a German soldier was killed by a civilian--in a brawl after +drinking, French witnesses said; while asleep, the German report +declared. We have read the poster stuck up in Laon. The end ran thus: + +"The house where the crime was committed has been set on fire, and the +guilty man will be shot. If a similar deed occurs again, the quarter +where it takes place will be burnt, and the town condemned to pay a +million francs." + +We did not require telling twice that it was not worth while. Bought one +at a time, the Prussians were really too expensive. An invaded country +could not afford them at such a price! Then all power of action had been +taken away from us; we could but try to the utmost of our power to save +as much of our goods as possible, to set bounds, with cunning, which is +the arm of the weak, to the ravages of the scourge. If impotent anger +often moved the women into tears, what shall we say of the men? How +shall we depict the fate of thousands of soldiers ordered back home on +the eve of the invasion? They are soldiers, they ought to fight for +their country. They watch from afar the different stages of the battle, +whose manifold din reaches them. They stand, panting, with clenched +fists. They think: "This is going on, such a thing is happening. If I +were with my brothers, I would fall upon the enemy, I would fight +against the invaders." + +Their blood is burning; they wish to kill; they will kill some of them. +A sudden uproar, imperious voices are heard. Be quick! Prussians are at +the door. They are shown in, even with a good grace. To refrain so long +from murder, for which they would gladly have paid with their life, more +heroism was required from our men--the natural defenders of molested +women and famished children--than is necessary to rush headlong into the +thickest of a fight. + +I have already spoken of the regulations the German authorities had +decreed. But what is impossible to explain, and what people can never +understand who have not lived among the invaders, is the way the laws +were applied, and the thousand vexations that came from them. We were +constantly threatened with requisitions, inquisitions, perquisitions. We +never saw two soldiers walking together in the street without thinking: +"Where are they going? What do they want?" + +Among those who were quartered in Morny during October, were a certain +veterinary surgeon, pale-faced and red-haired, and a certain professor, +red-nosed and dark-bearded, both with gold spectacles. The excellent +fellows spoke French as if they had been born in Pontoise, obtruded +themselves everywhere, and took a great interest in everything. They +talked cattle with the farmers, flour with the baker, provisions with +the housewives, and sweets with the urchins. They teased the young +girls, and patted the dogs. After three weeks of such dealings they knew +Morny just as well as the elders of the place, knew your income, your +family affairs and secrets, better than you. They had a large share in +the writing of a guide for the use of the invaders, and when every +inhabitant had been duly analysed, both went away to their pleasant +trade elsewhere. You may guess how useful this was for the Germans, if +you consider what an advantage it would be to leeches to understand +anatomy, and to know the disposition of the blood-vessels. + +So much for inquisitions. As to requisitions, they were always going on, +and the farmers never got up at dawn without thinking: "What are they +going to steal to-day?" + +So we continued to hide as well as we could all that we possessed. + +Think of our anxiety the day we heard they were said to search houses! + +One morning, about the end of November, the street was suddenly filled +with soldiers. The word "perquisition" was hovering over our heads. How +anxious we were for the cheese and butter we had the luck to get but the +day before! If they happened to notice it they would be sure to come +back and fetch it. So we rushed into the garden, and with all possible +speed thrust the three pounds of butter and the five pieces of cheese, +the hope of many a future meal, into the box borders. Everything was +ready. On our features was a mask of carelessness. Then the bell rang; +we opened the gate. + +"Come in, gentlemen, and may it please Mercury, the god of the thieves, +your patron, to let you pass close to our hiding-places without +discovering them!" + +A soldier guarded the door. Two other ones came in with a sergeant. As +the saint, so the altar. From one room to another we followed the +visitors. They were careful not to forget the drawers, which their hands +searched and researched. They disturbed the dresses hung in the +cupboards, to make sure that no French soldiers were hidden behind. They +shook the _portieres_, to scare the carrier-pigeons away. "Ah! this +bed-curtain is swollen ... a French soldier ... the iron cross for +me...." Flat down on his face lay the knave. Alas! no feet were to be +seen beneath the curtain, nothing but the innocent frame of a picture +forgotten there three months ago. They went upstairs, took a careful +survey of the attics, pried into the heaps of logs. Then catching sight +of the roof whose shadow served as a screen to our bedding: + +"What is up there, then?" asked the under-officer. + +"Up there? It is an empty space between the roof and the ceiling." + +The man seemed satisfied with the explanation; the big boots got down +again; they paused; they had found nothing. At length they made up their +minds to go out; they disappeared from sight; they went to search the +next house. A week after these operations the villagers still talked +about them. + +"Has your house been carefully searched?" + +"Oh, dear! dear! they have looked even into the saucepans!" + +"They have gone through the papers in my desk." + +"They have climbed upon the beams of our roof." + +The visitors seldom found anything worth while--one or two pigeons which +their owners had hidden in the attic, and for which they had to pay +fifty francs each. Other villages were less happy. For a trifle a man +was considered suspect, and taken into custody. If a cartridge happened +to be discovered in a house, the owner was arrested and sent to Laon, +Hirson, or still farther off--and after the retreat of August what +urchin had not a collection of French and Belgian cartridges? + +A gentleman-farmer of the neighbourhood was put into prison under the +pretence that he talked German too much! Another was arrested all of a +sudden without any apparent reason. + +"But why am I arrested?" + +"Go on, you will know later." + +The poor wretch came back from Germany a year afterwards, ill, worn out, +done for. Only they had neglected to reveal to him why he had been +imprisoned. + +It is not difficult to imagine how these prisoners were hunted. A man +was arrested in Barenton. A gun had been found in his bed, it would +seem. He was confined for a time at Laon, managed to escape, and went +right to Morny, where M. Dunard, his lifelong friend, hid him in his +house. Did any one betray the runaway's retreat? I do not know, but two +days after his arrival an under-officer and four men came to M. +Dunard's, one from the street, the others from the garden, turned the +farmer, his wife, and the maid out of doors, conscientiously searched +the house, found the fugitive, and took him away. We saw the poor man +pass between two gendarmes on horseback. He looked desperate; his hands, +tied to one of the stirrups, were quite blue. But immanent justice, dear +to the Germans, had a watchful eye. Here it was even imminent. A good +citizen of Morny was just coming back from the forest, with his donkey +put to a cart, loaded with wood. The ass saw a procession, which he +thought unseemly, and proclaimed his opinion in the way usual to his +kind. The horses, frightened by the loud hee-haw, reared and fell back. +A military motor-car which was approaching could not stop in time, and +gave a sudden lurch, followed by a general confusion. Horses, gendarmes, +donkey, cart, and logs fell topsy-turvy to the ground. Oh, the poor +prisoner with his tied-up hands! Well, he alone came off safe and sound. +He alone, and the donkey of course. Gendarmes, horses, and driver got up +lame to the right and left, and more or less injured. After some +bandaging the Germans took their prisoner away all the same, but the +interlude had given a few minutes of intense joy to many people. + +For a long time we were afraid that the men of the village would be all +taken away. We knew that in many northern places the male population had +been carried off to fill up German prisons. When would they do the same +in Morny? + +"When the Germans withdraw," was the general answer. + +And the expectation of this day filled us with a mixture of joy and +dread. The day came, and the Germans did not withdraw. One morning all +able-bodied men were summoned to the "mairie." They were taken in herds +to Laon, and shut up in the citadel; for two nights they slept on the +floor and had to eat a nameless stew. On the third day of their absence, +towards evening, a joyful rumour spread in the village. "The men are +coming back! the men are coming back!" + +Women and children rushed out to meet husbands, sons, and fathers, and +the noisy troop came back home, and stayed there. + +We thought ourselves crushed with grief. What seemed to us most +unbearable was the want of news. Every family had one or several of its +members away at the front, and we asked over and over again, are they +dead, wounded, ill? + +And we knew no more of what happened in the invaded country, in Lille, +St. Quentin, or Rethel, than of what happened in San Francisco, Paris, +or Pekin. Every village was an island carefully isolated from the rest +of the world, and kept up very few relations with the nearest towns. On +the other hand, we can think only with compassion of the everlasting +threats hanging over our heads, of the uninterrupted plunder, of the +vexatious measures, which left us no rest. Yet all this was bearable +compared with what we had still to support! First the bad season was +coming; soon we should suffer from the cold, since fuel was rare; and +even from hunger, since bread was scarce. One day Colette cried out: +"Oh, mother, look! Winter is coming; the Christmas roses are in bloom." +On the very same day we heard that the village had a new commandant. +Until then Morny had given hospitality but to convoys and troops of the +reserve. We should now have to deal with soldiers on active service. +About a hundred Death's Head Hussars settled themselves in the big farm +on the Laon road, and their lieutenant became the supreme chief of the +commune. The invaders certainly organised their government. Every +village was provided with a commandant, who grew more and more powerful. +You can imagine how these people were puffed up with pride. Just think +of a lieutenant, a small country squire, owning beneath the sky of +Pomerania three acres of barren, unfruitful land, who all of a sudden +sees himself absolute master of a rich territory of 1500 souls. It was +enough to turn his head. Von Bernhausen was the name of the one we got. +He was of an historical family, and gave himself out to be a rich +cattle-breeder. He was a huge fellow--Genevieve and I reached to his +waist--aged about twenty-six. Boldly cleft from heels to chin, he bore +on his interminable legs a kind of shortened bust, a gallows head with +small eyes, a little nose, still less forehead, a great deal of cheek, +and still more of a thick-lipped and ever damp mouth. This ugly +lieutenant was a thorough glutton, and the poultry-yards of Morny had +many proofs of it. As he did not walk very upright, his coat, which was +always greasy, formed in front a mass of horizontal creases that might +have aroused the jealousy of an accordion. Two days after his arrival he +was nicknamed Bouillot for short, a diminutive of Crabouillot, which +means in the _patois_ "dirty." Self-confident, conscious of the rights +his title and name gave him, this lordly personage went to Laon, or +received his superiors, without any change for the better in his dress. +The peasants said he was the cousin of the Emperor. We shall be more +modest, and be content with saying that his forefathers are very well +known in Germany and other countries. His faults were overlooked in high +quarters, and I leave you to imagine the benefit he reaped from his post +and the way he understood comfort, good cheer, and service. To begin +with, he requisitioned a capital cook of the place, and told her that +she was to exert all her skill on behalf of Germany. A salary was quite +out of the question. Early in the morning he was often to be seen in a +poultry-yard, busy selecting his birds among the few geese, ducks, and +fowls that were still there, and then: "I want this to be at the farm at +ten o'clock." If the owner timidly asked for a note of hand, the officer +turned short round and shouted in his face: "I told you to bring me this +at ten o'clock." + +Once he came to M. Lantois and said: "I want the carriage you've got; +bring it to me." The farmer, after a moment's hesitation, dared to +pronounce, too, the words "note of hand." + +"I shall give none; you don't want any; your cart won't get lost." + +Suddenly the man went into a regular rage, tore up and down the yard, +uttered yells of anger, and bellowed: + +"I am the commandant of this village! I can do everything I please! You +must give me all that I want!" + +He took the carriage away, and two days later it was lying broken in a +ditch. + +Thus we had nothing to do but suffer these exactions. We had marched +straight back towards the Middle Ages. We were bondsmen, attached to the +soil, as no one was allowed to leave the land. The mighty and powerful +lords had re-established all feudal rights. They took toll for the +shortest journeys, sold our own flour in common mills, from all men +required villein service. They were careful not to forget certain +prerogatives, and thought they had a double right to the favour of all +women and girls, being at once lords and conquerors. Accordingly a house +like ours seemed to them especially created for the pleasure of the King +of Prussia's officers. + +And yet how careful we were to hide ourselves! From the moment that the +hussars haunted the country, Mme. Valaine did not allow us even to go +and fetch the bread. The bakehouse was deemed too far off, and the +garden sufficient for exercise. Mme. Lantois' farm, M. Lonet's house, a +hundred yards to the right, a hundred yards to the left, were the +longest walks we were permitted to enjoy. And before risking our nose in +the street we took a rapid survey. + +"No Prussian is to be seen? Good, I will risk it." + +Despite these precautions, we were forced to receive frequent +requisitioners or perquisitioners, and we soon heard that the soldiers +called our habitation "the house of the pretty girls." + +Fatal name! No sooner had Lieutenant von Bernhausen heard it than he +despatched to us his second self, the sergeant Marquis, _alias_ +Sainte-Brute. For, as no one can doubt, Bouillot had about him worthy +followers--this sergeant, Sainte-Brute, as much dreaded as his master, +and a few other hussars, "he loved above all," as Victor Hugo says. Was +it "for their great courage and their huge size"? I do not know, but for +their ferocity in any case, their want of scruple, their hatred of +France. Among them he reckoned "the Blackguard," a vicious lad with a +pink and white complexion; "Rabbit's Paw," who looked like a degenerate +fool, with a long bovine face; and the "Japanese," whose slanting, +spiteful eyes were always laughing. + +One evening, when all the inhabitants of the village had locked up their +houses, a loud ring was heard at our gate. This made our hearts beat +quickly. + +"So late, O heavens! what do they want?" + +We ran out, and soon showed in Sainte-Brute, attended by two soldiers. +Like a conqueror he walked up the steps and entered the dining-room. He +showed his best graces, his small moustache was curled up, his cloak put +on after the Spanish fashion, his cap roguishly set on one side. A paper +in his hands, he made a show of his fingers--he had well-kept nails, I +must acknowledge. Mme. Valaine, Genevieve, and I stood and waited. A +night-light illumined the scene. + +"It is six o'clock," the under-officer announced. "Everybody must be at +home. I want to see all the inhabitants of this house." + +Come along, then! Let him count us; set the family in a row; it is +fair-day; the Germans are amusing themselves! + +The girls came in reluctantly with fury-flashing eyes. + +Sainte-Brute thought the light too weak; he pointed his electric lamp at +us, and one after another scanned our hostile faces; then he declared: + +"The 'population' say that you often go to Laon without passports." + +"If the population say so, it is lying. In the last ten days we have +been but once to Laon, and here is the passport you gave us yourself." + +"Hum, hum, the population...." + +Sainte-Brute seemed to hesitate. The Blackguard plucked him by the +sleeve: + +"Come, come...." + +"Mind, you have had your warning," the sergeant concluded by saying. "It +is strictly forbidden to travel without leave from the military +authorities." + +Satisfied with his speech, the man withdrew. He took a careful survey of +the lobby, opened the kitchen door, cast his light in every direction. +He seemed to take a great interest in the copper of the saucepans. Yet +he went out, followed by his acolytes. Their steps resounded in the +street. We bolted the door, and an hour after had not recovered from the +emotion. + +What was the meaning of this visit? + +The next day, under the pretence that he wanted to see what lodging we +might give to chance soldiers, Bouillot himself came to see us with his +train. At his heels was a big hound. Percinet did not believe his eyes. +A dog in his yard! He flung himself on the intruder; a furious fight +began; with his heavy boots the officer gave our poor collie many a hard +kick, and at length knocked him down. + +"Brute!" cried Colette, in an indignant tone. + +Herr von Bernhausen replied with a smile. He was kind enough to believe +the epithet was meant for the dog. + +While Yvonne was taking away the poor limping beast, the lieutenant +asked a few questions, then turned on his heels and went away. Once in +the street, he lifted up his long arms, as if to say: + +"There is nothing to do in this house!" + +He had pronounced our sentence; the reign of terror had begun. + +Were I to live a hundred years I should never forget the weeks of mental +torture I owe to the Germans. Ten times a day terror sent all the blood +of my veins to my heart, and made my legs shake under me. Ten times a +night terror awoke me panting from my sleep, with my eyes swimming with +tears. + +Is any one coming in? Is there a knock at the door? Is the bell ringing? + +For we had been officially chosen as butts, and at any time, under the +most futile pretences, two or three hussars, or a troop of them, used to +enter the house. They well-nigh forced the gate open, or broke the bell, +and roaring out horribly one day required harness we never had, another +maintained they would find in our garden their horses broken loose. +Then, at nightfall, when our neighbours were all shut up in their +houses, they would come back and stay in front of the house. More than +once they arrived drunk, and all the while they made a frightful uproar, +shouting, calling after us, kicking in the gates, knocking at the +shutters with their revolvers, and trying to break them open. If from +upstairs we asked what they wanted, they answered with threats, insults, +and invitations to come down. + +This life was a very hell. + +For weeks we kept a ladder raised against the wall so that if the +soldiers, more intoxicated than usual, managed to force a shutter open +and entered the house we might escape. Thanks to a small pent-house +built on the other side of the wall, we could in a few steps be in Mme. +Lantois' orchard. + +The farmer's wife had said to us: + +"Do come in case of an emergency. The doors overlooking the garden are +never locked, and if you were pursued my husband and son would take a +hay-fork to defend you." + +Colette, who now slept in the big room upstairs, had a hatchet nigh at +hand. + +"Oh," she said, "if they got up to my room, I would split two or three +heads before I jumped out of the window!" + +Of a certainty we had a very large share in the distribution of cares, +yet the sun shone--or rather the wind blew--for every one. It is useless +to say that the hussars were prompt of hand, and were not always +satisfied with threats. One day Lieutenant von Bernhausen had a mind to +go to Laon with his retinue. He sent for the Mayor of Morny: + +"Make haste, I want three coaches put to at eleven o'clock. Be off!" + +Bewildered, the Mayor hurried away to carry out the order. Where would +he get three coaches whose wheels would hold together, three horses +whose legs would not shake under them, whose backs would not be covered +with bruises and scabs, when the farmers were all eaten out of house and +home? Besides, the less sorry jades were out in the fields at that time +of the day. By dint of researches and efforts, three decent coaches were +got together at length. But it was half-past eleven. + +For thirteen minutes the commandant had been making the air echo with +the thunder of his wrath, and when he saw the Mayor red in the face and +out of breath, he rushed towards him with a stick, and vigorously beat +the shoulders of the unfortunate magistrate. + +Such is the proper way to deal with French people. + +Let us be just. The following day the same Bernhausen dusted the jacket +of one of his own soldiers, who had ventured to kick a civilian. Yet it +is worth remarking that the rascal did not get punished on account of +the ill-usage inflicted on a defenceless person, but for the insolence +he had shown by encroaching on his superior's rights. Gold lace alone +empowers you to distribute hard thumps and blows. + +One farm on the Laon road, being in a conspicuous place, had to suffer +particularly from the plunderers and requisitioners who happened to pass +by. One day Mme. Vialat could not succeed even in giving her sick child +something hot. As soon as anything was ready the soldiers rushed +forward, took it away, and laughed at the thought that they had played a +nice little trick. + +There remained in the house a certain number of sheepskins, carefully +prepared, and not less carefully hidden. One day the hussars discovered +and laid hold of the treasure. The farmer lost his temper, and tried to +defend his goods. Too many things had already been stolen; he required a +note of hand; but Sainte-Brute never gave notes of hand. Things were +growing bad; the farmer could not keep down his anger, and gave the +plunderers a piece of his mind. The soldiers threw themselves upon him; +Mme. Vialat and her niece ran to the rescue. + +"They might have killed him," the young girl told us. "I came and stood +before him." + +The brutes gave her a sound slap on the face, struck her aunt with the +butt-end of their guns, and on their own private authority carried away +the precious skins. + +A young shopkeeper of the village, Mlle. Grellet, objected to a close +search into her own linen. The soldiers had no chance of success, as +they were looking for a missing wheel. But the sergeant pretended that +no one dared withstand his will, and with a hoarse laugh he rudely +knocked the girl about. + +Indignant, she struck him on the face. She was directly knocked down, +her features belaboured with clenched fists, and justice was demanded of +the commandant. The poor girl was immediately sentenced to three days' +imprisonment. We saw her taken to the "mairie," she was shaken with +sobs, her bloody face all bruised and swollen. She was guilty of having +inflicted serious ill-treatment on the person of the rosy, smiling, and +triumphant sergeant who was accompanying her. + +As to ourselves, the witnesses of these chivalrous deeds, we looked on, +with our fists clenched, with our teeth grinding, with tears of rage in +our eyes ... and never uttered a word. + +It was no use crying for help. Our very prayers seemed to rise to an +unrelenting God, and we could but murmur: + +"Father, Father, why hast Thou forsaken us?" + +It was the reign of terror. + +"Ah, Madam," said a woman all in tears, whose husband owned a +merry-go-round, "they have just requisitioned our mechanical organ. Ah, +Madam, such a beautiful 'music,' for which we had given four thousand +francs--all our savings! They have taken it to amuse themselves. And how +furious they were! When they are well spoken I don't mind it so much, +but when they look so angry I tremble like a leaf." + +It was the reign of terror. + +"When I see them coming," another neighbour declared, "it makes my blood +run cold." + +M. Lonet himself acknowledged that he never saw Prussians enter his +house without an inward thrill of fear. + +"Whom will they harm to-day?" we thought. "People, animals, or things?" + +It was the reign of terror. + +When the invaders alarmed strong and courageous men, I, who am not a +thunderbolt of war, how could I put a good face on the matter? +Genevieve, on the other hand, was more indignant than frightened, but, +as to myself, I was frightened to death. + +It was the reign of terror, terror, terror. And you do not understand +the meaning of this, you who have not rushed to your light to blow it +out for fear its pale glimmer would betray your presence, who have not +stopped panting in the dark to listen to angry yells uttered close to +your windows, to hear your shutters shake and creak under the +assailants' blows--you who have not realised that you are a woman and +weak, and that a dozen brutes will seek more than your life if they +succeed in their design. You do not know what it is like, but we know it +from sad experience, and if the horrors that have overwhelmed other +places have been spared us, at least we have felt their envenomed +breath, and our bodies and souls have not yet set themselves free from +the poison. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + + +Thus ground down and sunk in grief we reached the end of the year. You +must not think that we were as yet urged to desperation. The courageous +inhabitants who, after hours' waiting, got a passport to go to Laon +always came back with the most comforting information. + +"The news is very good ... very good. I should not be astonished if the +Germans went away in a short time." + +The farmer's wife of the "Huchettes" who daily took milk to Laon--so +many bottles were requisitioned for the Red Cross--mysteriously said +with her forefinger lifted up: + +"I have good hope, good hope, that 'our French' will be back before the +1st of January." + +And the cannon was ever booming; its voice cheered us; we never got +weary of listening to it and studying it. Once we even believed that it +promised our deliverance. It was the 21st of December, at about eleven +in the evening. Genevieve and I were gloomily reading books held quite +close to the light, when Colette knocked at our door and appeared in her +nightgown: + +"Come, come, a battle is being fought just now, don't you hear the +cannon? It is roaring louder than ever." + +On tiptoe, for fear we should arouse Mme. Valaine from her sleep, we +went upstairs. Colette's window was wide open; we squeezed together in +the narrow space. Both Genevieve and I got upon the window-sill and +leaned against the frame, whilst the others pressed against the rail in +front. And there, half-dressed, unconscious of the cold, we eagerly +watched the horizon. The action took place in the direction of Vailly. +In fact, the cannon was roaring with a rage never yet heard. Its near or +distant rumbling never ceased for a second, and the bursting shells +succeeded one another uninterruptedly. When certain pieces of ordnance +were firing off full volleys, we felt a quivering all about us, and on +the writing-table the penholder jingled against the crystal of the +inkstand. Our bodies, our souls thrilled with enthusiasm, and the battle +awoke an inward echo. With our minds' eyes we eagerly watched the place +where great things happened. Our hearts flew onward to meet those who +seemed to approach us!... Oh, come, come! + +Our eyes were riveted on the horizon in flames, where ever-renewed +flashes showed a red undulation marked with blue spots, or streaked with +the lights of five turning beacons. We saw the shells burst, above, +below, to the right, to the left. The cannonade seemed to slacken. +Listen! listen! A soft breeze brought us the thrilling sounds of sharp +firing, the crackling of machine-guns. Then the hollow voice began +again, and drowned the others. + +"Oh," Colette cried out, wringing her hands, "to think that our +brothers, our hearts' blood, are over there! They are fighting ... they +sink to the ground ... they are wounded ... they are dying...." + +We trembled, we bit our lips, we said in a murmur: + +"If only they were going to break through, if only they came back...." + +"Oh, come, come!..." + +The whole village was wide awake. Through attic windows anxious faces +were peeping; restless people stood at their garden walls. From house to +house they exchanged impressions. + +A young woman of the neighbourhood had rushed to her coffee-mill at the +beginning of the action, and by the time her old father went to the +garden to unearth a precious bottle of _marc_, she had ground all her +small reserve, so that "our French" might have hot coffee on reaching +the village! + +Alas, our hopes were once more hoped in vain! Little by little the +firing grew fainter, the cannon less audible; the flames and the lights +died away; and suddenly silence and peace fell upon the village. The +extinguisher was dropped on us again. Speechless and gloomy we went to +bed at two o'clock in the morning, with limbs and souls chilled, and we +did not even try to seek sleep. + +The civilians were not the only ones who thought the French likely to +come back. The hussars had spent the whole night on horseback, ready, if +their brothers-in-arms withdrew, to go at full speed to the north: such +were the orders in case of an alarm--at least they said so. Officers, +under-officers, and soldiers were all the more grieved with the +disturbance as they were going to feast and make merry all night in +order to keep Christmas, and were looking forward to such a junketing as +they had never dreamed of in the Marches of Brandenburg. The lieutenant +had visited all the farms of the village, felt a hundred fowls, and +chosen the plumpest and the tenderest. The feathered tribe were waiting +for their last hour in an adjacent shed. + +But now to whom would the inheritance come? + +"My beautiful fowls," the officer muttered between his teeth, "my +beautiful fowls! Who will eat them? How many a slip is there 'twixt the +duck and the lip!" + +The alarm over, Von Bernhausen had not yet recovered his serenity. At +break of day he summoned his host, the farmer, the cook, and the cook's +boy, ordered them to slay, pluck, and roast directly all that bore comb +or webbed foot. + +"At eleven," he declared, "we shall eat them every one." + +They ate them every one. Crammed to the brim, greatly pleased with +themselves, the hussars strummed on their paunches: "'Tis so much +gained!" + +There is no need to say that they began their feast again on Christmas +Day. In order to celebrate this godly day according to old customs, +soldiers of all arms and all localities had looked everywhere for +fir-trees. They were not satisfied with small ones, and in our wood, +near Bucy, they lopped eighteen beautiful Norway pines; they did the +like in other private estates, and even in a public place of Laon, where +the beheaded trees cut a very sorry figure, you may take my word for +it. + +Their Christmas Eve supper was very merry, at Morny at least, and till a +late hour of the night we heard the noise of dances, laughter, and +shouts, mingled with women's voices. We civilians spent a poor trembling +Christmas, whose bitter sweetness was made up of fond thoughts of the +absent, and sad remembrances of past years. Christmas ... peace on the +earth ... Christmas ... all the pleasures of our childhood recurred to +our memory.... Good-will to all men.... Christmas, the feast of the one +that said: "Love one another." And the strong still grind down the weak, +hatred and bloodshed prevail everywhere!... The irony of the day brought +to our lips a bitter taste. + +On the 31st of December every one had gone to bed as usual; the people +were but slumbering as they were now wont to, when out burst a sharp +firing accompanied by loud shouting. Every one sprang up, all windows +flew wide open, cries arose: + +"The French!" + +"Listen...." + +"Hoch! hoch!" + +Oh, despair! they were but the Prussians cheering the New Year. Even +when they enjoy themselves, these people are not harmless. Their guns +were loaded with balls, which passed through several shutters; it was a +miracle that no one was hurt. + +If that New Year's Day was not a merry one, it brought with it hope that +is inseparable from everything at its beginning. Deliverance! that was +what we wished one another. And we not only relied on the New Year to +bring it, but to bring it without great delay. Fortunately this +assurance gave us a moral satisfaction, for our material rejoicings were +very scanty. In most houses, in ours for instance, meat did not appear +on the table any more than it had for many a day. Only a few farmers +succeeded in putting a chicken in their pot without the knowledge of the +Germans. For it was understood that all fowls were requisitioned. Their +owners had a right to look after them and to feed them, but not to eat +them. At the butcher's horse-meat was sold--coming of course from +animals killed at the front--and sometimes some coarse beef, which was +obtained by large bribes from soldiers employed at the slaughter-house. +Rather than feast upon such unappetising and expensive meat, we +preferred to eat boiled vegetables. Sometimes frogs' legs varied the +monotony of our daily menu; some of our neighbours managed to buy +venison, poachers being not rare in the German army; and soldiers there +were who profited handsomely from roebucks, which they killed when the +officers turned their backs. + +But these few windfalls did not make up for the lack of many things, +hitherto looked upon as indispensable. And what was our alarm on hearing +once that bread itself would run short! On a certain Saturday the people +who went to fetch flour came back with their carts empty; likewise the +following week. No more bread! This bad fortune had been long foreseen, +and to provide against it we had dried slices of bread in the oven, and +thus filled many and many a tin. But seven persons are not long eating +up a reserve of this kind. So by a recipe, which all the village knew, a +dough was made of mashed potatoes and a little flour--every one had +managed to lay by a few pounds of it--and these thin cakes, baked in the +oven, bore some likeness to the food we missed. + +Other villages were even less fortunate than ours, and had no bread at +all--officially at least--for a very long time. The farmers who had +contrived to hide corn had to grind it in a coffee-mill or with the help +of a mincing-machine, and the ovens--long unemployed--were again turned +to account when no Germans were present. + +On the whole our village did not starve now, as it had starved during +October and November. A few peasants had mysteriously dug up their +potatoes, and sold them just as mysteriously. Besides, through the +Mayor's clever management, the Germans consented to our buying from them +a certain quantity of rice, salt, and sugar. These goods, we heard, were +the remainder of provisions sent to the commissary of stores. They were +sold on stated days, and every inhabitant was entitled to a kilo of +rice, a pound of sugar, half a pound of salt, once a fortnight. It was a +sheer pleasure to chaffer with the invaders; they demanded gold as +payment for their scanty revictualling, but later on they had to content +themselves with a sum partly in gold, partly in silver. They played +hang-dog tricks on the middlemen. Once the Mayor was informed that such +and such goods were to be had to the amount of three hundred francs. +Greatly pleased, he paid in golden cash. He was kept waiting one hour, +then two, then three. At length he was told that he had been deceived. +The provisions were not nearly so abundant as they were first thought; +there was scarcely a hundred francs' worth. The difference was to be +given back to the purchaser. And, indeed, two hundred francs were +returned to him, but the two hundred francs were paid in German notes! + +For three weeks we had no bread at all; then the Germans vouchsafed us +flour of their own, so much a day; a loaf made with this powder took the +shape of a small, flat, brown and heavy crown, which gave us such acute +pains that we often preferred being hungry to having our fill of this +dough. We were all poor wretches and starvelings, but we were +fellow-citizens, and we arranged to keep a certain level of the +provisions. But a hundred times more wretched and starving were the +refugees who, when their villages were burned to the ground, had been +shared among the communes throughout the country. For months they had +neither house nor home, and about forty of them had taken shelter in +Morny, where they were huddled in one or two empty houses, lived but +scantily, and slept on straw. Several died during the winter. Laon was +also overrun with hundreds of those poor fugitives, and throughout the +town you were assailed and pursued by small ragged beggars who made you +think of Naples or Marseilles. The poor things moved your pity the more +deeply as you were compelled to think: + +"Such is perhaps the fate that is awaiting me." + +Indeed, nobody was sure that a whim of the Germans would not turn him +out of doors. It was seen more than once. So many things were +requisitioned. First of all, the invaders laid the absent people under +contribution, and as long as their houses had window-panes and +furniture, they were sufficient for the plunderers. But afterwards? A +large manufacturer of the neighbourhood, M. Vergniaud, had built a +castle a few years before in the Renaissance style, and filled it with +Renaissance furniture. When the rumour of invasion came, the owner took +flight with his household. The first soldiers quartered in the villa +knocked off the sculptures of the cupboards with axes, while others +carried away what pleased them. We saw a china bath taken away to the +trenches; it contained two small pigs. In the luggage of an officer who +lodged in our house there were damask curtains, plates of old Strasburg +ware, and even children's clothes, all of which came from that castle. + +In the end what remained of the furniture was taken to the station, +loaded upon railway trucks, conveyed from one place to another for a +fortnight, and then sent to an unknown destination. To Germany or to the +trenches? + +Some officers, who lived in Laon, did not approve of the costly +furniture about them, so they sent for three civil prisoners. The orders +they gave them were simple: "Take the furniture into the garden and +break the whole in pieces with your axes; it will serve as firewood." +The house thus cleared, these gentlemen had but to look elsewhere for +the wherewithal to furnish their rooms. + +If uninhabited houses contained nothing useful, they requisitioned what +they wanted from those who had stayed at home. Von Bernhausen soon +discovered that he might find many things in our house of which he could +make a good use. First, he was sure that such people as we are overfed +ourselves. In fact, boiled potatoes, boiled carrots, boiled beans, +boiled rice, barley coffee, and nut-tree tea are everywhere looked upon +as choice dainties. So one day the street was ringing with drunken +shouts. We kept silent, attentive to the least sound. "Will they go by +without worrying us?" Oh no! An angry hand rang a full peal, whilst +heavy boots beat rhythmical imprecations upon the gate. The key had +hardly turned in the lock when Sainte-Brute rushed in like a madman, +with two other hussars. Genevieve jumped to avoid the shock of the man: + +"Oh, he is drunk!" + +These words increased the fury of the non-commissioned officer: + +"Drunk ... drunk ... I am drunk.... You dare say it again. It is an +insult to the German army.... You will see ... you will see...." + +Genevieve, with folded arms and head erect, as white as her woollen +jacket, faced the non-commissioned officer. She looked at him with such +an air of scorn and defiance that the maniac broke into a new fit of +rage. Bending forward, his fists clenched, his eyes starting from their +sockets, crimson-faced, he foamed at the mouth, he spat out: "Drunk ... +you said I am drunk ... you will go to prison ... you will be put on +bread and water ... sleep on straw ... it will serve you right ... +drunk ... drunk...." + +Around us stood the frightened family. The "Blackguard" sneered, and +"Rabbit's Paw," when the madman ceased, took up the burden of abuse. All +of a sudden the sergeant altered his mind and sprang into the cellar. +His companions followed him, and we heard them upsetting empty bottles +and shaking casks. "You may seek for wine, my fine fellows, and if you +find a single bottle I will pour it out for you myself." + +In the depths of the cellar Sainte-Brute continued to breathe forth +fury, loading us with violent and obscene insults. Fortunately we did +not understand much of his foul language. Then he came upstairs again in +haste, rushed into the garden, and squeaked: + +"Beans ... beans ... beans...." + +Like one stupefied, he stopped and gazed at the lawn as if he had +expected the beans to spring up at his call. There was no sign of them. + +Then he turned round to me: + +"Have you any beans?" + +Good Heavens! There was a small sack of big white beans which we had +bought last week, and out of which we hoped to get many a meal! If I +deny that we have any, thought I, these people will go to the attic, and +the first thing they see is the sack of beans, white and fruitful of +promise. + +"Hum ... yes, we have a small quantity of beans. But as we bought them, +they cannot be requisitioned." + +"How much have you?" + +The answer came reluctantly: + +"About twenty litres." + +"Well, they are requisitioned; you are forbidden to use them." + +The callers were about to leave, but the drunken man still wished to +take Genevieve away. + +"She must go to prison ... she has insulted the German army." + +The "Blackguard," who was almost sober, pulled him by the arm: + +"Come away, come away! These people will make a fuss, and it will be +said that we are barbarians!" + +Sainte-Brute was loath to let himself be convinced. At length his +unsteady legs took him off, and his acolytes followed him. + +"Ah!" cried Genevieve, passing her hand over her forehead with a gesture +as of madness, "to think that all our life we have been respected, that +we have met only polite and courteous people, and now drunken brutes may +insult us in our own house! Why, they talk of putting us in prison, as +though we were old rag-pickers found trespassing." + +The neighbours hastened to condole with us, for the shouts of the +soldiers had been heard a mile off. The next intrusion came the +following day. They returned to fetch the beans. This time they were +merry in their cups, they asked for their prey with smiles, and laying +hold of it seemed vastly amused. On leaving they burst out laughing, and +Von Bernhausen, who was waiting for them outside, roared with merriment +as he weighed the sack of beans in his hand. + +The Prussians are full of humour. + +For three days running, no offensive. Then, one morning, the Hussars +announced themselves, as usual, by shouting, kicking at the gate, and +ringing violently at the bell. They walked in, went through the house, +and right on to the bathroom. + +"We want this bath." + +It was no use protesting. The bath was taken away. Three days after it +was lying smashed to pieces in the yard of an inn which the Hussars +frequented, and serving as a dust-bin for the sluts of the place. + +Then came the turn of the piano. + +Some time before Christmas the non-commissioned officer who had +previously searched the house presented himself very civilly: + +"You have a piano; I want it for a few days; we shall bring it back to +you after Christmas." + +We could not say a word. Weeks glided by; the new year saw many dawns +break; and no one brought back the piano. This harmonious piece of +furniture was the finest ornament of a house which the _garde-voies_ had +made their home. You saw nothing but black coats there; no Hussars, no +convoys. The _garde-voies_ are territorials, elderly, sedate men, +fathers of families, whose stoutness their uniforms cannot conceal. They +smoke pipes as big as beer glasses, and drink beer out of glasses as big +as kegs. They looked scornfully on those who stay at the farm, whose +drunkenness and rakish habits are a cause of scandal to them. + +Therefore they kept aloof, searched houses, and requisitioned goods for +their own account, had their private rejoicings, and spent their +evenings amid tobacco smoke and the smells of beer, while they listened +rapturously to patriotic songs or even playful ditties hammered out on +our good-natured piano. + +One day a rumour spread. The _garde-voies_ are going away. The sergeant +is already off. In fact, the non-commissioned officer had left our +parts, unmindful of the various pieces of furniture he had "borrowed" +from the inhabitants. It was the moment to go and claim what belonged to +us. The house was about to be cleared under the superintendence of a +corporal, who kindly authorised us to have the piano conveyed home. He +did not care for it any more; he was going away. And the instrument was +put back into our drawing-room. It did not stay there for a great while. +That very evening Von Bernhausen came round, greatly incensed. + +"That piano which the _garde-voies_ had? I hear you took it away, +without asking my leave!" + +"But it is our piano. It was agreed we should have it back." + +"I want it; I will come for it to-morrow at ten. You had no right to +fetch it without orders from me." + +Bouillot withdrew, proud of himself. The following day he came back +followed by a vehicle and eight men chosen among the strongest of the +band. All flocked round the piano, pushing, pulling to no purpose. + +"I think," said my mother-in-law, "that it would be better for the walls +and for the piano if you passed it directly into the street by the +window." + +"Hold your tongue," answered the kind officer, "you know nothing about +it. The piano will go through the passage." + +It went through, and took with it much of the wainscot. The Hussars made +a great deal of bustle, sweating blood and water. "Peuh!" Yvonne +whispered in my ear, "those fellows have no muscles, they are but fat. +Two years ago, when we moved to Passy, the same piano was carried in by +a single, small, hunchbacked man. But look at that!" + +Bouillot acted the busybody, moved to and fro, jested with his men, and +by way of encouragement gave them sound slaps in the small of the back. +It was easy to see that these people, or at least their forefathers, had +tended the swine in the forests of old Germany. At last by dint of +effort the instrument was taken out of the house, carried along the +pavement, and hoisted into the cart. The Hussars served as horses. +Gee-ho! They rushed forward, but in the courtyard the carriage gave a +start, and the piano--with intent to commit suicide--bounded out and +fell to the ground. After a few convulsions, and one last writhe of +agony, it lay quiet. + +"Oh! my beautiful Pleyel," cried Yvonne. + +Some fragments of wood had been knocked off; Bouillot picked them up: + +"It will be easy to mend." They gave the piano a lift, and made for the +farm. All along the street we saw it skip along in its jolting car; the +ravishers scoffingly waved their hands, and mocked at us until they were +lost sight of behind a screen of snow. + +Two days after a new joke of the same kind. Bouillot and his whole gang +broke in noisily: + +"I want two chairs." + +"All right," my mother-in-law answered, "I will give orders for them to +be brought down." + +"No, I will choose them myself." + +The Hussars, merry as schoolboys on a holiday, came tumbling one over +the other into the rooms, meddled with everything, poked their noses +everywhere. Von Bernhausen went right to the drawing-room. Those he +wanted were two easy-chairs in the style of Louis XVI.--ancient silk is +matchless for wiping filthy boots upon. This was carrying things too +far. Now an officer had installed himself in our house that very +morning, taking the place of Barbu and Crafleux. Could we not appeal to +him as a last shift? + +Antoinette rushed forward, and knocked imperiously at the door of the +newcomer: "Sir, sir...." + +She was answered by a growl. Then the door opened slightly, and a +ruffled head appeared. + +"Sir, an officer is there who wants to take our furniture...." + +But at that very moment Bouillot approached in a whirlwind. He stopped +short at the sight of his brother-in-arms. The two men eyed one another. + +"Ah! hum! you here...." + +They shook hands coldly. They were face to face, the one immense, the +other small; both had the same rank, the same decoration. Our guest had +been aroused from his afternoon nap. It was three o'clock, the right +time for honest men to sleep. His eyes were swollen, his dress untidy, +and his toes, vexed at being incorrect, wriggled about in his socks. Yet +he undertook our defence. He did not refer, I need hardly say, to +justice or to the Conventions of the Hague. He advanced a single +argument, but it struck home. + +"I am quartered in this house." + +"Yet this house is one of the best furnished in the village; it is but +right we should fetch here what is wanting." + +"... These are my quarters.... I want the furniture that is here...." + +At the beginning of the conference the soldiers became serious, and one +after another vanished on tiptoe. Bernhausen at last resigned himself +and went after them. It was our turn now to laugh at the Hussars, when +we saw them go away crestfallen, and heard their chief stammer +explanations. + +A few days after, Lieutenant Bubenpech, whom our roof had the honour to +shelter, was appointed commandant in place of Bouillot, by right of +seniority. Thus ended the persecution of which we had been the victims +for two months. The guests of the farm continued their misdeeds and +their extortions, but they avoided our house, which sheltered a power +the rival of their own. We even had the pleasure of seeing the +"Blackguard" come to our house on duty, a bashful, blushing +"Blackguard," and more than that, as polite as a chamberlain in presence +of his sovereign. + +However, in the beginning of February, we again had difficulties with +soldiers, coming from the trenches. Twice a week they went through Morny +with heavily laden carts. Oh, these convoys! Monday and Thursday, as +early as four in the morning, the carts rattled through the village, and +noisily shook their empty sides on the pavement. They stopped at the +station where there were large stores of straw, and a few hours later +went back to the front full to the brim. The farmers took great interest +in these personages. Loads, drivers, and carts engrossed their +attention. + +"Whatever those lazy-bones do," cried an old peasant, "is badly done, +and ought not to be done." + +To tell the truth, there is an art of loading carts with straw. The +first layers should be well placed and should make a solid foundation +according to time-honoured rules. The Prussians' loads always stood +awry, and threatened ruin as soon as they were erected. First one bundle +tumbled over, a second followed, then at a turn of the road the whole +pyramid sank to the ground, hurling the listless drivers headlong into a +ditch. Nearly every time they came to fetch straw the loaders managed to +let it fall, and we watched them rebuild carelessly another tottering +heap, Of course these men were thirsty after their hard toil, and they +stopped at every fountain to refresh ... their horses; as to themselves +they drank anything but water. + +Such is, then, the way fifteen soldiers happened to come to our house to +draw water from our pump. Many buckets had been pulled up, and the men +did not go. They went up and down, laughed, opened one door, then +another, ventured into the garden, peeped in at the windows. Genevieve +went to encounter them. + +"Do you want anything?" + +"Nothing at all. We are pleased to stay here because there are pretty +girls in the house," answered the sergeant in very good French. + +"Then, if there is no need for you to stay here, you had better go away; +I want to lock the gate, we never keep it open." + +And the men withdrew. Colette, who watched the scene from upstairs, said +afterwards: + +"It was very funny! You'd have thought that our sister was driving these +fifteen big louts before her." + +No sooner were they in the street than the Germans gazed at one another. +Did it not look as if they had been kicked out of doors! + +"Hullo! we are not people to be trifled with!" + +They soon gave proofs of it. Suddenly they flung themselves upon the +windows, doors, walls. We were forced to give way, and my mother-in-law +opened the gate. This compliance with their wishes did not abate the +assailants' anger. They rushed into the yard, and poured forth worse +volleys of abuse than ever an Apache of Montmartre could invent. + +"Ah," cried the sergeant, grinding his teeth in anger, "you are not +tamed down here; you do not know what the Germans are! Come to Lierval; +you will see there how the people have been curbed. They don't say +anything now.... They hold their tongues, I warrant you...." + +One of his men drew the moral of this discourse by aiming his gun at us. +"Franzouss ... all shot." + +They stayed two hours, strolling about the yard, muttering insults +between their teeth. To complete our misfortune, the convoy spent the +night in Morny. The men came back in the evening, and the commandant +being away they made the most fearful row we had ever heard, from nine +to eleven, and yet the Hussars were not bad at rough music. + +They were not bad at many other jobs. They were acknowledged the most +skilful hunters of hiding-places, and Sainte-Brute, with his acolytes, +spent many a day in wandering through fields and gardens. They sought +for holes that might conceal potatoes, corn, or--generally near to the +houses--wine which they were so fond of. The Conventions of the Hague, +it would seem, allow the invaders of a country to requisition wine, for +the use of the "wounded"; so when the soldiers emptied a cellar or +discovered a _cache_ they declared with gravity that it was all for the +Red Cross. I suppose the Germans bear a likeness to zoophytes, what one +of them absorbs is profitable to the others, and when wine had been +unearthed "for the wounded" the whole pack were drunk for days together. +And these creatures took all--all. They destroyed systematically what +they could not take away. After having despoiled us of our money, they +seized corn, straw, vegetables, wine, milk, eggs. Poultry, cows, oxen, +the very horses which the peasants had bought of them in a bad +condition, and taken good care of, belonged to them, and they alone were +entitled to dispose of them. All that was on the earth and beneath the +earth, all that was growing and living--including the people--were their +own property. They carried off the very paving-stones heaped up on the +wayside to repair the roads. If they stay long enough they will carry +away, cart after cart, the rich, fat earth of our soil, to spread over +and fertilise the barren ground of Prussia. If they could find a means, +with the help of their alchemists who have made a pact with the devil, +they would take away our deep-blue sky in panels; they would drag along +our bracing and mild air to purify the mists of the north. + +As they cannot--despite their bargain with the devil--perform such feats +of skill, they wreak revenge on us by spoiling our beautiful country. +Our farmers were furious when they saw the Germans--the first winter +after their arrival--plough up fields throughout the land, unmindful of +the limits and value of the soil. And what splendid tillage was theirs! +Their laziness turned up about ten centimetres of earth; they sowed +seed, and put no manure; before they leave they want to exhaust the soil +of which they are jealous, and which they would like to annihilate. They +cut down nut trees to make butt-ends of guns, and fruit trees to amuse +themselves. + +In the forests they committed downright murder. Where it is worth while +they cut down trees of reasonable growth at regular intervals; anywhere +else they break off saplings about one yard from the ground. In the wood +of Festieux I know an immense beech-tree. Its trunk can hardly be +encircled by four men with outstretched arms. In its boughs a nobleman +of the neighbourhood lived for several weeks at the time of the +Revolution. As they found no means to fell this giant, the invaders have +hewn pieces out of it all round, and cut off its upper branches. The +poor tree will not outlive the invasion. On the outskirts of the +villages, along the roads and brooks, the Germans cut down the beautiful +trees, poplars, maples, chestnuts, which gave a poetical charm to the +country. To spoil the land is the aim of our malignant foe. Truly, it +will be long before songs and laughter are heard again in the wasted +country. The nymphs of our groves seek in vain their verdant shades +along the treeless rivulets, and flee away, sighing their elegies. Can +anything be sadder than this? No epic could be more tragical, no ode +could exalt our hearts more than this call, more than this immense +wailing we are ever hearing. It is the very breath of our sullied, +bruised, wounded country, and it will not cease until the day when her +sons return, and striking her soil with their feet will say: + +"Mother! O, mother! thy cause is avenged! We come back from the country +of thy foes!" + + + + +PART III + + + "There is no one in the jungle so wise and good and clever and + strong and gentle as the Bandar-log." + + "We are great. We are free. We are wonderful. We are the most + wonderful people in all the Jungle. We all say so, and so it must + be true."--"The Monkey-People," RUDYARD KIPLING (_The Jungle + Book_). + + + + +CHAPTER X + + +Herr Bubenpech had hardly been appointed commandant in Morny when the +enemy took a new step in the organisation of the country. From that +moment two or three spectacled scribes gathered together in a large +schoolroom, labelled "Bureau" both in French and in German, and busied +themselves with endless scribblings. They drew up lists of the male +inhabitants of the village, who twice a month had to be present when +their names were called over. They put in writing all the divers tasks +required of the villagers. They kept an account of the allowance of food +sometimes granted to the civilians. They distributed passports and they +superintended requisitions. From the outset Bubenpech seemed eager to +show he was hard to please. The rural constable was ordered to announce +that gold was to be brought to the "bureau," where the owners would be +given bank-notes in its stead, according to the simplest exchange, 100 +marks for 125 francs. + +Pieces of gold are not readily drawn out of the stockings. Yet a few of +them had to come forth. I am afraid that since then the invaders have +managed to empty them; but at that time they were only at the heel. + +By mere chance Morny had as yet paid no more than the contribution of +war which had been levied on the whole country soon after the invasion. +Other villages less fortunate than ours had been overburdened with taxes +upon the most ridiculous pretences. A poor hamlet, Coucy les Eppes, was +fined six times during the space of a few months. First came the general +contribution. Then a fine of half a million francs was imposed upon the +canton of Sissonne, to which Coucy belongs, and every village had to pay +its share. It so happened that in September some soldiers, coming back +from Reims, drove their carts through Sissonne, and as their carts were +loaded with bottles of wine, they drank all the way, and threw empty +bottles behind them. Then came motor-cars, which punctured their tyres +on the broken glass. Great scandal! The civilians were accused of having +put a trap for honest Prussian wheels. Their protestations availed +nothing. The canton was condemned to a fine; the canton must pay; and +Coucy paid like the other communes. + +When all houses were searched after the great proclamation of November, +an old flint-lock, kept in memory of an ancestor, was discovered in +Coucy at an old maiden lady's. It never struck the owner that she should +have brought it to the Mayor's house, or hidden it. And suppose the old +maiden lady had shouldered the ancient gun? It is enough to make you +shudder when you think of the danger the German army might have thus +incurred. As quick as could be a few thousand francs were levied on the +village which dared be subversive enough to conceal an old maid and an +old gun. Even then the troubles of the poor village did not come to an +end. A French aviator dropped a bomb on the station, and the bomb +disturbed a few German carriages. The military authority knitted its +brows. + +"Why! This Coucy is talked of again! Let it have a good fine, and it +will keep quiet." + +For what reasons had this village to bleed itself and borrow from the +town in order to pay the invader twice more, I do not know, but so it +was. Morny's turn was coming. One night a barn of the farm where the +Hussars were quartered took fire, and was soon in a blaze with the straw +it contained. The whole village ran to quench the conflagration. We +stood near-by just long enough to see the peasants put the fire out +with all speed, while the soldiers folded their arms, and were pleased +to be amused. Von Bernhausen and Bubenpech looked on at the spectacle. +Then Von Bernhausen thought proper to rate the Mayor sharply: + +"There are not people enough.... Go and fetch civilians.... Be +quick...." + +All the able-bodied men of the village were summoned, and they sweated +while the Hussars made sport of them. The _Gazette des Ardennes_, which +took the place of the _Journal de Guerre_ to the very best advantage, +does not relate such accidents in this wise, but I can only narrate what +my eyes have seen. + +Bubenpech rubbed his hands. He had found an opportunity to show his +zeal. With all speed he sent a report to the Staff, upon which he +depended, stating that civilians had set the barn on fire out of spite. +He forgot to add that a few hours before the disaster the Hussars had +burnt their dirty, lousy mattresses in the neighbourhood of the said +barn, where, besides, soldiers had been seen smoking many a time with +perfect serenity. + +So stout gentlemen in full uniform came to Morny, and with reproachful +looks stalked majestically through the streets. A chance was given us to +atone for the misdeed. If within twenty-four hours information was +lodged against the civilian who had set fire to the barn, the village +might be forgiven. Should the contrary happen, a severe penalty would be +immediately enforced. No denunciation, and for good reasons. The people +were convinced that the soldiers had kindled the straw on purpose. The +military authorities, grieved to the heart, imprisoned, without further +delay, the Mayor and six notable persons. Then they deliberated upon the +matter, and always regretfully imposed a fine of 16,000 francs on the +village. They ordered the other prisoners to be set at liberty after +three days, but kept the Mayor under lock and key for two weeks, ill fed +and worse lodged. M. Lonet and another municipal councillor went the +round of the village, and did their best to get the sum required. They +managed to collect 12,000 francs, and the Germans had to be content with +that for the present. They knew only too well that they would catch us +again. + +Besides other cares worried us. In February 1915 our houses were again +searched from top to bottom. It was proclaimed that the inhabitants +should declare the quantity of corn, flour, and vegetables they had in +store, so that the provisions might be requisitioned according to the +needs of the German army. And mysterious sacks, closed baskets, furtive +barrows were seen in Morny. There was an air of haste; men passed close +to the walls, went along out-of-the-way paths, up to attics, down into +holes. When the day of perquisition came--the Germans believed their own +eyes rather than the declarations of the natives--there were tears and +gnashing of teeth. Treasures were discovered, potatoes and corn dug up. +The Germans laid hold of everything; they even despoiled the very poor +of their slender provisions. For instance, our neighbours, the +Branchiers, a very young couple, whose joint ages were less than forty +years, who had only an empty purse and about thirty kilos of potatoes, +were robbed to the very last shred. + +That they might not lose a single potato they carefully raked Mme. +Turgau's shed all around, and seized forty, though the poor woman has +four children, who do not live upon nothing. We, in our house, tired of +the war, hid nothing at all. We had possessed for a fortnight four sacks +of wheat, which we had bought from a farmer, who had mysteriously sold +this secret hoard. Where, I beg of you, could you conceal four sacks of +wheat in an honest house? Especially when you know from sad experience +that the perquisitioners perform their office conscientiously. At +Aulnois they had watered a cellar to make sure that the ground had not +been newly dug. At Vaux they had not left twenty centimetres of a +certain garden unexplored. After a long debate we decided to leave +things as they were. + +But if peace returns and I am able to build a house, it shall have +hiding-places, wells, tanks, deep dungeons! Hollow walls shall open by +means of secret springs, and two, three, five cellars shall be arrayed +one beneath the other, which, in case of need, shall swallow up whole +herds, to say nothing of a vast reserve of groceries. + +Meanwhile, our goods being full in sight, Bubenpech, who, out of +politeness, gave himself the trouble to search our house, visiting every +cupboard and poking his nose everywhere, had been at no pains to +discover them. He declared he was compelled to requisition the corn, but +with a smile he left us our potatoes. Colette was indignant. + +"Why! this fellow does not take our potatoes because he wants to be +amiable! And our neighbours have been despoiled of everything! It is a +shame! We must share with the others." + +And we did. + +A basket to right, a basket to left, a basket over the way, our +provision well-nigh dwindled to nothing. After that we were in the same +state as our neighbours. It is beyond doubt that some people had +managed to save many things, and of course the Germans had surmised as +much. Two or three days after the first perquisitions they dropped in +unawares, and made very profitable visits. Mme. Turgau, for instance, +had succeeded in hiding a sack of wheat, and the soldiers were hardly +out of the way when she baked a loaf to celebrate her good fortune. The +loaf, yellow and round, was displayed on the table, while on the ground +lay the sack, saved from the wreck, and little Lucienne, a slender girl +of twelve, as reasonable as a woman, was grinding corn in a coffee-mill. +Near at hand a dish was already full of flour; after a second operation +of the same kind it would be fit for kneading. The mother was out, the +baby girl, Claire, was busy sucking her thumb, with her admiring gaze on +her sister; the last-born was asleep in its cradle. + +Heavy steps broke the silence, big shadows appeared on the door-sill. +"The Prussians!" + +The coffee-mill stopped short. + +"Ah! ah!" the non-commissioned officer said, "you have corn; you stole +it." + +"No, sir, it is just a little bit I have gleaned with mamma." + +"You stole it," replied the soldier. "Don't you know that everything +belongs to the Germans? If you have corn you must have stolen it." + +And the perquisitioners carried away in triumph the small sack, the +beautiful golden loaf, and even the dishful of half-ground flour. On +coming back, Mme. Turgau found Lucienne in tears, Claire weeping in +imitation of her sister, and Jacquot, ever ready to make an uproar, +screaming at the top of his voice. After these fatal visits we had still +more holes to take in in our belts. Nothing was ever left on our table. +The dishes, few in number, were immediately divided into seven parts, +and every one thought when rising from table: "I could begin again with +pleasure." + +The question of light was another plague of our life. The last drop of +petroleum, the last traces of linseed oil had been converted into smoke +a long time before. We were obliged to use horse-oil like our +neighbours. + +Horse-oil! Oh! for ever and ever nauseous remembrance! Always +half-congealed, brownish, sticky, stinking, it made its bold +manipulators sick for an hour. + +This oil was manufactured by a man in the village when he could procure +a dead horse, not too lean; and as we could not get as much as we had +wished, we had to be sparing of it. The villagers simply poured it into +an old sardine box, and the wick, leaning against the metal brim, +smoked, charred, smelt nasty, and gave as little light as possible. + +In spite of our efforts, this half-liquid matter energetically refused +to ascend in the lamp; and we were forced to let it burn openly in a +receptacle of some kind or other, and to support it by an ingenious +system of pins. In fact it was so ingenious that the wick was swamped in +the oil every moment, and we were left groping about the dark room, +whose air was infected with a smell of burnt flesh. Doleful evenings, +still more doleful nights. We no longer slept as we had slept before the +Hussars' serenades. In order to give a larger apartment to Bubenpech, +Genevieve and I had to be satisfied with the "small room" which is on a +level with the yard and icy cold in winter. A simple rush-mat covered +the pavement; the stove was small, the fuel rare, our blanket thin--the +Hussars had requisitioned two others. We went to bed shivering with +cold; our hot-water bottle alone gave us a little life. As to sleep.... +One does not sleep much in an invaded country; every moment some +unwonted noise makes you start; and then the rumbling of the cannon +disturbs you, and the thought of the absent sends a thrill through your +heart. + +And then you ask yourself: How long? how long? In February 1915 the end +seemed to have been postponed. "Our soldiers will come back next +spring," said the peasants. Resigned to fate, we all waited for their +return, and long were the nights. I know people who went to bed at five +o'clock, without a dinner, for good reasons, and got up at about eight +o'clock. How many pangs and cares thus wandered in the darkness! +Genevieve and I dreaded the shades of evening, and it was often midnight +before we made up our minds to blow out the light. Many a nightmare +startled us, keeping us wide awake for the rest of the night. Who shall +describe the horror of the dreams dreamed during the war? The dreams of +the conquered! Every night brought its own vision, but two came back +with a most distressing obstinacy. + +A landscape covered with snow, a great deal of snow, round-topped +mountains, the wind tossing the branches of the fir-trees. It looks like +the Vosges. Why? Posy, are you in the Vosges? How can the wind make such +a noise through the branches? I see but one fir tree black against the +gloomy sky. And I hear it thunder, yet the thunder never roars in +winter. I see a crow whirling round and round before it alights. There +is nothing under the fir tree. But I know something must be there. Here +it is, it is black ... it is long. The crow hovers. I do not stir, my +feet are sunk in the snow. Yet I come nearer, or rather the thing is +approaching. Yet it is exactly what I thought; it is a dead body. Its +uniform is untouched. Its face ... the eye-sockets are empty. Who is it? +who is it? The crow has torn out his eyes! Yet we buried the scout in +Chevregny. Who is it? Oh, God! he that is nearest to me in the world! + +Posy!... + +I shrieked with terror and I awoke, panting. The wind moaned through the +trees of the garden, and from time to time ceased as if to allow its +raging interlocutor, the cannon, to roar instead of itself. + +It was impossible to try to sleep again. But we also used to dream wide +awake. In the invaded country thousands and thousands of people are thus +thinking in the dark. Their hands are clasped in prayer, or clenched, or +convulsively pressed, or relaxed out of utter weariness. It is the hour +when the absent are present. What family has not one or several members +at the front? And for many months an abyss has grown between us which +cannot be crossed. But at night they come back; in the dark we see the +dear faces smile; we watch their familiar gestures, we hear their +familiar voices. Shall we be allowed to see them again here below? +Where are they? where are the strong arms that embraced me when I +murmured, "Posy, I am cold." + +Where are the beloved ones? The mothers are at prayers, the mothers are +crying; sisters, wives, all that love shrink with horror at the sights +that pass before their eyes. Where are the beloved ones? They have been +dead perhaps these last six months. Their bodies may be rotting among +barbed wire; they may have been blown to pieces by an explosion, or +swollen by asphyxiating gas, or burnt in the flames, or crushed beneath +earthworks, or riddled by grape-shot, or torn by balls. Their bodies +which have been cherished, cared for, kissed! And we go on hoping for +them, thinking them alive, safe and sound. When shall we know whether +they are dead or alive, whether strong and healthy or moaning upon a bed +in hospital? + +Our souls, our eager hearts are longing for delivery, and the day it +comes will perhaps bring with it the bitterest sorrows. Most families +will have to mourn a dead one; the whole country will be sunk in grief: +Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted. We shall +be despoiled and stripped of everything; we live but for the hope of +meeting again our loved ones, and how many will never come back! And +while they die, we receive their murderers! They sleep under our roofs, +eat the fruits of our labour, and reign over us. + +The want of news, the presence of the Germans, such were the saddest +things of our life. Oh, they were present, always present! It was +impossible to forget them even for one moment. They pursued us in our +dreams, they haunted us. How often I have found myself stretched on a +road, on an icy cold road in a barren country. And men came galloping up +with loud shouting, and I could not move, the cavalcade was going to +crush me: + +The Hussars! the Hussars!... + +Once more I set up a cry; I woke up. Steps, voices resounded in the +street. The officers' evening party was at an end. The key fumbled at +the lock; Bubenpech was coming back. It was one o'clock, or two, or +three. I heard the dogs patter along the yard, they wanted to identify +the visitor. The cannon rumbled with a sluggish sound. The hours were +slow, slow. + +At breakfast, Antoinette often said charitably: + +"Just mind what I say, mother, one morning you will see the whole of us +come up singing, dancing, laughing, perfectly fit for Bedlam." + +To be sure one would go mad for less. Our life was duller than any +one's: fancy six women shut up in a house, having nothing particular to +do, always engrossed by the same tiring thoughts. Leisure is an evil +very difficult to bear in an invaded territory. You wait; you do nothing +else; you seem to be in a condition that cannot go on for long. Work? To +what purpose? For whose sake? And what work to do? Save the men whom the +Germans have requisitioned, and who, of course, tire themselves as +little as possible, every one drags out his days. The baker, the +teachers, and the cobbler are the only persons of the village really +busy. We envied them their occupations, as we had but our needles to +fill up our free hours. Very soon we had darned our old clothes, set +them to rights, and distributed them among the poor. There was a family +of seven children, whose mother had just died, and whose clothes we kept +in decent condition. But it was not enough. We, too, yawned our life +away. + +Ten times a day we cried aloud for the means of escape! Escape! To live +again an active life, to see people who are not Germans, to know what is +going on, to live! + +A gleam of hope came: it was in the month of March, the garden was +already strewn with snowdrops, primroses, and crocuses. Captivity was +harder to bear than ever. One day the rural constable made an +announcement. He appeared to our eyes crowned with a golden nimbus, and +more dazzling than an archangel; his voice was sweeter than honey. He +said: + +"The persons who want to leave the invaded territory to go into other +parts of France may have their names put down at the townhall with the +exception of the men from fourteen to sixty." + +This caused so great an emotion among us that we well-nigh quitted this +life suddenly and simultaneously. We kept on the look-out for Bubenpech, +when he should come home, to demand further particulars. + +This Bubenpech did not please us at all. It is agreed that no Prussian +could have pleased us. But on the dislike we entertain to the whole race +was grafted a personal aversion to him. He was dark-haired, +middle-sized, short-legged, with a solid torso, topped by a big neckless +head. He had regular features, deceitful eyes, and looked something of a +rake. He was said to be nearly related to a general, and he thought +himself irresistible. + +"How dissipated he looks," we said the first time we saw him. + +And one of his soldiers whispered in Mme. Lantois' ear: + +"Lieutenant, not bad! ... but many women, many women. That's not good!" + +In fact Bubenpech led a most dissolute life. He soon brought confusion +upon Morny, and his stay there was the commencement of a debauch that +caused a scandal throughout the region. + +With us he was at first all smiles. But our looks soon chilled him, and +he was content with a short bow when he happened to meet one of us, +which was rare, for we carefully avoided him. + +"At least," we said, "he is not too dull-witted; he understands that we +look sour at the Germans, and he does not want to have us punished for +it." + +We were candid. Bubenpech was not rude and unmannerly like Von +Bernhausen, and therefore his methods were different. + +All the same he bore us a grudge for having been insensible to his +charms; only he looked upon revenge as a cold dish. But he swore that we +should pay dearly for the scorn of the Germans, and he waited his +opportunity. He was sure to seize it, even if it limped with a lame +foot. + +For the present, he encouraged us to go, and gave most comforting +particulars about the journey, which would be an easy one. The trains +would take thousands of people to Switzerland, and within four or five +days at the farthest we should be in Paris. Would we go, indeed! Rather +than stay behind we would have made the journey in a cattle-truck, upon +our head, or on our knees. Five days to go to Paris, what is that! Even +were we to spend them sleepless, even were we to starve, and be squeezed +tight like sardines in a tin box! + +"Who will go?" I inquired. There were some who held back. + +"I stay here," declared Mme. Valaine. "Up to now the house has not been +plundered; I want to keep it as it is." + +"I stay here," said Colette in her turn. "Do you think I will fly before +the Prussians again? Besides, I have nothing to do in Paris. I will keep +mother company. I saw the French go away; I want to see them come back." + +"Then," Yvonne decided, "I will stay too. Shall I go and study music in +Paris when the Prussians are still here? Never. Since mother and Colette +remain, I stay with them. After all, the French can't be long in coming +back." + +Mother and daughters insisted. + +"Besides," they added, "living will be easier when you are away. If Mme. +Lantois manages to give us one or two eggs or a bottle of milk, this +windfall will not have to be divided into seven parts. For us, all that +is left of our potatoes! For us, the provision of macaroni that is +hidden in the canopy of the bed of 'our Prussian.'" + +After a long discussion the thing was settled. We fell into one +another's arms. Every one of us shed a flood of tears, and with feverish +haste we made preparations for our departure. + +At the idea that he was going to see his mother again Pierrot had turned +as white as a sheet, and then had begun screaming at the top of his +voice, "Mother! mother! mother!" He jumped, he danced. We had to tell +him that if he were so tiresome we should be obliged to leave him in +Morny, and he became as quiet as a lamb. + +Our bags were soon packed, and with thrilling hearts we awaited our +departure. + +The announcement of the journey did not arouse the enthusiasm which the +Germans had expected. Bubenpech had given us a grand and imposing +picture of those evacuations _en masse_. + +"We purpose," he said, "we purpose evacuating forty per cent of the +civil population. Why should we go on feeding so many useless people? + +"We shall but keep back," he went on, "large landowners and the workers +we are in need of. At the end of the month, a train will start every +day; volunteers will first go, then the necessitous." + +The number of volunteers were very small. The people reposed no trust at +all in the Prussians. + +"Do you think," the women of the village whispered, "that they are going +to take you to France? To a concentration camp rather. You may take my +word for it. Some people have thus left Chauny, and now they are +somewhere in the north ... out in the open country ... up to the knees +in the mud...." + +We laughed at them. + +"But why should the Germans take charge of us? They would be obliged to +feed us no matter how little they gave us." + +It was all of no use. Nobody was willing to go, not even those who +eagerly wished to escape. + +The organisers of the convoys were amazed. They determined that certain +persons should go by foul means since they would not go by fair means. +The commandant of every village was ordered to eject so many persons. +The number for Morny was fixed at twenty. There were two volunteers +besides ourselves, an elderly lady, Mme. Charvon, and her granddaughter; +both wanted to go back to Paris. Thirteen reluctant emigrants were then +to be picked up among the people. Bubenpech chose at random a woman from +Braye, her five small children, and her old father, then three orphan +boys, and a family including an invalid father, a mother, and two little +girls. + +These had two sons, sixteen and eighteen years old, who would stay +behind if the parents went. They raised an outcry. + +"My poor boys!" the mother moaned; "am I going to abandon them like +that? We beg nothing of the Germans! We want only to be left together." + +She went to the "bureau," threw herself at the feet of Bubenpech, who +scouted her demand with disdain, and had her kicked out of doors. The +morning we were to start she pretended to be ill, and kept to her bed. +The lieutenant despatched four men who took her out of bed, heedless of +her resistance, and made her get into the cart, with a blanket as sole +wrapper. We heard the poor woman sob while she put on her stays and +petticoats in the jolting cart that took us to Laon. And the folly of it +was that another woman of Cerny wished for nothing better than to go. + +"Since my sister and father are sent away," she said, "I choose rather +to go with them; I have no mind to stay here alone with my two babies." + +It was not to be. Three persons eager to stay were forced to go; three +others, nothing loath to go, were bidden to stay. Thus had our leaders +settled the matter. + +In other villages it was still worse. A man of Barenton set his house on +fire and hanged himself rather than leave. Some persons were sent away +because the Germans coveted their houses for one purpose or another. At +Vivaise the wife of an adjutant was compelled to leave her +well-furnished house for the reason that it pleased those gentlemen. So +a blind woman and her invalid husband, both aged seventy-five, were +banished from Verneuil. In tears they left their small house where they +had lived happily for many a year, their garden, whose fruits were +sufficient for their scanty needs. Besides, they had a few fowls and a +little money, and so they were not in the least a charge upon the +Germans. Of course they expected everything to be plundered and +destroyed, and, weak and old as they were, they saw no hope that they +would ever come back. + +We were volunteers, at one moment distressed at the thought that we left +three of our own people in the lurch, at another mad with joy that we +should soon be at liberty, or trembling with fear lest we should hear +bad news of those whose fate was hidden from us. + +About the end of March, after many tears had been shed, embraces and +kisses exchanged, after the very dogs had been hugged, we found +ourselves in front of the "bureau" with the other departing travellers. +We all got into two big carts, and sat down on our luggage. The +departures were somewhat delayed. We had to wait for the woman who did +not want to go away. + +At ten the carts set out. + +"Good-bye, we shall see you later in Paris," Bubenpech cried. + +It was the parting kick of the ass. + +"Then you will come as a prisoner," replied Antoinette, laying aside all +prudence. The officer broke out laughing and turned a deaf ear. With a +great deal of jolting, the carts took us away, and we soon lost sight of +the pale faces of Mme. Valaine and her daughters. Two gendarmes on +horseback accompanied us. Thus we were enrolled among the emigrants. We +alighted in Laon, and were shown into a huge hall adjoining the station. +The little emigrants of Cerny were still screaming, the refractory woman +had not left off crying. Pierrot felt uneasy, and hung on my arm; we +dragged our luggage along with a great deal of trouble. The hall we were +taken to was already crowded with hundreds of persons. From early +morning the refugees had been arriving in great numbers. Long rough +boards nailed upon four upright pieces of wood served as tables and +benches. Besides the picture of the emperor the walls were chiefly +decorated with vast inscriptions. "God with us" was not absent; nor was +"God punish England," in letters three feet high. The shrieking of the +urchins, their mothers' scolding overtopped the general noise. The old +people looked scared, and did not know what to do. On the rough tables +soldiers put platters of a sticky, greyish soup; a smell of burnt grease +floated in the air. We were waiting for our turn to go to a small room +where three nurses of the Red Cross were busy feeling, searching, +undressing the emigrants as they pleased. + +"No papers, no letters?" + +At two every one had filed off before these searchers, and we were +ordered to start again. So through the streets of Vaux the pitiful crowd +wended its way to the station, about twelve hundred emigrants surrounded +by soldiers. From their thresholds the inhabitants stared at us. Truly a +more miserable herd never was seen. The Germans had chosen to send away +the poorest among the poor of our villages--bareheaded women, ragged +children, beggarly men, sick people, cripples, idiots. All were laden +and overladen with parcels, baskets, and bundles. There were two or +three carts to convey the heaviest luggage, but every one preferred +keeping what was dearest to him. + +We, too, were overladen. We made what haste we could among the grey +crowd. We had walked a mile, I could hardly carry my bag any longer. At +one moment it even dropped from my hands. I approached an officer, stiff +and stout, who seemed to be the manager of the caravan. + +"Sir," I besought, "please order a moment's rest.... I can't go any +farther." + +"No, no, no halt. If you can't carry your things, ask some one else." + +Some one else! That was easy to say. I looked around me despairingly; +the people were all as weary as I. + +Pierrot stuck to my arm, Antoinette was somewhere in front, Genevieve +was spent with fatigue. Near us a soldier seemed touched with pity. + +"I am sorry I can't help you, but it is forbidden." + +At length I caught sight of a big fellow who carried his fortune in a +handkerchief. He was one-eyed, one-armed, but he was willing to take +charge of my bag. I was then able to help Genevieve with hers. We were +saved, we stopped every other minute, put down our common load, and +taking it up again ran forward to fall into place. + +Where were we going to? We went on, tramping through the mud, with the +noise of a flock of sheep, and, to crown all, there came on a heavy +rain, which the poor crying children received on their dirty little +noses. We had left the suburbs, and the road now passed through the open +country. At about three miles from the station we perceived an immense +train of third-class carriages that was waiting for us. It was carried +by storm. Each one settled himself. We were but six persons in one +carriage, we and two ladies of Morny, the grandmother and the +granddaughter. + +We exchanged congratulations. We had been told that the journey might be +difficult: one of the hardest stages was passed. We sat down to recover +our breath, stretched our stiff limbs, and then looked around us. The +carriages we were in had been used to convey troops; they were bedecked +with inscriptions in pencil. Some without much expense of thought merely +wished that "God should punish England!" Others clamoured for "the death +to those pigs of Frenchmen!" Or stated that "French blood is good." +Pierrot conscientiously rubbed out with his handkerchief as much as he +could. After many manoeuvres, marches, and counter-marches the train +decided to start. It was about four o'clock. Oh, memorable hour! We saw +the gate of our prison open a little! Was it possible that we were +going away? Was it true? Could we say in our turn, "within four days, +Parisse!" + +We were made with joy; we kissed one another; then we thought it wise to +put our things in order. This carriage would doubtless serve us as a +shelter as far as the Swiss frontier, perhaps for two or three days. The +first thing, then, was to make ourselves comfortable. Our feet were +cold. Suppose we put on our slippers? No sooner said than done. + +When our first joy had somewhat cooled down, and we were properly +installed, we watched the landscape. The train went slowly through a +dull country; the clouds seemed to crawl along the ground, and the mist +moistened the panes of the windows. We had hardly gone an hour when the +train stopped, and left half of its carriages in the station. Then we +resumed our journey, and soon made a second halt. We could not read the +name of the station we were at; we did not know even what line we were +on. The engine was reversed, then stopped some time after with a loud +whistle. + +Soldiers went along the carriages and threw the doors open. + +"Get down, all, bags and baggage." + +Sudden change! In great haste we put on our shoes, tied our shawls and +cloaks together, gathered our bags, and jumped out on the line. Many +cries and calls were heard. At last the train emptied itself; there was +a whistle, and off it moved. There we were, about six hundred of us +standing on a steep bank, and wondering what was going to happen next. +No station was to be seen, the country seemed deserted, pasture-land on +the left, hills stripped by the winter on the right. The emigrants, +uneasy in their minds, bustled about; women fell a-weeping; relations +sought one another; an old man bent with age, and walking awry like a +crab, moved to and fro. "My wife, I have lost my wife." Thus he moaned +to himself, looking for the weak arm that would hold up his greater +debility. + +The babies cried with cold. A sharp wind pierced us to the marrow, the +rain cut our faces, and our hearts thrilled with fear, while the night +fell on the anxiety of the miserable herd moving in the fog. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + + +Under the bridge of the railway was a high-road. The soldiers directed +the crowd towards it. "Get down, get down," they cried, gesticulating +all the while. Narrow steps had been cut in the dark slippery ground. +The bank was very steep, yet every one ventured down; the young people +held the old ones; the nimblest carried luggage and infants; the +children tumbled forwards upon all fours. On getting to the road we saw +a few carts waiting for bags and bundles. We abandoned ours into the +hands of the soldiers. Happen what might to our things, our courage +failed us to take charge of them again. Who knew how many miles we were +to walk? + +"Go on, go on," our guardians cried. + +And the sorry band, so much the more lamentable as they were drenched to +the skin, bent their bodies, and trudged off again. "What does this +unexpected halt mean?" we asked one another with a mixture of curiosity +and dismay. The road with hedges on each side, after we had met with a +bridge and a crossing, took us to a village. Standing in front of their +houses, the people, moved with pity, watched our beggarly crowd go by in +the twilight, dabbling in the mud, and not knowing where they were being +taken to. We did not even know the place we were in. The name we read on +a finger-post did not say anything to us. At the top of the street two +gendarmes on horseback divided the herd into two parts, so many heads to +the right, so many to the left. We were pushed on to the right, we went +to the right. We had left the village, and went down a road bordered +with high trees that led into the open country. + +"They were right all the same, those who said we would be landed in the +fields," moaned a woman. Then we took a short cut between two banks. We +were all over mud. At length, on the slope of the hill, we caught sight +of a dark mass, a very large farm with vast outhouses. We had reached +the goal. The lower windows glimmered; a few guards were seen in a room +of the ground floor. We entered the kitchen, where whole beams blazed on +the hearth. The soldiers bustled about. It was no light matter to settle +in a short time--350 persons crowded in together in the courtyard. And +they hurried over the job: so many emigrants in the house, in the +barns, in the stables, in the attics. + +"Straw is to be had everywhere; do as you can." + +The people did as they could. Moving about kept them warm; it was their +only means. We were among the privileged; we had been presented with a +small room at the angle of the house, on the first story. It was very +scantily furnished: a spring mattress in an iron frame, a child's +bedstead, two trusses of straw. + +"Pierrot, your couch would be fit for a king." + +We buried him in the straw with his clothes on, and heaped clothes upon +him. He was not cold; he fell asleep. + +But we lay, dying with cold, all three on the narrow spring mattress, +and the draught chilled us to the bone. In vain we wrapped ourselves in +shawls and cloaks; we could get neither warmth nor sleep. We had brought +with us a candle, and we let it burn, not without remorse, since we +expected many another night of the same kind. A change of weather +happened opportunely; the wind suddenly rose and swept away the clouds; +we thought there would be a frost. A cold, bleak wind was howling round +the house; the weathercocks creaked, the boards in the half-ruined +sheds cracked, and the 350 emigrants shuddered with cold in the freezing +rooms of the farm and in the draughty barns. A mile and a half away, at +the sugar-mill, 360 others were shivering in halls and cellars. In the +guard-room downstairs the soldiers gave a straw mattress to a poor old +man who had terrible pains in the back, and who did not cease to wail +the whole night long. Upstairs, in the attic, there were forty persons, +among them fifteen children of charity. There was no rest to their +weeping, nor to the patter of their feet. These small refugees, rather +than go down the steep, black steps into a colder, blacker place, +relieved themselves at the angles of the beams, and we saw with horror a +trickle come from between the joists and run down our walls. Twice heavy +steps shook the lobby, the door opened, a voice counted us: "One, two, +three, four...." The soldiers were going their round. Half-frozen, we +ventured downstairs to go and warm ourselves in the kitchen. But it was +already crowded with about forty women with their babies, either in +front of the fire or squeezed together on the benches. The air was +unbreathable, so we went back to our icy chamber. Benumbed with cold, +our limbs gathered up together, our chins on our knees, our feet stuck +in our muffs, with a sore throat and a giddy head we made up our minds +to wait for the morning, to take stock of our situation, and to find out +in what place fate and the Germans had deposited us. + +In the whole Thierache, teeming with lovely hamlets, I warrant that +there is no other so pretty as Jouville. It is perched half-way up the +hill on the high-road to Guise, and its houses, first set in a straight +row along the road, soon take a short-cut, and then descend the vale, +where they meet with the purling Serre. They dawdle there in small +knots, and storm a second hill, topped by a white steeple-crowned +church. This building is not in the least handsome, yet it sowed +dissension among the inhabitants. Jouville-East-Hill laid claim to the +pious edifice; Jouville-West-Hill got it. Jouville-East-Hill forthwith +took to free-thinking, flung itself into the socialist party, and swore +it would never cross the Serre to gratify the spiritual needs of its +souls. On the other hand, Jouville-West-Hill took a most serious turn, +swore only by holy-water sprinklers and stoles, and sang nothing but +vespers and matins. Jouville, in ordinary times, gives itself wholly up +to cultivation of apples, to cattle-breeding, and to wicker-weaving. +Each occupation adds a feature to the village. The apple trees fill the +well-kept orchards that hem it all around; those meadows that stretch +afar off feed the cows, and the willows, which will presently be +converted into baskets, form thick hedges and make a draught-board +pattern in the fields. The village, indeed, is packed with osiers, cut, +tied in bundles, placed upright along the streets, and watered by the +brook. So they grow green, and are covered with catkins, just like their +brothers that have not been cut. The houses of Jouville are small, red +and white, beneath a slate hood; their windows laugh a roguish laugh. On +their roofs are fantastic weathercocks, and in front of them small +gardens, in which box-trees flourish, cut into shapes. In short, +Jouville looks at once simple and smart, modest and satisfied, and its +mere aspect should cheer up the way-worn wanderer. Though this rustic +Eden pleased us, we had no mind to take up our abode in it. The day +after our arrival, we managed to ask an officer: + +"What is the matter? What are we doing here?" + +"Oh, the departure has been postponed, the organisers of the convoy are +not in agreement." + +"But how long are we going to stay here?" + +"Not longer than a few days; you need not be afraid." + +Although we were forewarned, our simple minds would not believe in +duplicity. We were reassured.... A few days would soon glide by. When a +soldier talked of a whole week, he astonished us. The chief cook in the +kitchen, where he was superintending a swarm of busy scullions, dared to +murmur three weeks, and he was hooted at by everybody. In the farm and +in the sugar-mill the emigrants settled themselves as well as they +could. A pitiful place, in which straw was expected to do everything! +The straw served as seats and mattresses, it served as blankets, it +served as shutters and padding. Nothing but straw to preserve oneself +from the cold. And the cold was terrible. I think that we shall never +suffer from anything as we suffered from the cold in Jouville. It was +the icy chill of the seventh cycle of Hell, the chill that pierces you +to the very marrow of the bones; it was the chill of death.... For a +whole week we tried vainly to warm ourselves. The weather was clear; the +wind blew with fury; the frozen ground was as hard as stone; icicles +were dangling from the gutters; and the emigrants' teeth were +chattering. They bent their shoulders, thrust their hands in their +arm-pits, and wandered up and down. Some had on only rough linen +clothes. From the yard they went up to the attic, from the barns to the +kitchen, in quest of a bit of warmth, and they looked so cold that the +mere sight of them heightened your misery. + +In the sugar-mill some people had the luck to lodge in rooms that could +be heated. But what of those who dwelt in attics through which the wind +was blowing just as it did outside, or in cellars where they sat in a +perpetual draught? The manifold misery we were the witnesses of was +beyond description. I remember a room in the sugar-mill where about +fifty emigrants had been huddled together--men and women, old people and +children, in ill health or in good. It was a long, icy-cold room, with a +low ceiling, feebly lighted by two deep windows in the shape of +loopholes. At the threshold the odour of sick and dirty humanity +suffocated you; the children's squalling, the mothers' scolding, the +men's rough voices stunned you. In the dimly lighted room you perceived +a path opened through the straw, spread out on both sides, on which you +saw creatures crouched or lying. You stumbled on baskets, kitchen +utensils, and bundles, had to shun wet linen and children's clothes, +which the women had stretched out in the fallacious hope of drying them. +When your eyes got somewhat used to the sober light of the place, you +were able to single out the sick or the old people lying about the +straw, the mothers suckling their babies, the men leaning against the +wall. You saw their pale worn faces, their hands benumbed with cold, +their thin clothes. And if you stopped to talk to them they told you +many bitter, heart-rending stories. In a corner a girl of twenty was at +the last gasp. She had but one lung left, and spat blood, while small +children were playing about her. It was the hopeless horror of a +concentration camp. Yet the commandant of the convoy, a lieutenant of +the reserve, a good man after all, and the father of a family, did his +best with the poor means at his disposal. Once even we saw a tear roll +down his cheek at a distressing sight. The weather being inclement, he +gave orders to have the greater part of the emigrants lodged in the +village. The sick first, then the women and the children would be +provided for. There was great excitement. A choice was made, and after +three days and a good deal of writing, the farm and the sugar-mill had +but a hundred occupants left, all huddled together in the few habitable +rooms. The rest encamped in empty houses, slept on straw, a dozen in a +room. At any rate they were under cover, and could warm themselves or +accept the hospitality of the inhabitants of the village. Such was our +case. Charming people gave us shelter, and placed two rooms at our +disposal. We had beds. After we had spent three nights on a spring +mattress and had shivered all the while, how pleasant it was to go to +bed! But our apartment was not heated, had not been lived in for a long +time, was impregnated with damp, and, chilled as we were, we recovered +warmth only a few days after. + +The life of the camp was organised after the military fashion. We were +expected to obey at a glance. + +In the morning, as early as half-past seven, the emigrants hastened to +the sugar-mill or the farm, where each was inscribed in the place where +he slept the night before. A grown-up member of each family presented +the cards of those with him. In the two courtyards the emigrants filed +past from right to left, and answered to their names mangled by the +_Feldwebel_. Then came the daily allowance of coffee. Armed with +saucepans, jugs, pots, and cups, women and urchins went to the kitchen +to have them filled. They returned home, and at eleven o'clock, with +porringers, pails, and coppers, they made again for the farm or the +sugar-mill, to bring them back full of soup. Towards evening they wended +their way a third time to fetch coffee for their supper. + +About twice a week we were told in the morning that bread would be +distributed at four o'clock. It was another errand to run. Every one +produced his card, and received an allowance for several days. If the +_Feldwebel_ announced: "In the afternoon at three the emigrants will be +passed in review," the whole village was in a flutter. It was no trifle +to drag the old people and the babies out from their heaps of straw, to +hold up the lame, to lead the blind, and to persuade the idiots. The +ragged army, every day more beggarly, hobbled along to one of the +rallying points. In the evening about eight o'clock the drum was beaten +by way of curfew-bell. Every one shut himself up and blew out his +candle, if he had one. Silence spread over the village; the emigrants, +laying aside their cares for a while, fell asleep, and the night beneath +its veil hid unnumbered miseries. + +We were forbidden to go out of the village, and a pass was necessary if +we would visit a farm half a mile from the hamlet. We were real +captives, and no communication whatever was allowed with the +neighbourhood. What an organisation, how many rules for such a short +stay! Some people will think ... a short stay! One day followed another, +and they were all alike, and always saw us in Jouville. "Next week the +departure," the Germans said with unshaken impudence. Hope put us to the +torture. One week followed another; we were still there. For two months, +eight long and tedious weeks, we led this life of prisoners, thinking +that the next day would set us free. Every morning, about eight, I left +our lodging to answer to the roll-call. I was generally behindhand, and +ran along the path that led to the farm every day with a hope which sank +and withered. Shall we get news to-day? I hardly dared believe it; yet, +my feet being frozen, my face cut by the wind, I made haste. In April +the weather grew no milder, but the approaching spring was visible. A +few flowers ventured to show themselves along the hedges, and the birds +sang at the full pitch of their voices. Thus, while I ran along, the +blackbirds in rapturous joy whistled each and all: "Fuit, fuit ... she +had faith in the Germans!" + +The tomtit ruthlessly and unceasingly twittered: "Sol, sol, mi ... sol, +sol, mi ... you mustn't trust any one ... sol, sol, mi ... and still +less the Germans ... sol, sol, mi...." And the wind jeered at me from +the naked branches, and the bryony's small golden stars laughed in my +face, spreading its wreaths along the path. I reached the farm, and the +women gathered at once round me. If they caught sight of Genevieve or +Antoinette, it was the same thing: we were taken by storm. + +"Madam, madam, have you heard any news? When are we going?" + +"Alas! within four or five days the officer said, but you know if he is +to be believed." + +A strain of protestations showered down: + +"You will see, they will leave us here." + +"Ah! we shall never go to free France!" + +"They will take us to Germany. And we can't go on living here! Our brats +have no more shoes; their clothes are in rags; it is no use to darn +them, they fall in pieces." + +"But the worst is that we are hungry. We could stand it, but our +children, our little ones, are hungry." + +And it was only too true, we were hungry, every one was hungry. What! +Did the Germans not feed us? Of course they did! And on what! Twice a +day each emigrant got a bowl of coffee. A bowlful or a dishful as you +liked, this lukewarm beverage was not given out with a niggard hand. +Lukewarm it always was, and thin too--stimulants ought not to be +misused,--and blackish with a smell of mud. It was without sugar or +milk, and there was no danger of feeling heavy after you had swallowed +it. If the children fell a-weeping in the night, after having swallowed +one cup of this coffee for their dinner, their mothers knew they were +not going to have an attack of indigestion. We got bread. It was real, +authentic German bread, kneaded and baked by Germans. Coloured outside +like gingerbread, it was turtledove grey inside, and would have looked +rather tempting but for the unbaked or mouldy parts. We supposed that +rye-flour, pea-flour, and potato fecula were largely used in the making +of it. Some pretended that they found sawdust in it too. I could not +affirm this. I was rather inclined to think that chemicals had induced +the heavy dough to rise. When new, this somewhat sour-tasted bread was +nice enough, and we ate it without distrust the first days we spent in +Jouville, as the bracing air gave us an appetite. Alas! it soon caused +us pains in the stomach, sickness, inflammation of the bowels, in short +put our digestive organs out of order. The emigrants ate it all the +same; indeed they could not get enough of it. The first three weeks the +Germans made a show of generosity: every person received a loaf every +third day. The weight of one loaf was supposed to be three pounds, in +reality it never exceeded thirteen hundred grammes. But the daily ration +was sufficient, and nobody complained. Unfortunately the allowance +became more and more stingy; during the last month every one received +one pound every third or even fourth day. One hundred and twenty-five +grammes--our daily pittance--do not represent a large slice, and the +people began to clamour for food. We got soup. We were entitled to a +ladle of soup by way of lunch. Shall I describe this mixture? Is it not +already famous in both continents? Do our prisoners not feast upon it in +Germany? It is a grey, thick substance which curdles like flour paste, +whose chief ingredient is fecula. Each portion contained five or six +tiny bits of meat, coming undoubtedly from over-fat animals, for we +never saw a scrap of lean. A few horse- or kidney-beans, a little rice +or barley, mixed with bits of straw, bits of wood, and other scraps of +vague origin. Antoinette had once a real godsend. She discovered in her +soup-plate ... she discovered ... how can I tell? Oh, shade of Abbe +Delille, inspire me to paraphrases! She discovered one of those +animalcules which ... plague take oratorical precautions! She found a +louse on a hair, the whole boiled. This took away what was left of our +strength, and we swore we would rather waste away, and slowly dry up, +than eat such stew in the future. + +"Look at this, madam, look at this hodgepodge," moaned the women. "At +home we would not have given this rotten stuff to our pigs, and now we +must feed upon it, and give it to our children." + +M. Charvet, our host, cast a look of dismay at our porringers. + +"As to myself, I should die beside this, but I would never taste it." + +And yet the emigrants were obliged to eat it. From the first days of our +arrival we set our house in order. Our bedrooms were at Mme. Charvet's, +but we spent the whole day long at the rural constable's. The +constable--a brave old man, wounded in 1870--gave up his large kitchen +to us, and supplied us with wood at very little cost. In a corner of the +kitchen stood a large four-post bed which received at night three of our +protegees: a lady eighty-five years old, and her two grand-daughters +aged seven and twelve years. Mme. Noreau, Mimi, and Miquette were +respectively mother and daughters of a retired officer who lives at +Coucy. Of course the officer and his two sons had not been allowed to +go, and his wife had refused to leave them. But they took the chance of +sending into France the grandmother and the little girls, who had +greatly suffered from their life of privation. From the first evening, +the sight of these helpless figures upholding one another had moved our +pity. They gratefully accepted our proffered friendship and assistance. +This is then the way we came to rule such a large household at the old +constable's. A good oven served at once to heat the room and cook the +food. For excellent reasons our stew was of the simplest. A few eggs, +milk, sugar, and butter were to be had in the village, but as we had +absolutely no other article of food--no meal whatever, no vegetables, no +meat,--we were hungry despite custards and omelettes. I said we had +tried to swallow the soup. We gave it up on account of the adventure +afore mentioned after a fortnight of earnest endeavours. So much the +worse, we said; we will live with empty stomachs. Many others were in +the same plight. We were privileged beings, for only a few among the +emigrants had a little money, enough to get something besides the usual +fare supplied us by our jailers. I leave you to imagine the appetite of +those who were reduced to bread, coffee, and soup in all. And remember +that among them there were two hundred and eighty children under ten +years who were not merely starved, but half-naked as well. The charity +children were more miserable than the others. In the bitter cold weather +they wound rags round their legs by way of stockings; their shoes were +shapeless things, held together by string, their trousers were torn, +their jackets had lost their sleeves, the girls' frocks were in rags. +Their distress melted the people of the village to tears. Jouville has +but four hundred inhabitants, and if their religious and political +passions are lively, their hearts are none the less warm. + +Jouville-East-Hill and Jouville-West-Hill showed themselves equally kind +to the emigrants, and not only kind, but forbearing, and the emigrants +needed forbearance. They were not the _elite_, and they were guilty of +many a misdeed. M. Charvet well-nigh died of anger the day he discovered +that his beloved fish-pond had been secretly rid of its finest +inhabitants. + +Another farmer was breathless with rage when he saw the potatoes he had +planted the day before dug up in the morning. + +Ah, you rascally emigrants! Of course some people will feel deeply +shocked at such behaviour, and deem it a hanging matter--for instance, +well-fed people, secure from danger, who afar off scowl at the Germans, +the emigrants, and the typhus-smitten people with the very same +feelings. + +But I who was once numbered with those emigrants, who like them was a +prey to hunger, I could not find the smallest stone to throw at them. +And the inhabitants of Jouville, who were the witnesses of our life, +threw no stone either. None of them caused our chains to be drawn +tighter by complaining to the Germans. For the invaders of the north of +France are very severe to the people who transgress the eighth +commandment ... "Thou shalt not steal." + +The Jouvillians did even better. From all quarters they brought to us +and to the school-mistress of the village quantities of clothes fit to +wear, if not new, and these were distributed among the raggedest +refugees. We ourselves, with two others, did our best to clothe the +orphan girls, and the poor things were extremely proud of their new +frocks made up of shreds and patches. Some one gave them wooden shoes, +and the bruised little feet could patter down the stony high-road +without fear. The emigrants soon looked upon us as their private +property, and thought us good for everything. An old woman would come to +us, for instance, with an imperious air: + +"I have been told that you are visitors of the poor, and then ..." some +request followed. + +The unfortunate visitors of the poor would sometimes have been glad to +live on charity themselves. Well, this reminds me that we did once +receive alms. We were following a path by the river, bordered with +pleasant houses. It was a day of perquisitions, and the soldiers, +having turned everything upside down, had left the quarter which we +were traversing. A good old woman was coming from the river-side with a +loaf in her hand, and the mere sight of the white, light crumb made our +mouths water. The woman stopped, and said with a sidelong glance: + +"You see, they don't want to know I have a little flour left. I hid my +loaf in the hole of a willow tree." + +She burst out laughing, and we chimed in. + +I suppose she noticed our admiring gaze, for she said all of a sudden: + +"Would you like to have some?" + +She tripped along quickly, and, with short steps, went to her kitchen, +came back with a knife, and cut off two large slices, which she held out +to us. We seized the bread with an avidity hardly tempered with shame, +and stammered out joyful thanks. This moved the compassion of the good +woman: + +"Fancy, they are hungry! What a pity! Such lovely girls!" + +And so, jumping from one stone to another in the muddy path down the +river, we burst into unrestrained laughter, and we devoured our bread +which was the real bread, the white bread of France. We had, indeed, not +a few windfalls. M. Charvet more than once presented us with one of +those pretty round loaves, which he kneaded and baked himself. + +We also were hand in glove with a farmer, who sometimes in secrecy let +us have a few potatoes or a pound or two of flour, and thus gave us the +means of adding something to our meagre fare. A few treats of that kind +helped us to hold out! We looked like corpses, and we were, one after +another, the victims of strange pains caused by the cold, the bread, and +the continual excitement. + +Most of the emigrants were ill. Eight of them died. We then had occasion +to see and admire the way in which the Germans organise the sanitary +service for the use of civilians. From the very first day an empty house +had been bedecked with the title of hospital, and adorned with the +scutcheon of the Red Cross. A large room directly opening into the +street was chosen for consultations; two smaller rooms containing +symmetrical heaps of straw served to receive the patients. There was a +permanent orderly in the camp, and a doctor came daily from Marle. +Emigrants, choose what sickness you like! You will be cared for! + +And quickly influenza, diphtheria, bronchitis, inflammation of the lungs +burst upon the emigrants. But we soon discovered that it was not easy +to be admitted to the sick ward. I had to call four times on the officer +before they vouchsafed to take away an old couple who, despite the +Siberian cold, lived alone in a barn with big holes in its roof. The +poor woman coughed pitifully, and her old companion could only bring her +lukewarm coffee and heap upon her mountains of straw. She died two days +after she had been transferred to the hospital. An old woman died, her +body was carried away, and quickly another old woman took her place on +the very same couch of straw. A dying woman, utterly unconscious, was +left a week unattended to. + +"I assure you the corner she was in was a very sink," said the man who +took upon himself to clean it when the corpse had been taken away. "And +my wife and children had to live in this infected spot!" + +Our medical attendant was a young coxcomb, fair-haired, +regular-featured, and harsh-looking. A glass was fixed in his eye. About +half-past nine his carriage, drawn by a pretty horse, pulled up; +carelessly he threw the reins to his groom; he alighted and penetrated +his domain. His Lordship sat down in an easy-chair, crossed his legs, +took a haughty survey of the patients who called upon him, and spoke in +a curt and supercilious tone. He was soon held to be a villainous +fellow. + +"He is as wicked as the devil," a woman said, with a look of dismay. + +A great many of them wanted their children to be examined by the doctor. + +"I would rather die on straw than go to him for myself," a mother +said ... "but, my poor little girl!" + +But what was worse, the Prussian doctor did not care a fig for sick +children! We had been told that every baby was entitled to a litre of +milk, which one of the farmers of the village would deliver to the +mother on presentation of a note of hand. But a child above two years +was allowed to drink milk only if the doctor deemed it expedient for its +health. A woman we knew had a little girl not yet three. Six months +before the whole family had fled in a shower of bullets and grape-shot, +and for nearly a month had lived in the depths of a dark stone quarry +with hardly anything to eat. Since then the child had been as white as +wax; she had no strength at all, and she was always staring straight +before her as if she had beheld horrible things. + +As she was penniless, the woman was forced to bring her child to this +medicaster. + +"Sir, you see my little girl ... I think milk would do her good...." + +He had but to write a note, and she would have had it. + +"Milk! I haven't any! I keep no cows in my house!" and the doctor burst +out laughing, thinking himself very witty. + +"Anyhow," the mother said with her teeth ground, "when he stays at home +there is a brute beast in his house worse than a cow." + +Another beggar woman had twins about two years old. One of them ate soup +and bread, and throve like couch-grass. The other, who ever since the +family had left their native hamlet had fed on indigestible things, and +had nowhere to lay her head, had grown pale and sickly. She had ceased +to run alone, took no food, and pined away visibly. Her mother brought +her to the doctor. + +"That child! What should I prescribe her? She is ailing on account of +her being French. French children are all rickety and weakly. How am I +to help it? Lay the blame on your race." + +Before leaving, the little doctor sometimes gave a glance--a single +one--at the rooms of the hospital, then stepped into his carriage, took +up the reins, cracked his whip, and as harsh-featured as ever put his +horse to a gallop. + +However, some attention had to be paid to the sick. The orderly was +there for that purpose. He was a big stout man, whose eyes seemed +starting from their sockets. He did not like to be called up in the +afternoon--he took a nap--and still less in the night. His remedies--the +same for every sickness--were most economical: "Keep on low diet, apply +cold compresses." Yet he understood his business well enough. + +Our hostess, Mme. Charvet, a wealthy landowner, suddenly fell ill of a +disquieting haemorrhage. No doctor in the village, not even in the +neighbourhood. We ran in haste to fetch "Goggle-eyes." + +"Oh, please, please, come!..." + +"Goggle-eyes" lost no time in coming, showed assiduous attention to the +patient, punctured her, and rode on a bicycle to Marle in order to fetch +medicines. A few days after, a poor emigrant, mother of six small +children, was attacked by the same disease. He was sent for in vain; and +left her forty-eight hours without help. It was indeed a miracle that +she did not depart this life. + +This proves clearly that to the mind of a German, even though he be a +_Sozial-Democrat_, the skin of a capitalist will ever be superior to the +skin of a starveling. + +The physician was not our sole caller. A few other ones came when the +straw was still clean, and when we received a pound of bread a day. A +stout commandant, and three days after, a thin commandant came to visit +the camp. Both the stout and the thin looked extremely well satisfied, +and seemed to say: + +"What splendid organisation! How perfectly everything is getting on! +Really, nobody but Germans could settle things like that!" + +The thin commandant was escorted by the official interpreter of the +camp. He never asked a question of the people, for many reasons, the +principal being that he did know the language of Voltaire. The very +first day he had given a sample of his talents by asking a youth: + +"He ... vous ... combien hannees vous havoir?" + +And the boy, stretching his legs and hands, stood there gazing, gaping +at his interlocutor, and his whole countenance answered: + +"I don't understand German!" + +Therefore mimicry and loud cries bore a great part in the relations +between soldiers and emigrants. + +The stout commandant piqued himself on French. In one of the rooms of +the farm he asked: + +"You are comfortable here, aren't you?" + +And the women, pickled in respect, answered all with one voice: + +"Oh, yes, sir, yes!" + +"You get good soup, don't you?" + +"Oh, yes, sir, yes!" + +"You get a lot of bread, don't you?" + +"Oh, yes, sir, yes!" + +"When you reach France you will tell the French you have been leniently +dealt with, won't you?" + +"Oh, yes, sir, yes!" + +The stout commandant went away, proud of himself and proud of being one +of those Germans who know how to organise camps for refugees. + +"Rely on our saying how we have been dealt with," bantered the old +women, the moment the officers' large backs were turned. + +Another caller was a clergyman, who was quite different from the others. + +The Rev. Herr Freyer was about thirty-five, he was tall, dark-haired, +with malicious eyes and a turned-up nose. I must say he did his best to +comply with our wishes and serve the cause of the emigrants. From the +very beginning he told us that he was very fond of the French--yes, but +the Germans are all fond of the French--and that his grandmother was of +French descent. + +"Why! then she had married a German?" + +Well, let us go on to something else. + +This man was certainly the cleverest German we had met, or rather the +only clever one we ever met. We were all the more amazed to notice once +more the abyss that separates the French from the German mind. An utter +incomprehension of certain delicacies, a lack of sensitiveness, is +peculiar to them. If they had fallen from the very moon, our ways of +doing and thinking could not be stranger to them. + +And in discussion, they are unable to cast out preconceived notions, +which will ever get the better of reasoning and observation. + +Herr Freyer certainly wished to show us kindness, and at every turn he +told us things which set our teeth on edge. Yet he wondered to see us +stand up for causes which he had looked upon as lost since a long time. + +"How I pity France," he used to tell us, "poor degenerate France!" + +And he looked quite scared when he saw our anger, and heard our vehement +protestations. He was still convinced victory would be theirs. On the +other hand, he once declared to us: + +"There is a blemish in the character of the Germans ... they are +kind-hearted to a fault. The German nation is thoroughly kind-hearted." + +Owing to the circumstances we dared not say all that we wanted to, and +were content to hint at Belgium.... + +"Oh, so many lies have been told! You ought not to believe such +slanderous accusations. As to myself I know that what you are alluding +to is false; the Germans are too kind-hearted to be guilty of the deeds +they are charged with." + +Such is our enemy's mode of reasoning. He denies what they cannot +excuse. It is very easy. + +"In Alsace-Lorraine we have been to blame in every way," said the +clergyman to us. + +He is making confession, we thought. + +"Yes, we have been too kind-hearted, over-indulgent to the people. If we +had had a firmer hand, everything would have got on much better." + +This blasphemer had some merit, let us not be too hard on him. + +Our leisure was propitious to gossip, and we spent many an hour +listening to those who had seen the first tragical events of the +invasion. Their simple, unvarnished tales were like so many nightmares. +For instance, there were bargemen of Braye whose boat had been split in +two by a cannon ball, and who had escaped death only by swimming and +clinging to floating planks. There was the woman of Corbeny, driven by +the Prussians from a village near Soissons. With several others she +walked to Cerny at a stretch, with the Germans ever at her heels. The +unhappy wretches had covered forty kilometres in the midst of a battle, +spent with weariness, breathless, tumbling down, and trudging off again. +Three of them were killed on the way. The woman who gave us an account +of this carried her baby, aged eighteen months, throughout this wild +race, and on the way the poor little thing was wounded twice in her +mother's arms. Of Cerny were the poor creatures who were shut up in a +deep stone quarry, and stayed there with scarcely any food for +twenty-seven days. When they were taken out and brought to Laon they +were pale, hollow-cheeked, and covered with vermin; they could hardly +walk by themselves, and their eyes could not look upon the daylight. +"The people wept as they saw us go by," the women said. During the first +hours of their sojourn in the stone quarry, there had been a tragical +incident. The fugitives were crouching in the dark when an officer broke +in, accompanied with soldiers: + +"Some of you," he said, "have harboured Englishmen. We discovered an +English officer lying in such and such barn, in such a place. We have +set the building on fire." + +"Ho," said a man, "my barn!" + +"Ah, it was yours! You knew an Englishman was hidden in it? Come on." + +The poor man vainly protested against the accusation; he was taken away. + +The following day he had not yet returned. His wife was greatly +disturbed, and despite the danger made up her mind to go and try to see +him. She took some chocolate out of the slender store of the refugees. + +"They have thrown him into prison," she said, "and I am sure they will +starve him to death." + +The woman went. The village was half in ruins, and the ruins smoked. All +was deserted. She summoned up her courage, went straight to her house, +walked into the yard, and, close to the dunghill, his face fallen in the +filth, his hands tied behind his back, saw the corpse of her husband. He +had been shot twice in the head, and his side was pierced with a large +wound. + +The victim's brother and the niece from whom we heard this story, were +not allowed to attend his burial. + +From the same part were two ladies, a mother and her daughter, with a +new-born baby, who were flung out of their house with only a +dressing-gown and slippers on, and driven on without stopping at the +bayonet's point, until they reached Laon, half distracted. + +To Cerny also belonged those seven men who had been confined in the +_mairie_ of Chamouille, and who saw an officer come up and yell in a +furious tone: "Your dirty French have discovered our presence here. One +of you must have made signals. That's why we are getting a shower of +shrapnel." The civilians denied the charge, and defended themselves. To +no purpose. + +"You shall spend the whole night in front of the house, and if you get +knocked on the head, it will serve you right." + +The men were drawn up in the street, and from evening till morning stood +there within reach of their guards' revolvers. As if by miracle, the +cannonade ceased, and during the night not a shot was fired upon the +village. The next day the prisoners were sent to Laon. + +Less tragic but just as remarkable, was the story of our companions +Noreau, the grandmother, so small, so weak, that we more than once +thought her death near at hand, and her darlings, with their pale faces +and their eyes encircled with black. Major Noreau owned a large house in +Coucy. It pleased the invaders, in their omnipotence, to take possession +of eleven rooms, and to establish their offices in them. The owners had +but the use of a single room, reserved for the sick father. Mme. Noreau, +her four children and her mother-in-law, slept all the winter in a cold +attic. Some of them slept on straw, but the old grandmother had, instead +of a bed, ... a kneading-trough! + +All the furniture had been carried away, scattered about the village, or +over the trenches. To crown all, the family had suffered hunger almost +unceasingly. Coucy had been still less favoured with provisions than +Morny, and only the farmers had managed to lay by some few articles of +food. + +"One day," our old friend told us, "little Mimi picked up from the +dunghill a lump of sugar an officer's servant had thrown to the dog. She +knew her mother had had no food the last two days, and brought her this +windfall." + +The same little Mimi, after she had slept on straw for months together, +forgot, for want of practice, her normal vocabulary, such words, for +instance, as sheet, and the first evening she asked Antoinette, who had +adopted her: + +"What is the name of those things ... you know what I mean ... those +white things one stretches upon the beds?..." + +A great many emigrants were thrown out of their villages in September, +when the Germans had been driven back. They had been pushed forward like +cattle, had been penned up in the citadel of Laon, and left there for +weeks, for months, sleeping on straw and starving. All these unhappy +wanderers were stranded at Jouville. They had met again with their old +companion Hunger. They were persecuted by the cold. Many lay groaning in +the icy cellars of the sugar-mill, or in the airy attics of the farm. + +And then suddenly came the spring. It came in one night. A light breath +passed over the vale, which was soon like a nosegay. The meadows grew +green, the hedges expanded their buds, the trees put forth tender +leaves, the groves were embroidered with periwinkles. Beneath the thorn +bushes came up lords-and-ladies; violets in tufts peeped out along the +paths, and the meadows were strewn with primroses. Six small lambs in +the keeping of a shepherd girl looked like six white specks on the slope +of the green hill. The hedges were lively with songs and murmurs. The +spring wondered much that it did not see the fresh idylls it was used +to. Alas! Love had fled; Venus alone, a lewd and venal Venus, saw her +altars besieged with a host of worshippers; but pure chaste Love had no +faithful followers left. + +Yet the spring bestowed with a full hand its gaiety upon all Nature. I +met once with five small emigrants. The eldest was about eight years +old; their clothes were all in rags, their feet walked naked on the +stones. But they had flowers in their arms, and their pale faces were +bright with the joy of the Spring. The joy of the Spring! Could we feel +glad at it? "The month of May without France is no longer the month of +May." This corner of France was no more France since we bore the yoke of +strangers. In vain we lay basking in the sun, with outstretched arms. +The sun could not, as once it did, warm and burn us, as if to make us +die a voluptuous death. In vain did we listen to the watchful +nightingale, whose song overtopped the noise of the water-gate. It +expressed all the ecstasy and passion of mankind; it could no longer +make us feel the sweetness of life. Our hearts were benumbed with grief, +and had no taste for happiness. + +Even the humblest of our companions, of our neighbours, understood this +contrast between the sentiments of us all, and the joys which filled +Nature. And we heard poor women say in a mournful tone: + +"What misery! To think that we must live with the Germans in such fine +weather!" + +We lived with the Germans. In their train came all the ills--captivity, +sickness, hunger. We suffered hunger more than ever since the ration of +bread had been reduced almost to nothing. The women made loud +complaints, and even talked of mutiny. The commandant of the camp--it +was no longer he of the first days--replied to my complaints, lifting up +his arms in a gesture of impotency and indifference: + +"They are hungry! How am I to help it? I have nothing to give them. I +had rather see them eat! It wouldn't disturb me in the least! Do you +think I should care about it?" + +A few women with their children and a cripple ran away, thinking they +might reach their village. They were overtaken, some at five, others at +ten kilometres from Jouville, were thrown into prisons without any +further formality, and sentenced to wait there for the departure in +which every one had ceased to believe. Two girls did succeed in getting +home, but were likewise caught and brought back. These flights rendered +our supervision stricter than ever. We had to answer to numberless +roll-calls, and once, when the _Feldwebel_ was in a bad temper, he +called us all "a set of pigs!" + +Our misery was alleviated at last, when the American-Spanish Relief +Commission began its work. Jouville had already received some white +flour. The mayor of the village interposed to obtain the same favour for +the emigrants. He succeeded, and the last week of their quarantine the +poor people got bread--white bread. The first day we went to the baker +we saw a stirring sight. The children gazed in wonder at the golden +loaves; they squeezed, they smelt their portion with joy, and without +waiting broke off pieces which they ate eagerly. I saw women look at +their share with staring eyes, and say weeping: + +"Bread, real bread!" + +This happened the last week of our sojourn in Jouville. Indeed the +longed-for event was about to take place. There were endless reviews and +verifications of names and civil conditions. The men were examined, and +re-examined by the doctor, for all would not be allowed to leave. A card +with a number was delivered to every person, and we were all ordered to +meet in the yard of the sugar-mill at eight o'clock in the morning on +Friday, the 14th of May. Different sentiments prevailed. A few were +overjoyed at the news; others showed signs of despairing incredulity. + +"God knows where they are going to take us now! What will become of us? +You will see they will shut us up in Germany!" + +But most of them suspended their judgment. Not daring to hope, they +anxiously waited upon events. A still greater misfortune than we had +borne lay in store for us, Genevieve had caught a severe cold about a +month before, and the day we heard delivery was near she was in bed, +shaking with fever. She spent a very bad night, notwithstanding our +care. In the morning I ran for the German doctor--as there was no +other--despite the patient's protests. + +"No, no, I will have no Germans about me. Besides, there is nothing the +matter that will prevent me from going." + +The fair-haired coxcomb gave a listless ear to my words, looked at me +between his eyelids, and asked with his lips: + +"Why did not this person come round for medical advice?" + +I replied that "this person" was in a high fever, and could not get up. +Fortunately another doctor had come to help the former to examine the +people before they were allowed to depart. He was a fat, red-faced, +jovial fellow, who showed great haste to oblige me, and repeated over +and over again as he accompanied me: + +"Ah! le kerre! pien ture, pien ture!" + +His diagnosis was alarming. A double congestion of the lungs. He +prescribed cold water compresses. + +"And--and the departure...." + +"Oh, it is quite out of the question! The lady could not stand the +journey. It is absolutely impossible." + +"Then ... we are not going either...." + +"That is no business of mine." + +And the doctor withdrew with a shrug of his shoulders. Mad with despair +we went to the commandant of the camp, Antoinette and I. + +"We cannot go. Our sister is ill; we cannot forsake her." + +"Why, you must go, you are not ill." + +We did not know what saint to pray to; we looked out for help. The mayor +of Jouville vainly went to the _Kommandantur_ of Marle to plead our +cause: + +"All emigrants in good health must go." Such was the answer. + +Genevieve tossed about her bed, and protested: + +"I want to go; I will go. I will not run aground, as we are reaching the +port." + +But the doctor, once more consulted, repeated emphatically: + +"Impossible, impossible." + +"Then allow us to stay too." + +"Impossible, impossible." + +At length, towards evening--the whole camp with the whole village +sympathised with us--some one told me: + +"An officer from Marle is at the Red Cross. Go and try again." + +We ran to see him. I well-nigh fell at his feet, and besought him. He +looked somewhat moved. + +"Well, let me see what I can do. You are sure the lady is unable to +travel?" he asked the doctor. + +"Absolutely. She cannot be moved." + +"I cannot be moved either," I cried. "Please examine me. You will see +there is something the matter with my heart, and if I am driven to go, +it will be the death of me." + +"Well," the officer said, "let us see." + +His eyes gave consent. He turned to the doctor. + +"You might examine her, and see if the journey would not endanger her +life." + +The doctor tossed his head, and smiled an incredulous smile. + +"Hum, hum, it can't be denied there is something wrong with her +heart," ... and, taking a pen, he signed the slip which I so much +desired. What a relief! Genevieve would not be left, seriously ill, +among strangers. + +"And I, what am I to do?" Antoinette moaned. + +"Ah! you must go." + +There was nothing else to do. On the way home I tried to encourage her, +miserable as she was at going away alone. + +The next day I left Genevieve, burning with fever, in Mme. Charvet's +care, and went to see the convoy start, heart-broken. + +The sun lit up the scene; everybody was in a flutter of excitement. +Villagers had been requisitioned, with carts and horses, to convey the +children, the infirm, and the luggage. The crowd set out, under the +conduct of the soldiers, amid calls and shouts. Many emigrants were +crying: + +"Where are we going to? Whither shall we be taken?" + +Several families were severed one from another, for about fifteen men +had been thought too strong to leave the invaded territory. They might +turn soldiers, and fight against the Germans! + +The charity children, delighted at the prospect, flocked around me. + +"You will come later on, won't you, madam?" + +Old Mme. Noreau and her grand-daughters faltered some words of sympathy, +Antoinette strove hard to restrain her tears, and Pierrot dared not show +his joy. I went with them as far as the end of the village, where two +gendarmes were busy counting up the herd. I was not allowed to go any +farther, and I stood there gazing at the trampling crowd, and until I +saw them disappear at a winding of the road. + +A halting-place had been arranged four miles from thence, where a train +was waiting to convey the emigrants to Hirson. They spent the night in +the waiting-rooms, lying on the floor, sitting on benches, all squeezed +together with fluttering hearts and anxious looks, disturbed by the +squalling of the children and the groans of the old people. In the +morning, the poor wretches were carefully searched, and then crowded +into the train. Two days after they reached France. With tears and cries +of joy they greeted life, at length recovered after so many trials. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + + +After eight months' hopeless waiting, after long weeks spent in a +flutter of expectation, we had seen the gate of delivery closed upon us. +The others were gone; they were free; and Genevieve and I alone still +bore the yoke of invasion, which no one loathed as much as we did. No +one had more eagerly wished for freedom, longed to return home, and +yearned to meet again those we loved, and alone we stayed behind. + +The poor girl thought that she would die of despair rather than of +illness, and while she moistened her pillow with tears, I hid my sobs in +the attic. + +Mme. Charvet took care of Genevieve, and did her best to comfort us +both. We did not follow the prescriptions of the German doctor, and +never once applied cold compresses. A French matron's experience is at +times worth more than the learning of a Teutonic physician. We applied +mustard-poultices and cupping-glasses; we gave the patient hot +_tisanes_ and syrups, which were all the better because they were made +in the village. + +On the 4th of June, three weeks after the convoy's departure, we arrived +at Morny station, in the care of a sergeant. My sister-in-law was still +a convalescent, and we trudged along to the Bureau, where our guardian +handed over his prisoners. Thus we were restored to liberty; we were no +longer emigrants. And with beating hearts we went back home. + +On seeing us, my mother-in-law, Yvonne, and Colette well-nigh turned +into stone. They thought we had been in Paris for two months at least. +We returned to our old habits; five women were again under the same +roof, five women in the midst of invasion. One only had succeeded in +escaping. + +No change for the better in the village. A single detail amused us. The +soldiers of the line lived as before in a white house at the corner of +the street. For a long time, one of its stout occupants, perched on a +ladder, taking great pains and putting out his tongue, had formulated +this wish in big black letters: + +"God punish England!" + +And now, on account of recent events, the painter had added in a fit of +rage: + +"And the devil run away with Italy!" + +The Hussars of the farm were gone, Bouillot at their head, and that day +the village had heaved a deep sigh. As a last theft, the Pandours had +carried away a cartful of furniture, in order to make themselves +comfortable in the trenches which would shelter them. + +On the other hand, two convoys were still quartered within our gates, +and troops of passage were now and then billeted upon us. We gave +hospitality to a young lieutenant, who had succeeded Bubenpech as +commandant. He lodged in the two rooms we had abandoned to the Prussians +with a heavy heart; he had requisitioned, besides, "the small room" for +his servant, and the stable for his horse. Gracieuse and Percinet, shut +up in a corner of the coach-house, would gladly have seen the Prussian +mare dead, which had usurped their domain. We, too, bore a grudge +against the fat Hans, who encumbered our rooms with his person, his +pipes, and his clothes. + +So, resigned to fate, we established ourselves in the drawing-room, +Genevieve and I. One of the windows looks into the street, and when, +behind the lace of our curtains, we saw, hour after hour, day after day, +the same carts loaded with straw, the same placid-looking +Prussians,--they are all alike,--the same stiff and sneering +lieutenants, we might have believed our stay in Jouville had been but a +dream. The invaders seemed more "at home" than ever. The officers +enjoyed themselves according to rule. Of course they had not waited for +the spring to lead a jolly life. As early as November 1914 they had had +drunken revelries. What merry evenings! What dishes never tasted in +Germany! What floods of good wine! What erotic, patriotic, and bacchic +songs! "Let us drink and eat, for we shall die to-morrow!" + +"But no, we shall not die, we, who shout the loudest, we are safe; we do +not go to the front, we stay behind, secure from danger. No other task +but to grind down, vex, and punish civilians! Let us profit by the war. +Joy's the word! There was a festival yesterday at Laon; it will be at +Morny to-day; to-morrow it will be Coucy's turn. Still more revels, +still more junketings. It is war, hurrah for the war!" + +And all enjoyed themselves: those who cared for nothing as well as those +who cared first to save their skin, sybarites as well as +sentimentalists, the pompous as well as the dissipated. + +But this demands an explanation. We had seen many officers of the +reserve, the very men whom the _Gazette des Ardennes_ calls "the flower +of cultured German manhood"; but we had discovered few varieties among +them, and all of them could be comprised in one of the categories we had +created for the purpose. + +Those who cared-for-nothing deserve careful consideration. They partook +of the qualities common to their brothers-in-arms, which I will extol +farther on, but their pusillanimity or their indifference belonged alone +to them. + +Such, for instance, was this lieutenant quartered in Laon, who confided +to every one willing to listen to him: + +"I don't care a fig for the fate of Germany! If only the war would end +soon, and I could get on with my studies and make myself a good position +after.... I should be content." + +Of the same kind was the young commandant of the village, lamed by a +fall from his horse. + +"The war!" he said, "what do I care for it? I am unfit for fighting, do +you see. I shall neither be killed nor mutilated, and it is all one to +me how long the war will last. I have comfortable rooms, and get good +dinners without untying my purse-strings. I am well paid, and able to +save. When we are at peace again I shall have a jaunt, and then go back +to Germany. Men will be rare, and I shall marry whom I choose, the +richest girl I can hear of, of course. My future is assured, and so I +am quite easy in my mind." + +We thought still more disgusting those who first-cared-for-their-skin. +We were pleased to observe not a few cowards who strove with feet, hand, +and purse to avoid danger and keep behind the line. + +Love of life, self-esteem, a dislike for bloodshed, and a natural dread +of blows kept them from the front. They thought but of one goal: to +cling at any price to safety. + +I wrote "at any price" on purpose. Several of them boasted they had paid +for not being sent to the front. Where, when, how, to whom, I do not +know. By what mysterious bribery, by what surreptitious palm-greasing +other people will perhaps establish. The truth of such things is not +easy to ascertain. I can only state that two officers and a sergeant, +belonging to different regiments, told those in whose houses they +lodged, one in Laon, the others in Morny and Jouville, that they had +paid from 4000 francs to 6000 francs to get leave to keep out of +danger's way. Thus they obtained a few months' respite, after which they +had to pay again or endanger their lives. + +When we were at Jouville, a stout sergeant, nicknamed Tripe, well-nigh +died of an apoplectic stroke on hearing he was ordered to go to the +front. "I have paid 4000 francs to be exempted from fighting. I thought +the war wouldn't last so long! And now I have no money left!" Mad with +rage, he dashed his helmet right across the room, and this martial +attribute was picked up with its point all awry. As to private soldiers +who told their hosts they had acted in the same way, I will not even try +to count them, they are too many. + +The other officers owned a certain number of qualities in common. +According to the individuals, one of these characteristics eclipsed the +others, and the dominant feature helped us to classify the fools. + +Of the sentimentalists, Herr Mayor was the best specimen. His eyes cast +upon the blue sky, he murmured his regrets in a voice broken by tears: +"His wife ... so many griefs ... and so many dead ... how dreadful is +war! If only we could make a Holy Alliance of the peoples!" I must say +that Herr Mayor kept his sensibility in his pocket, and took it out only +at dessert. In the discharge of his duties he forgot this faculty +completely. + +The pompous officers were more entertaining. Such was a certain cavalry +officer who at the end of September put up for a few days at M. +Lonet's. His name ended in "ski," he twirled his mustachio after the +Polish fashion, and drew himself up most elegantly. Once upon a time he +happened to go through the drawing-room, where Genevieve was talking +with Mme. Lonet. The surprise sent a thrill through him: "Why! two +pretty women! Quick! let us show off!" + +And the braggart began to hold forth in praise of Germany. + +"Ah! _mesdames_, the emperor is extremely satisfied with the march of +our army. Our gallant soldiers laugh at obstacles, and advance as if by +miracle." + +This speech was made shortly after the battle of the Marne. +Unfortunately the hearers, as well as the orator, were unacquainted with +the event, which, had they known of it, would have given yet more +meaning to the gentleman's discourse. + +The same _Rittmeister_ could not refrain from delivering high-sounding +addresses to all whom he met. In case of need he even fell back on the +man who split the wood or the maid of all work. "Have you seen," he +would say, "have you seen our splendid Imperial Guard? Have you noticed +the gait of our soldiers? Do you know that no troops in the world are to +be compared with them?" And for a revictualling cart that rattled by, +for a soldier's shirt drying on a hedge, he would pour forth his soul in +dithyrambs on Germany's greatness, invincibility, and might. You will +think, no doubt, that the first and foremost soldier of the Prussian +army, the supreme chief of our enemy, would take his place, not without +the radiance of a star, among his _confreres_ of pomposity. + +Another pompous talker, a sub-lieutenant and former law student, lodged +in the spring of 1915 at Mme. Lantois'. He set up for a linguist, and +wanted us to believe he knew French better than we. Once I brought him a +demand-note to sign. He carped at a word I used. I tried to defend my +prose, but he stopped me with a motion of his hand: + +"I know the word and how to use it." + +I had nothing to do but hold my tongue, so I did, like one +thunderstruck. Unfortunately the eloquent rascal took it into his head +to turn his stay in France to account. Are we to suppose he thought he +would thus acquire a few niceties of speech of which he was ignorant? +Nobody knows. But he was often to be seen seated in the big kitchen, +devoutly listening to the conversation of the workers, to the stories of +the old people of the farm, to whom Mme. Lantois spoke sharply when they +lingered too long. The lieutenant knew how to listen, how to learn, how +to remember what he heard. For one day we heard him say, thumping his +fist on the table: + +"Je savions ce que je disions!" + +Among our guests were a great many sybarites. Is Barbu's love of +creature comforts still remembered? And the many cushions necessary to +uphold his person? Can you imagine that some of them, before choosing +their room, felt the elasticity of the mattresses, tried the softness of +the blankets, inspected the fineness of the sheets? Are the nice +afternoon-naps already forgotten? + +"We are at war! but that is no reason to give up comfort. Let us have +carpets and cushions, wadding and down! We are sybarites!" + +The category, to which we come now, the brutes, is the most scandalously +celebrated. The present war has been its triumph. I must say we never +saw these gentlemen at their best, such as they showed themselves in +assaults, in pillage, in massacre, in arson. We did see them as brutes +in their treatment of a peaceful, submissive, terrified +population,--brutes who thought they had drawn in their claws. Bouillot, +for instance, was a beautiful specimen of the kind, but we saw many +another. For instance, there was the hero, who had a small boy of +Jouville bound fast to a post during an icy cold afternoon. There was +that other who knocked down the shepherd-boy of Aulnois, and gave him a +good horse-whipping. The poor boy had gone beyond the frontier of the +commune with his cattle: + +"What am I to do?" he said. "My master's meadow is in Vivaise. I must +feed my flock, and at the office they won't give me a pass. They say I +don't want one to go those few steps." + +I should never finish telling the high deeds of those scoundrels, and I +have still to sing the praises of the revellers. They were many in +number, and I think more dangerous than the rest. They came to France, +allured by the depravity they attributed to us, and it was they who +brought to us their vices, particularly those exclusive to their race, +on which I had rather not insist. No doubt they thought that they would +do a pious work in helping to pervert a country which they hated. Be +that as it may, they eagerly exerted themselves to this end, and did +their best to transform the country behind the front into a vast +brothel. Of course such creatures had not the least respect for the +house which sheltered them. An old lady in Morny was deeply shocked at +being forced to provide two fast girls of Laon with lodging and board +for some days, and many a country house, which had never looked upon +other than peaceful scenes, was scared at revels, the noise of which +made the very window-panes tremble. + +Bubenpech was a remarkably vicious specimen. A bottle of champagne was +never emptied in the province without his presence. He was at every +feast, he took part in every rejoicing; he rarely came home before two +or three o'clock in the morning. He had a pretty taste in wine and nice +dinners. Besides, he looked upon himself as Don Juan, and expected every +one to yield to him. No thought hindered his caprices. One day he asked +a young girl publicly to come and see him in his rooms. Another day we +saw him towards dusk kiss two loose girls in the open street. To be at +perfect liberty, he sent to prison, under some pretence or another, a +man whose daughter he was paying court to. He inscribed, among the women +inspected by the police, the name of a young girl who, though not very +respectable, had done no harm but reject his advances. With real Gallic +humour our good villagers were careful to catalogue the great deeds of +our guests, chiefly when heroines from the other side of the Rhine came +upon the scene. + +One Sunday morning, about ten o'clock, there appeared at our house a +little German nurse of the Red Cross, dark-haired, smart, and--a fact +hardly to be believed--pretty; but the lady had a peevish air--an air +only. + +"Lieutenant Bubenpech?" + +"Out." + +With all possible speed the orderly went to fetch the officer. Bubenpech +came back as fast as he could, shut himself up with the little dame, and +did not move until four o'clock in the afternoon, forgetful of his +lunch. And the orderly, who timidly presented himself for duty, was +roughly sent away from the closed door. + +"Oh," said Mme. Valaine, shocked, "such impudence! in my house!" + +The neighbours made jokes and watched the door. They even laid wagers: +they will come out; they won't. At last the couple came out, and +disappeared on foot towards Laon. + +A moment after a murmur was heard: + +"What does it mean?" + +To show his disregard of decency, Bubenpech had thrown his window wide +open before going out. And now the whole village gathered about our +windows and jeered at the shameless disorder of the room and bed. + +So, while some officers clearly belonged to such and such a category, +they all possessed to a certain degree the qualities peculiar to the +other classes. But there were real mongrels among them. For instance, +you can imagine for yourself a sentimental-fine-talker and a +sybarite-who-cared-for-his-skin or a brutish-reveller. And there was a +sameness in all, a family resemblance. Prussian militarism, hypocrisy, +and haughtiness were smeared over them all like a thick coat of paint. +All showed an extreme satisfaction with their own race and person. In +short, you have but to scratch the Prussian to find the barbarian. +Should an opportunity offer, or even no opportunity, they can all be +unreasonable, harsh, unrelenting. + +These gentlemen enjoyed themselves. + +In a physical sense, you can easily picture to yourself those revellers. +They were not handsome--at least we never came across one we thought +handsome, in spite of our efforts to be impartial. Save Bouillot, we +never saw a very tall one. They were either long and threadlike, or +short and fat. Those who thought they had a look of Apollo you might +reproach with thick wrists and ankles, large hips, and heavy feet. Most +of them had shapely hands, and very often well-kept nails. Their +features were unpleasing from being shockingly irregular or freezingly +regular; their hard eyes belied the false kindness of their smile. At a +distance, their stiff and starched gait, their mechanical movement; at +close quarters, their voice, their smell, their whole being made us +bristle with hostility. For a trifle we would have snarled at them like +a dog, and every day their presence lay heavier on our hearts. + +Their smell! Some people deny its reality. Let them go to the North of +France! When you have lodged Prussian officers--very clean people, no +doubt--you may air the room eight days running, and it will not lose the +smell _sui generis_ which impregnates it, and every inhabitant of the +village, from the Mayor down to the smallest child, would turn up his +nose on entering the room, and say: + +"Faugh! it smells of Prussians here!" + +Such as they were, the gentlemen amused themselves. Some maintained even +that they made conquests. I am touching here on a very delicate +subject--the relations between the invaders and the women of the invaded +countries. There has been much talk of rape. Compared with the crimes +committed in Belgium and in Lorraine, the misdeeds we shall mention are +but little things. To be sure, there were rapes, but, thanks be to God, +they were few, and they took place at the beginning of the invasion, +chiefly after the Germans' retreat on the Marne. In Jouville I heard +many a sad story. There was the story of a young woman of Chevregny who +went mad after her misfortune, and of several old women too. For, hardly +credible as it seems, old women often fell victims to acts of violence, +because they lacked agility to run away. At Braye, several soldiers fell +upon a woman of eighty, knocked her down, and beat her most +unmercifully. At Chamouille, in October 1914, a few women were living in +a cellar, frightened to death. "One evening," one of them told me, "we +heard a loud cry; there was a falling of stones, and a young woman +tumbled down into the cellar through a shell-hole. Thus she escaped from +her pursuers, but her companion, an old woman of sixty-eight, fell +defenceless into the hands of the filthy fellows." + +Ah, we had many proofs of the respect the Germans have for old age! + +A woman of Cerny, eighty-seven years old, small and white-haired, with +red eyes and a shaking head, told us how she had left her lodging. "I +had a small bundle of clothes ready lying on the table. But the soldiers +did not allow me to go in and take it; they beat me. As I didn't go--I +had money, too, in my bundle--they forced me to go; they all flocked +around me, they were twelve, and ... how am I to say it?..." In short, +the twelve rascals had driven the poor old woman out of her house by +directing towards her that which a famous statue innocently eternises in +Brussels. Stripped of her spare clothes and money, filthy, disgusted at +what she had seen, the unhappy woman had to go to a neighbour to beg for +a bodice and a petticoat, that she might cast away her soiled clothes. + +When the Germans settled themselves upon us, these feats of the satyr +were no longer common. Here and there evil deeds were still spoken of, +and a doctor of the neighbourhood told us in the spring of 1915 that +nearly every week there was an act of violence. I must confess that many +a woman was the victim of her own imprudence. When you have lived all +your life in a quiet village, among kind people, you have some +difficulty in believing that you must be on your guard for months +together, that you are for ever surrounded with brutes. So more than one +villager had reason to regret having gone alone to the forest, or having +persisted in living in a lonely house. + +But the systematic brutalities, the collective assaults, which marked +the beginning, were no longer known. The method had changed. There were +acts of violence which were no less terrible for being moral. In many a +village whose inhabitants suffered hunger, the children were provided +with bread and soup. Yes, but this privilege was reserved for the +children whose mothers showed themselves complaisant towards the +soldiers. And these women accepted dishonour, because they could not +bear to see their little ones pine away and die, while others could not +withstand the troubles and vexations that lay in store for good women. + +A cry of reprobation and horror arose when we heard that the conduct of +all women was not blameless. In the first place there were the women of +the lowest class. Even Boule de suif herself would have been tamed after +daily relations with the German soldiers. Of course a few black sheep +are a disgrace to the flock, and I can fancy women-haters shrugging +their shoulders in scorn when they hear of this. + +Gently, sir--a truce to jeering. More than one person wearing a beard +gave abundant proof of an equal complaisance. Alas, traitors were to be +found among us. For instance, there were those who welcomed the Germans +with a smile, and revealed to them the resources of the place. There +were those, the foulest of all, who denounced French soldiers hidden in +the woods or those who fed the fugitives. There were those who, for a +little money or food, pointed out the hiding-places of his neighbours, +and thus surrendered to the enemy wine, grain, potatoes, even money and +jewels. But I am pleased to say that such despicable wretches were rare, +and on the whole the population was proud and dignified, and opposed to +the invaders' dishonesty a solid brotherhood, which no troubles, no +persecutions could lessen or fatigue. And yet we led a grievous life; +the Germans seemed to aim at making it as hard as possible, while theirs +was as merry as can be. + +The winter had been painful, but the summer was still more so. We had +less liberty and less food. We were allowed to leave the place we lived +in but three times a week, and on stated days. Besides, we had to ask +for a pass two days beforehand, and pay seventy-five centimes for it +when it was granted, which was not always the case. It was almost +impossible to go to the country from Laon, and for weeks together nobody +was allowed to leave the town. One day passports had been freely given +to the people, tradesmen mostly who went to Marle to buy raw sugar--a +yellowish sticky substance with a taste of glue--and a little butter, +precious goods that were still to be found there in small quantities. +They all came back furious. At different points of the road, +level-crossings, outskirts of villages, they had all been arrested. + +Men and women had been then entirely stripped of their garments, and +searched according to rule. Nurses of the Red Cross and soldiers showed +equal zeal in the task, which had a practical object--the gathering of +all gold and even silver coins of five francs which pockets and purses +might contain. The sum seized, it must be said, was replaced by notes of +the Reichsbank. + +The victims thought the joke a very bad one, and I am sure Thomas of +Marle's bones must have turned in his grave. To think that on this +nobleman's own territory soldiers arrested and robbed the passers-by, +and he not there to help! And, what is worse, the aggressors were German +troopers, and the victims good and loyal French citizens! What does your +shade regret, O famous plunderer? To be unable to fight for your +countrymen, or to have no share in the robbery? + +I need not say that after that no gold pieces ever ventured out on the +roads. + +A pass also was necessary to go out into the country, and you were +expected to have an identity card in your pocket if you but stood on +your threshold. All papers had to be renewed every fortnight. + +"Fancy," an aged woman said to us, "that I have to pay twenty marks +because I forgot my antiquity card!" + +One Saturday, a farmer's wife, perched on a ladder out of doors, was +eagerly polishing the glass of a bull's-eye window. + +Two gendarmes on horseback passed by and gave heed to this commendable +zeal: + +"Matam! ... carte...." + +"Hem, hem! Ah, yes, my identity card; wait a minute, it is lying on the +table...." + +"Ha! ha! no, not enter ... no card ... fine...." + +So she had to pay the fine. + +One of our neighbours was taking his cows out of the stable. Suddenly +one of them seemed to smell some enlivening odour--was it that of +powder?--she bent a frolicsome head on one side, lifted up her sprightly +nostrils, raised a swaggering tail, and, as fast as she could tear, went +full gallop towards the meadows, the brooklet, the rosy horizon where +the setting sun pleased her. The owner took to his heels in his turn, +and fled after the giddy-pated creature. The better to run, he tore off +his jacket, and succeeded in getting hold of the tether. Then he stopped +panting, all in a sweat, and rapped out a tremendous oath. + +As if by miracle, a gendarme happened to stand there, his note-book in +hand. + +"Card, card...." + +"Ah! oh, it is in my jacket pocket...." + +The jacket was smiling in the distance, a small spot lying on the green. + +"Ach!" the Prussian said with a sneer, "not fetch: fine." + +Cost fifty francs. + +Rascally cow! + +I treat the matter as a joke. Sometimes we did joke. We could not have +our minds always on the stretch. We already were half-crazy, and we +should have gone quite mad if we had not occasionally laughed. We often +laughed, with rage, with an empty stomach, with our brain confused after +a troubled night. Our race needs to laugh in the midst of tears, and +tears are shed in secret, whereas laughter bursts forth in public. + +When the Germans laugh, it is always a peal. As to tears, they trickle +down their cheeks for a trifle; they bathe in them, they pour them forth +everywhere. I had always looked upon this lachrymal faculty so often +spoken of as a legend, but we have come to the conclusion that there is +nothing more real. + +An untoward event, a deception, bad news, or simply home-sickness and +melancholy--anything is an excuse for tears. Here is a famous example. +Those who have visited the battlefields of Mars-la-Tour and Gravelotte +have seen the famous monument--a granite armchair in the midst of a +lawn, surrounded with a balustrade. This noble simplicity should speak +to the soul of itself. Yet an inscription explains: + +"During the battle of Mars-la-Tour, the Emperor Wilhelm the First sat +here and wept." + +Of course he thought the game was lost. But if his descendants are +faithful to tradition, where will they get the torrents of tears they +will have to shed within a short time! + +However, we are not always crying. We even tried to enjoy the summer, to +make up for the sad spring we had spent. As we had to plead a practical +object to obtain leave to take walks out of the village, we begged to be +allowed "to go and fetch wood." + +And, lying on the grass in the open country, we tried to forget the war +for a few moments, Genevieve and I, lost in the surrounding calm and +beauty; but distant rumours soon belied our short-lived illusions, and +dispelled the poor creations of the fancy. + +No, it was not peace. Our stomachs, always clamouring for food, never +failed to tell us so. During the month of June we hardly ate anything +except asparagus and cherries. These things are not highly nutritious. +No potatoes, a slice of horrid, sticky, sour German bread. Then came +carrots, green peas, and artichokes, and we no longer starved; and when +in the second fortnight of August there arrived the food sent by the +Spanish-American Board of Relief, we thought we had been transported to +a Land of Cockayne. Twenty grammes of bacon daily, a dish of rice on +Sunday, a dish of beans on Thursday, eatable bread; what would you ask +more? No matter. I wonder, when we are once out of this vale of hunger, +how long it will be before we recover our former health. + +During the month of July we spent the hot hours of the day out of doors +stretched on the grass. Being near a field of corn, we put out a timid +hand and from time to time broke off ripe ears; we rubbed them between +our fingers, and their plump grains, stripped of the husks, seemed to us +delicious food. It was strictly forbidden to pluck corn, "however small +the quantity might be." "Our leather bags may be searched," we thought, +"but they cannot make a post-mortem examination of us to make sure of a +possible theft." For there is no doubt that we were committing highway +robbery to the prejudice of the Germans. + +When we had yawned the whole long day away, in wearisomeness and hunger, +we might have hoped to slumber at night, for sleep is as good as a +dinner. + +Alas! remember the Germans' revels! These gentry were no longer allowed +to find their amusement out of the village in which they were quartered. +Every night the officers of Morny will disport themselves in Morny! + +Yes, indeed! They spent their evenings in a house which they had +transformed into a casino, amid laughter and songs. Only the immediate +neighbours were kept awake. But about twelve or one o'clock we never +failed to start up in our beds, as the songs and cries came nearer. + +"Here are the brutes going home. What whim will they take into their +heads to-night?" + +We heard them approach to the strains of accordeons and mouth-organs. +From upstairs we saw them dressed up like women, with plumed hats on, +stopping at every door, trying, it would seem, who could bawl the +loudest. Or they tricked themselves out as house-painters, carried +buckets and brooms and set high ladders against the walls, and climbed +up as if to storm the house. Another time they would pretend to be +strolling musicians, and, armed with saucepans and cauldrons, would give +a mock serenade that would have put the dead to flight. Or, what was +far worse, the noise of their steps would be scarcely audible; they +would talk in whispers and stifle their laughter. + +And, lying in the dark, we said to ourselves, still half asleep: + +"They seem quiet to-night; perhaps we shall be able to go to sleep +again." + +But all of a sudden: bing, bang, formidable blows with revolvers shook +the wooden shutters, and resounded in the room like peals of thunder. +The unexpected noise startled us out of our torpor, and we could hardly +recover our breath. + +The next day, Mme. Lantois, half-sour, half-sweet, asked her lieutenant: + +"Well, you had some fun last night?" + +"Oh, yes! We knocked hard at the windows of all houses where there are +young girls." + +Maybe the officer read disapproval in the features of his interlocutor, +for he went on: + +"We are merry.... You may be sure that the French officers amuse +themselves in the same way...." + +In the same way? Oh no, Mr. ex-law student of Heidelberg! + +One evening, an officer whose rooms were not far from our house refused +to take part in a drunken orgy. He was tired; he had a headache; in +short, he preferred to go to bed. There were guests in Morny, and before +they left to drive home, the whole band made an irruption into the +refractory officer's room, tore him from his bed, and, with shouts of +laughter, hoisted him into the visitors' carriage and ordered the +coachman to drive on. + +At the end of the village our man was stripped of his night-shirt, +deposited on the road, and his comrades went away at full speed. As +naked as when he was born, he had to walk along the high street to get +back to his quarters. + +The commandant of the village, to whom we gave hospitality, did not care +to put a stop to these extravagances. Being but twenty-five, he had +little authority over his comrades, and besides, from time to time he +liked an orgy himself. He was famous for his worship of Bacchus. He was +as long as a day without bread; he had a small boy's head, adorned with +large outstretched ears at the top of it. The women of the village, at +the sight of his slender calves, had surnamed him "Jackdaw's Leg." More +stupid than bad, he felt frightfully dull at Morny, and talked with +raptures of his stay in Belgium. "What a good time I had of it!" he used +to say. "I was drunk from morning till night!" That he might not get +quite out of practice, Jackdaw's Leg tippled as often as he could, and +many a night his unsteady legs were at much pains to convey him home +without accident. We knew him by his uncertain gait; and when drunk he +never failed to prevent us from sleeping the livelong night. He sought +laboriously for the dancing keyhole. Then he banged-to the door. At +length he succeeded in getting to his room, and his door was hardly +shut, when the result of his excess burst forth noisily and--sinister +detail--we perceived a characteristic clash of washhand-basin and +slop-pail. Then desperate hiccups, groanings, and sighs were audible, +and the whole house resounded with his laborious efforts. + +Upstairs we heard Colette, furious and disgusted, rail against the tipsy +fellow: + +"You dirty, loathsome brute ... pig...." + +Then nothing was heard but snores. The officer had certainly flung +himself upon his bed with his boots on. + +And the following morning plump Hans, his servant, was to be seen all +a-flutter running to and fro with water, pails, and floor-cloths. +Sometimes the painful scene took place in the street; the disreputable +traces of it were still to be seen on wall and pathway the next morning, +and the lieutenant made for his rooms with deep sighs. Yet he was able +to walk by himself to our house. What could we say of that captain who, +in Jouville, used to be wheeled home in a barrow by his servants? + +At that time an adventure happened by night which I cannot recall +without an inward thrill of fear. It was already late in the evening, +and we were shut up in our room, Genevieve and I. Our windows were open, +and the strong wooden shutters were carefully closed. We had been +talking for some time, lying in the dark, and were about to fall asleep, +when we heard a carriage rattle by and then stop at the farther end of +the house. It was about half-past eleven. + +"Kolb, Kolb," cried a loud voice. + +Such was the official name of Jackdaw's Leg. A silence followed, then +the owner of the voice seemed to grow impatient. + +"Kolb ... Kolb ... Kolb...." + +No answer came. The uproarious fellow bellowed: + +"Kolb ... Koooolb...." + +I bounced out of bed, still drowsy. + +"This man will wake up the whole street," I murmured. "I believe we had +better answer." + +"Lieutenant Kolb is at the casino," I cried from behind the shutter. + +"What?" asked the voice. + +I thought my interlocutor fifteen yards from thence, in front of the +gate. My hand leaning against the fastening unconsciously turned it; all +of a sudden it was wrenched from my grasp and the shutters flew wide +open. As quick as lightning I shut the window, stuck to the wall, and +slipped behind the piano. Genevieve had started to her feet and +stretched herself at full length along the bed. We saw the man produce +an electric lamp from his pocket, and, with his nose flattened against +the window-pane, try to catch a glimpse of the inside of the room. The +curtains prevented him from seeing clearly anything, but we got a full +view of his person. + +He was a captain, colossus-like, thick-featured, and red-bearded; he had +a helmet and a grey coat on. He sat on the window-sill, and muttered in +a clammy, drunken voice: + +"Mademoiselle, mademoiselle, open the window.... I want to wish you a +good morning ... shake hands with me.... Mademoiselle, open the window." + +We held our breaths, we dared not stir a finger. + +Then the officer got up, stepped backwards, took a survey of the house, +and made for the next window. He shook the shutters, which did not give +way, and went to try the others. How eagerly we wished the orderly had +shut up everything at his master's! The first window held out, the +second too, but the fastening of the third one yielded, and we heard the +man jump into the room. As if he knew the ins and outs, he swiftly +crossed both rooms and the passage, and stopped at our door. + +"Open...." + +He gave a knock ... then made an endeavour to open the door. + +We were struck with dismay. + +With a shove of his shoulders he might have forced the lock. With naked +feet and nothing but a nightgown on, how should we have been able to +stand up against this booted, armed giant if he had broken in? +Noiselessly Genevieve sprang towards me. I softly opened the window +overlooking the garden, and we jumped out, careless of the pebbles that +bruised our feet, ran along the house with all possible speed, and +stopped at my mother-in-law's window. + +"Mother, mother, open the window." + +Our voices were low, but so anxious that the shutters immediately flew +open. We climbed in like cats and hastily closed the window. With +strained ears we listened to the intruder's goings and comings, but he +soon jumped out of the window, and after renewed calling and knocking we +heard his carriage roll away. + +We prudently waited some time before venturing out, then we poked our +noses into the passage, and, making sure the enemy had really withdrawn, +we took once more possession of our own room. But, alas, our emotion had +destroyed all chance of sleep. + +Day after day, night after night, alarm upon alarm, the summer glided +by. Then came the harvest-time. The farmers were much agitated, for the +Germans had declared that they would gather in the harvest. + +They did so. + +Ah, the birds will long remember the summer of 1915! + +The harvest lasted three months, and all that time the grain strewed the +ground. Every overripe sheaf lost in transport half its wealth. + +"They are but lazy-bones, the whole pack of them," M. Lantois muttered +between his teeth. "When we gather in the harvest, we get up at three +o'clock and work till eight or nine, and we hurry over our meals. But +those fellows! they get up at six, leave off work from eleven to one, +and have done with it at five!" + +If the soldiers did not tire themselves out, the civilians they employed +showed no eager haste to do things properly. + +The peasants were full of indignation. + +"If those idiots had allowed us to gather in the harvest on the +condition that we gave them half or even a third of it, they would have +had more corn than they have now, and we should have been provided for +the whole year!" + +However, the Prussians at last understood that more speed was necessary. +And since all the able-bodied men were requisitioned, it was the turn of +the women. The rural constable announced one evening that women who +would work in the fields would receive two francs a day. This aroused a +great deal of wonder. In the times we lived in two francs were looked +upon as a large sum, and many women hired themselves out willingly. A +week after, there was a sudden fall in the tariff. The women heard they +would be paid only fourpence a day, and the female workers dwindled to +zero. The soldiers, in a rage, tried to enlist the women in their very +houses. But they did not succeed. One had a bad headache, another was in +bed, a third was nursing her baby, a fourth was sitting up by her sick +mother, and so on. + +This state of things did not last long. The military authorities issued +an order, which enjoined all women from sixteen to fifty to be on the +_place_ of the village at such an hour, to be enrolled as day-labourers. +Mothers of young children alone were exempt. We looked at one another +in bewilderment. Why, then, we had to go too! But if we can wield the +pen and the needle, and on occasion the broom, we are not trained to +handle the sickle, the spade, and the rake. Besides Genevieve was hardly +recovered. Colette is as slender as a reed, and if Yvonne and I are far +from being viragoes in times of peace, we were still weaker after a year +of privation and trouble. + +"The little of health and life we have left would be lost in the +fields," said Yvonne. + +"I won't risk it," said Genevieve. "I had rather go to prison. Let them +take me to Chalandry!" + +It was at Chalandry that the Germans had installed a prison for women. + +Jackdaw's Leg good-humouredly reassured us in his most Teutonic accents: + +"The measures in hand concern but the peasants," he said. + +It is worth while remarking that the officers did their best to be on +tolerable terms with their hosts, and when the inhabitants were +ill-treated, the head of the house was sure to be away. + +Now, Jackdaw's Leg had been feeling very poorly for some weeks. Was it +due to home-sickness and to a longing for sauerkraut and sausages? Or +might it not rather come from too many merry parties? In short, the +commandant seemed to languish, and ten times a day lay down on his +couch. As he had two bedrooms at his disposal, he slept in one bed by +night, and--for variety's sake--in the other by day, unmindful of the +fact that he thus requisitioned two pairs of sheets a week, that soap +was scarcely to be had, and that the poor washerwoman had to whiten the +linen with wood ashes. Jackdaw's Leg, being ill, got a month's leave of +absence, and disappeared in the background. His place was filled up by +the young linguist who had put up at Mme. Lantois'. + +He would gladly have seen us dead. + +Calling on his brother-in-arms, lingering without a motive, or for a +wrong motive, in our garden, in our lobby or on our threshold, peeping +through the keyholes--we once detected him in this occupation--he had +discovered that our souls were not unworthy of associating with his, mad +for music and philology, enamoured of art and culture. Notwithstanding +that we had the reputation of hating the Germans, this nice Prussian, +who produced in tippling-houses a list of at least one thousand and +three names--the list of his conquests in France--this nice Prussian +then gave us to understand that he would condescend to enter into +relations with us, relations based on philosophy, science, and +literature. Why not on politics? + +We responded in such a manner to his advances as to convince even a +Prussian. And since then the fellow had borne us a dangerous grudge. + +Two days after the departure of Jackdaw's Leg we heard a beat of +the rural constable's drum ... women from sixteen to fifty ... one +o'clock ... market-place.... We hardly listened to it. It was no +concern of ours. But at one o'clock Mme. Lantois ran up breathless: "Do +you know that the lieutenant just said that _everybody_ must go to the +market-place? He even told us that if you didn't go, he would send four +soldiers to fetch you, and take you off to Chalandry." + +Consternation! Alarm! It was twelve o'clock according to German time. +Without waiting for luncheon we ran out in all directions to look for +substitutes. At one we arrived on the _place_, attended by four old +women, still hale and hearty, and well pleased to fill our places, for +of course to the scanty pay of the Germans we had agreed to add the +usual price of a day's work. The sight of the place suggested a picture +of the slave-market. Women, wearing light blouses and coarse linen +aprons, had gathered on both sides. To shield themselves from the glare +of the sun, the most of them wore a handkerchief tied under the chin; a +few of them laughing, tossed their sunburnt hair, and many with weary +faces leant against the tools they had brought. There were gloomy-eyed +women, who up to that time had never done any work but housekeeping; +there were young girls, carefully looked after by their mothers, who did +not know what to do with themselves; there were sedate, stern-looking +workers, and at last the usual set of soldiers' wenches, laughing at and +making fun of the others, noisier than the rest of the company, and +thinking that they might do what they liked. + +Under the shade of the plane-trees was seated Jacob--such was the +Christian name of the lieutenant, and no one gave him another--busy +calling the names over. Ours was among the last; we answered without +wincing, and then presented our substitutes. Thus did we baffle the +trick which Jacob wanted to play us. + +This enforced service brought about many troubles between the invaders +and the inhabitants, so the Germans had prudently turned the sugar-mill +of Aulnois into a prison for male culprits, and converted a house at +Chalandry into a jail for women. And if you showed the least disposition +to disobedience, you were immediately taken into custody. Did you call +a private soldier such names as he had deserved a hundred times? To +prison with you. Had you kept back any goods from the perquisitioners? +To prison with you. Were you unwilling to comply with the +requisitioners' orders? To prison with you. Were you penniless when +liable to a fine? To prison with you, to prison, to prison! + +Half a dozen men from Morny were for ever ruralising at Aulnois. Of +course it is no disgrace to be put into prison by the Germans, but it is +a well-known fact that the diet of the Prussian jails is anything but +engaging. + +A girl of sixteen coming back one evening from the fields threw her +pickaxe on her threshold, and cried out in tears: + +"I won't work any longer for those barbarians!" + +An indiscreet ear overheard the sentence, which was repeated in high +quarters. + +Now, the word "barbarians" is to a German like a red rag to a bull. + +So, two days afterwards, the family of the imprudent little person were +awakened out of their sleep at four o'clock in the morning. A sergeant +and four men came to fetch the guilty girl and take her to Chalandry. +Half an hour was granted her to get ready. Mad with despair and shaken +with sobs herself, she left her parents sunk in desolation and in tears. +They even did not know how long their child would be imprisoned. Towards +evening the father succeeded in seeing the commandant, who told him his +daughter would be in prison for three weeks. + +"I was not too uncomfortable," the poor thing said afterwards; "one of +the 'nurses' was rather nice ... we were sewing the whole day long ... +but there were such funny women there...." + +I should think so. + +Then what an excellent pretext for vexatious measures was this enforced +service! A rich landowner of Vivaise, who was ill, sent a servant of +his, old but able-bodied, to take his place. One morning the officer +asked: + +"Why does M. Villars not come himself?" + +"He is ill." + +"He is not so ill as you are pleased to say. He must come, and we will +see what occupation he is fit for." + +M. Villars had to yield, and by way of an easy little job he was ordered +to clean the soldiers' closet, and gather up dung on the road. Ah, the +enslavers knew how to rouse our wrath, and more than one Prussian +well-nigh paid with his life for his insolence. + +If our men strove hard to be always submissive it is because they knew +that a single attempt at revolt might have caused the village to be set +on fire and the inhabitants dispersed. Yet once a worker had a quarrel +with a Prussian. He was a youth of eighteen, who, when he had seen the +convoys go away, had cried for rage and clenched his fists, saying: + +"Ah, if I were but allowed to go ... within eight days I should wear red +trousers!" + +He did not know that red trousers were blue now, but he meant well, and +this young fellow one evening gave a sharp answer to one of the soldiers +who supervised the work of the fields. The Prussian, not quick at the +answer, aimed his revolver at him. The boy stooped down, and the bullet +was lost in a bush. At the same time a sudden collective rage seized +upon the companions of the young man, who had listened to the quarrel a +few steps away. Armed with hay-forks, scythes and spades, they rushed +headlong upon the common enemy, who bounded forward and fled across the +country. It was a splendid chase: Jacques Bonhomme pursuing Michael. +With the whole band at his heels, the Prussian raced across fields and +meadows, cleared the hedges, crossed the brooks, got to the village, and +went to earth. The pursuers stopped and looked at one another. "What +were we going to do?" With a sheepish look and their arms dangling, they +went home more than ever depressed beneath a feeling of helplessness. + +Our tyrants were not content with worrying us with passports and +enforced service. They continued to strip us methodically, poor shorn +lambs as we were, to whom the wind was not tempered but whose food was +strictly measured. Though the Germans had taken all the fruits of the +fields, they were still afraid that something might be left us to eat. +So the farmers' wives were forced during the summer to reconstitute +their poultry yards. All birds were counted and requisitioned. Besides, +the farmers had to deliver to the _Kommandantur_ as many eggs as they +had hens every fourth day. + +"What are we to do if the hens lay no eggs?" + +"Do as you will," replied the Germans. + +The fruit-trees in the orchards and gardens looked promising. We all +rejoiced at it. "If we have nothing else to eat we shall have +marmalade." But the first rosy tint had hardly spread over the cheeks of +the apples, when the rural constable proclaimed throughout the village: +"When good and ripe, fallen apples should be brought to the _Bureau_; a +severe penalty will be enforced on the refractory persons." + +But the Germans still thought that we might cheat them, and the fruit +was unripe when they began to gather it. Children from twelve to sixteen +were requisitioned, and under the supervision of two soldiers they +knocked down the plums and picked them up. A month later it was the turn +of the apples, and then of the pears. The Germans carried off the fruit +throughout the country, and we saw hundreds of carts go by loaded with +sacks of apples, which were conveyed to Germany. + +Among the most troublesome announcements made to the amazed +parish--always with a threat against refractory persons--I must recall +that which forbade them to cut down grass along roads and paths. This +annoyed particularly the owners of rabbits, goats, and kids; the animals +were requisitioned, but as long as the Germans were not in need of them +the peasant had to take charge of them--had the use of them, if I may +say so. And it was no trifle to feed the cattle, as the provender was +requisitioned. + +In Mme. Lantois' big shed the Germans had heaped up a great deal of hay, +and towards evening the farmer's wife used to stand on her threshold, +and, after a glance to the right and left, she would run to the shed, +gather up an armful of hay, and come back home in a hurry. "My poor +beasts," she said, "I can't give them enough to eat. When I hear them +move about of nights it nearly breaks my heart; it prevents me from +sleeping, it does." + +In the autumn the potatoes were dug up and sent to the north. The +peasants were furious. One of them, busy digging in his own field behind +his house, muttered between his teeth: "Isn't it a shame! The very +potatoes I have planted myself! And I shan't have any! Wait a minute!" + +He had on a large belt that transformed the upper part of his shirt into +a sack. His hand went by turns down to the ground and up to his neck, +and he soon had the figure of Punch. While the guard studied the +weather, his nose lifted up towards the sky, the man sneaked away, +slipped into his house, emptied his belt, came back, and began again. +Alas, came the moment when the guard discovered the trick! + +This guard was a holy man, fat, stout, demure-looking, a canting +preacher, who not only took the apostleship of his nation for granted, +but his own too. When the misappropriated potatoes had got back to the +Prussian sacks our Mr. Smooth-Tongue looked at the grieved +culprit--grieved at having been caught--looked at the hollow-cheeked +faces around him, at the sunken, jaded eyes. He paused before speaking, +tossed his head three times, and said: "How perverse are the French! +Don't you know that stealing is forbidden? And don't you know that the +potatoes belong to the Germans? Now then, by taking our potatoes you +commit a theft. It is a disgrace. Be sure you never do such a thing +again!" Such talk was to be heard from many Germans. It suits them. I +delight in hearing them sing this tune, the _Gazette des Ardennes_ at +their head, and cry up to the skies the good, the beautiful. They go +still further, and my joy increases. They laud the love of their +neighbour, respect for the property of others, compassion towards the +weak; they extol the meekness, the goodness, the infinite sweet temper +of Germany. But oh! it is ever to be regretted that so many noble words +should be delivered in vain. Such rubbish does not take with us. + +"Their _Gazette des Ardennes_!" exclaimed a farmer's wife. "We buy it +only to read the list of French prisoners, and because there is no other +newspaper. But when my husband reads it, he never leaves off thumping on +the table, and rapping out oaths from beginning to end. Since those +filthy fellows have settled themselves down here, one has never a fine +word in one's mouth!" + +"The other day," another woman told us, "my husband had to bring +vegetables to Laon. He went to have his pass signed; the sergeant held +out his hand to take the paper and said: 'Well, comrade?' My husband +gave no answer, but he thought to himself: 'You my comrade! I would +rather kick you soundly than call you that.'" + +Our sense of impotence was never greater than in the month of August, +when the Germans trumpeted abroad with a sneer the defeat of the +Russians, and oh, sacrilege! ordered our own bells to be rung to +celebrate the glorious deeds of the German army! But in September hope +rose in our hearts, and filled them with joy. The offensive began in +Champagne. The cannon raged as never before. How they rolled and shook +and roared! And to our minds the uproar was suave, the rumbling was +blessed. + +The French aeroplanes came eight days running to drop bombs on the +station at Laon. Six, seven, even ten were to be seen at the same time +in the sky; they sparkled like jewels in the deep-blue heavens; they +well-nigh drove us mad; we jumped for joy in the garden, cheered them, +and would gladly have thrown our hearts out to them. Fortunately no +outsiders were the witnesses of our frenzy, or we should have been found +guilty. At Laon, two young girls were looking out of an upper window, +and at the sight of the dear aeroplanes had screamed with joy, and +clapped their hands. Alas, some soldiers saw them from the street, and +lodged an information against them! They were immediately arrested, +tried, and sentenced to a month's imprisonment. We lived in hope for a +whole week. The _Gazette des Ardennes_ suppressed the French official +reports which they generally gave at full length--at least so they +said--and we thought that the offensive, even in the Germans' opinion, +bade fair to succeed. Then the cannon was silent once more, and our +hearts sank within us. + +The fair weather was past. It was cold and rainy, and again, as the year +before, we gathered every evening around the lamp--a horrid, +evil-smelling horse-oil lamp. Our circle was often out of spirits; our +very gestures revealed weariness. Thirteen months of captivity lay heavy +on us, and we had received no news whatever of those we loved: + +"Oh, they are all dead!" sighed Colette. + +Yet we reposed the strictest confidence in our army. We felt sure +victory would ultimately be ours. But, oh! how long was victory in +coming! + +It was cold and damp. We were afraid of the coming winter. Though the +summer had brought us many hardships, yet we had made shift to live; +but how could we manage in the bad season, when we had neither fuel nor +vegetables? They had refused us permission to cut down trees in our own +woods, though the invaders had massacred them at will. Besides, the +Germans chose this very moment to threaten us with enforced service. We +were told that we were no longer allowed to get other persons to supply +our places as day labourers. + +"The substitutes you find prove that they are still able-bodied. So they +must work for their own account, and you for yours." + +"Oh!" we moaned, "is there no means of escape from this hell?" + +We had made several attempts, had addressed petitions, and written +letters that had been either thrown away or answered with a negative. +And now they wanted to add penal servitude to imprisonment! They would +oblige us to work from morning till night, in the mud, in the rain. + +"I prefer going to Chalandry," Genevieve repeated. + +But we were excused enforced service, and exempted from prison. A +greater misfortune spared us these troubles. One morning I met in the +passage two callers who did not ask for Jackdaw's Legs. One of them, +very tall, very thin, and very stiff, with Japanese-like features, bent +himself down with a low bow. His companion, smaller but just as thin and +stiff, copied him hastily. + +"Madam," lisped the former in a faint voice, "I should like to see the +owner of this house." + +I showed both men in, and rushed into my mother-in-law's bedroom. +Everybody was in a stir. + +"What do they want? This visit foretells no good, of course." + +"It is the general's son," Colette said. "I had him pointed out to me a +few days ago." + +Mme. Valaine walked into the dining-room, where the visitors were +waiting. On tip-toe we went into the passage, and holding our breaths +anxiously listened from behind the door. + +As soon as my mother-in-law entered the room, the officers got up, and +bowed themselves at right angles. Then the lisping voice began: + +"Madam, I am a staff officer. I have been ordered to inform you of a +decision that concerns you nearly...." + +"Ah!..." + +Behind the door left ajar we strained uneasy ears; the speaker went on +with his speech: + +"You are not ignorant, madam, of the painful necessities of the war, and +I am sorry to have to tell you that we are in need of your house...." + +"Oh!" + +It was Genevieve who uttered this stifled cry. Mme. Valaine had no voice +to answer. + +The orator continued: + +"... We are in need of your house for a printing office. It corresponds +exactly with our wishes." + +"But it is my own house; I live in it with my family. I have a right to +stay in it...." + +"Madam, I am very sorry, but we want it. To-day is Thursday; I think we +can wait till Monday next to take possession of the place." + +"But it is impossible ... my furniture...." + +"Oh, the house must remain furnished. But you may take away such pieces +of furniture as the officers do not want." + +"But, sir, it is a disgrace!" Genevieve, unable to control her +indignation any longer, had pushed the door open, thus unmasking our +group, and had entered the lists. Her invasion slightly disturbed the +officer. + +"It is a disgrace! You pretend that you don't make war upon civilians, +and you turn five women out of doors at the beginning of the winter! You +offend against the law of nations. But it is your habit. I know you by +your handiwork!" + +Wholly unmoved, the executioner replied: + +"I see you are excited, and I shall not repeat what I have just heard." + +"What! Indeed! You may repeat it if you like. I should not be afraid to +say so to anybody." + +Always calm and stiff and lisping, the Japanese blond went back to what +he was saying: + +"You will be quieter by and by. I said we want the house to be free on +Monday next. As we may stay in France for months, and even for years, it +is our duty to settle things as well as can be. It is our right. I am +sorry this is disagreeable for you, but it is war." When he had done +talking, he bowed himself to the ground, his companion immediately did +the like, and both withdrew. In a death-like silence we listened to the +retreating steps, to the gate slammed-to, and then burst out into +lamentations. A fortnight after we were in Laon. + +The dear old house, the garden, the furniture were all violated, lost. +As nothing else kept us in Morny, we had asked leave to go to Laon, +which by way of compensation had been granted to us. So, we should not +be bound to enforced service, and we could make up for the tediousness +of the winter by devouring all the books in the town library. And above +all, we should not see plundered, and given over to the beasts, the +beloved old house, embellished by our love, where the family had lived +for several generations, where my husband and my sisters-in-law had been +born, where they had spent their childhood. + +We should not see the looking-glasses cracked by awkwardness or malice, +the hangings splashed with beer, the carpets torn up, the pieces of +furniture burnt one after another for firewood, according to the whims +of the servants. We should not see the officers walking two by two under +our lime-trees, in our long alleys, edged with box--the box, beneath +which we hid our Easter eggs! + +The rumour of our expulsion spread abroad, and presently we heard the +reason of it. + +Jacob, the linguist, the pompous talker, not to say the chatterbox, told +the Lantois: + +"The ladies' troubles are due to an officer's vengeance. Lieutenant +Bubenpech had a personal grudge against them; he is the nephew of the +brigade-major, and he thought it amusing to give these ladies a little +lesson." + +Very kind indeed, Herr Bubenpech! But we know what a pretty thing is +German vengeance, and it gets home! And after all, life was more easily +bearable in Laon than in the country. Friends of ours who lived near the +Porte d'Ardon let us have a little apartment in their house. Our windows +overlooked the country, and as usual we could watch the bursting of +shells, the captive balloons, and the turning beacons. Horse-oil was +faithful to our lamps, and we used turf to heat our rooms. I recommend +this fuel to those who have a love of dust and smoke. The question of +food was hard, but not harder than in Morny. Meat was scarcely to be +had. The people dimly remembered the shape of an egg, the colour of +butter or oil or grease or milk. Babies I know fed on vegetable-soup +alone from six weeks of age. The American Board of Relief distributed +provisions similar to those we had enjoyed in Morny--250 grammes of +bread a day, a little rice, dry vegetables, from time to time a bit of +bacon. Besides, green vegetables were to be had at the greengrocer's. +But we were forbidden to buy more than ten kilograms of potatoes a head +per month. At Morny the Germans had generously distributed twenty +kilograms a head, but half of them were rotten, and then the population +had been told that they had received their winter supply. + +What we appreciated most in the town was the calmness of the nights. +Where superior officers are quartered, subalterns are obliged to save +appearances and to conduct their drunken revelries in private. We had no +more brutal intrusions to fear; we dreaded no perquisitions, as we had +lost everything. And the aspect of so many houses close to one another +gave us an impression of security, long since forgotten. + +Yet how sad the town looked! Many houses had been emptied according to +the Germans' whims. Furniture, bedding, linen, clothes had been carried +away. The officers loaded the women who devoted themselves to soothe the +boredom of the war with presents, chosen from among this booty. They +adorned their apartments with things they had taken from all quarters of +the town, and if they did not get from the houses of the absent what +they wanted, they applied to those who were still there. + +Thus it was that a sergeant and four men once came to the house of the +friends who had received us, to fetch away a set of drawing-room +furniture. Protestations were of no avail. + +"I have my orders. Make out an invoice, take it to the _Kommandantur_, +and a note of hand will be delivered to you." + +To any complaint which the wronged owner might make an officer answered: +"I have but one word of advice to give you: Keep quiet and hold your +tongue." + +The streets always swarmed with officers and soldiers on foot and on +horseback. All shops were open by order of the Germans, but there was +nothing to be sold in most of them. No articles of food were to be had, +and the stock of shoes, materials, and clothes was nearly exhausted by +the needs of the people and by frequent requisitions. In November all +silk goods had been requisitioned, even ribbons above ten centimetres' +breadth. Many empty shops--which had been plundered after the departure +of the owners--had been laid hold of by German civilians, who had lost +no time in bringing their little trade to France. Thus you might admire +a stationer's and two booksellers' shops, a jeweller's--various kinds of +paltry stuff--a boot and shoe warehouse, a hairdressing saloon, and so +on. These patriotic establishments were always thronged with +customers--in uniform of course. + +The _Kommandantur_ sold officially in a shop thus installed Belgian lace +of great beauty, marvels of point: Brussels, Bruges, Mechlin. After a +month it was offered for sale in the town hall alone, and so the sight +of these treasures was kept back from French eyes. The officers +scrambled for this lace, which, in spite of high prices, sold +wonderfully well. For the rest, military men of all ranks spent a great +deal of money, and a French jeweller told us that private soldiers often +spent upon gold chains and rings all the money they possessed. Was it a +way to convert their paper money into something safer? Later on they +were forbidden to pay for their purchases in silver or in German notes, +and the tradesmen were not allowed to receive anything from the soldiers +but municipal banknotes, and were bound to give back only German or +French money. These rules were a great hindrance to business. + +In the autumn of 1915, the magnanimous, high-souled military authorities +decreed that the persons who had concealed wine--well-hidden wine alone +had escaped being requisitioned--would avoid close searches and severe +punishments by making a statement of the quantity they possessed. Afraid +and tired out, many people complied and handed over what they had so +long kept out of sight, and thousands of bottles went down the throats +of our tormentors. + +More serious was the proclamation which granted a delay to the French +soldiers still in the invaded territory. The blockade had taken a great +many of them by surprise, and had prevented them from reaching the +French line; they wore civil clothes and lived under an assumed name. +Some of them had surrendered at the beginning of the invasion; others +had been discovered and shot. But the new regulation enabled those who +were hidden to give themselves up until the 20th of November. From that +date every French soldier, caught in invaded territory, would be looked +upon as a spy and be immediately shot. As many as eighty surrendered +before the stated day, and oh, desolation! the very day after they +arrested, in a suburb of the town where he lived disguised as a workman, +a French officer, a captain. We read on the bills stuck up in the +streets that he had been shot in the citadel. + +Another announcement threatened the villagers more than the town's +people. It intimated that every criminal attempt made at any point of +the railroads would immediately bring terrible reprisals upon the +inhabitants of the neighbouring villages. "Whether guilty or not," the +unhappy wretches would be "driven from their houses if the military +authorities thought proper"; the women would be taken away, and "the men +enrolled in the gangs of labourers." Besides, such hostages as the +Germans selected might be shot. + +On the other hand, the invaders were always in readiness to drain the +country of the little money that was left. Many means were at their +disposal. Fines were showered down upon the towns and villages. If a +French aeroplane dropped bombs on the Laon station, the town was quickly +condemned to pay upwards of one hundred thousand francs. In October, to +mark, no doubt, the anniversary of the German occupation, the invaded +were warned that they would have to pay a second contribution of war. +The chief authorities of the communes were told that those under their +charge would soon get into the habit of paying tribute, very likely +every quarter, to the conquerors. "And when all the money has thus been +wrung from all purses, well, you will but have to issue municipal notes, +which you will give to us, the Prussians. So, when the war is at an end, +when you have all been eaten out of house and home, you will all the +same be our debtors!" + +They were just as ingenious in fooling the farmers. In that year, 1915, +the peasants had tilled the fields themselves. But the Germans are +scrupulously honest, as every one knows. "We are going," they said, "to +pay you for your trouble and your corn. You will receive twenty francs a +hectare!" Splendid amend! Rich indemnity! Morny was entitled to 18,000 +frs. "Yes," the Germans went on, "but you remember that old fine of +yours, which you never paid entirely. Besides, there is the quarter's +contribution to the war, and a thousand francs fine imposed for a +passport that was not vised. In short, when it is all added up, you owe +to us 800 frs." The civilians who had to listen to these speeches hung +their heads. The account was right: they could not plead false +arithmetic. Two and two always make four, especially when the German +army maintains it. + +This gave heart to the Prussians to go still further: "Let us talk of +the future. Next year we shall cultivate the fields ourselves. Of course +it is but right that you should remunerate us for so doing. Our tillage +is worth fifty-six francs a hectare. Besides, you must pay us our +expenses: three hectolitres of seed a hectare ... at the highest +possible price. We will be paid beforehand." The sum total was 92,000 +frs. for the village of Morny alone. And there were about 1500 +inhabitants left in Morny, all in utter poverty after the exactions of +which they had been victims. Fortunately the Prussians put the remedy at +the sufferers' disposal: "If you have no money left, you possess good +pieces of land, which you might pledge. We have just founded a +German-Belgian Bank in Brussels, which will lend you some money." These +honest offers were made in the month of December, but we do not know how +things befell, for the dawn rose again for us. Convoys were organised +for a second time. + +We blessed the number of the _Gazette des Ardennes_ which, at the end of +November, brought us the good news. Twenty thousand persons were to be +chosen in the invaded territory, first among the poor and the sick and +the people whose usual residence was on the other side of the front. We +feared lest our demand should be rejected, and we left no stone unturned +to prevent refusal. At length we were told that our names had been put +down on the list of the emigrants. + +It was the end of the year. Colette still hoped to see the French come +back before our departure. But, alas! nothing of the kind happened. +Christmas, New Year's Day, were kept as they had been kept a year +before, sadly by the French, merrily by the Germans. Then the month of +January, cold and foggy, glided by, and we were still kept waiting. At +length the day of the departure came. The convoy, the mass of emigrants, +were strikingly like the herd we had witnessed the year before. Yet I +think we saw more sick people. There were many who coughed. When once we +were all seated in a carriage, we five, with two little orphan girls, +who went to meet their grandmother at Lyons, the train moved off at +last, and such an emotion seized upon us that no one uttered a word. The +first time our flight had been stopped at Chevrigny, a second time at +Jouville. How far should we go now? + +We had been told that there would be no quarantine. Was it true? We were +travelling through a grey country. The night fell and the dawn rose +again: we were in Germany. We made many a long stop in the stations; +soldiers distributed coffee and soup in the carriages. We had taken with +us, put by from our pittance of a whole week, dry toast, barley coffee, +and licorice-wood tea. As to tasting "the soup"--no, thank you. We +peered through the windows, but did not see anything worth looking at. +Towns and villages were gloomy; in the stations, boys of about thirteen +did the work of railway porters. + +The night fell again. We reached the Black Forest, which was white with +snow. We wound our way up a mountain, and caught sight of a vale far +below us. The branches of the fir-trees bent beneath their pure burden, +and the cloak spread over the ground was so dazzling that it gave light +to the starless night. Houses were to be seen everywhere, grouped +together in hamlets and villages, or standing apart in the +mountain--good-natured-looking houses nestled in the snow, with +gaily-lit-up windows. + +Then I cast my eyes about me. My companions were slumbering, and the +flickering light brought out the paleness of their uneasy faces. One of +the little girls was coughing, and we could hear other people who seemed +to echo back the same sad sound. The long train that rolled along was +full of wretchedness and misery. And from those snug little houses, from +those towns we had just crossed, came the soldiers who had rushed upon +our country. From thence the plunderers, the drunkards, the debauchees, +the executioners; from thence came those who have carried dismay into a +peaceful country, who have converted a happy, industrious population +into a fearful, enslaved herd.... + +May you be cursed ... cursed.... + +And there, in the big houses, in the towns, live still the accomplices. +They are all there. The lamp is bright, the stove lit up. Dinner is +over; they are smoking their pipes and reading their papers. + +And in the invaded territory thousands and thousands of people have gone +to bed at six, because they have no light, no fire, and no dinner. And +the others are there. They read the papers. They praise whatever the +German army does, they admire the German soldiers, they approve all +high-handed measures, and those who are at home, as well as those away +from home, lift up their eyes towards the sky, and thank God for not +being like the rest of mankind. + +Ah no, you are not like the rest of mankind! Could we shout it loud +enough? Is there any cry that might pierce your dull conscience? Are +there maledictions of sufficient vehemence to penetrate the carapace in +which you have wrapped up your understanding? + +Ah, I wish I were hundred-tongued, and gifted with more than human +genius, the better to proclaim your infamy, the better to cry out upon +the sufferings width which you do not cease to load us. I can but repeat +what I have seen, what I have heard, what I have borne. I shall never be +weary of lifting up a corner of the veil in which you wrap yourselves, +you dissemblers, you false-faced, false-hearted men! On your features of +brutality and violence you wear a benignant, canting mask, you assume a +candid, astonished look, and turn round to the neutrals, to Europe, to +all civilised powers, saying: + +"We are charged with evil deeds! Look if it is like us?" + +You resemble the woman of whom the Bible says: "She wipes her mouth, and +says: I have done no harm." You reject with a shrug of your shoulders +those of your actions which might make you uneasy. Your accommodating +consciences do away with them, and they immediately fall into oblivion. +But we are sure to remember what you forget. You have shown yourselves +openly, and we know your real faces only too well, their unrelenting +harshness, their falseness, their incomprehension, and in your double +face we spit out the horror and scorn you rouse in us. And yet we admire +you. Your presence was attended with murder, fire, acts of violence and +plunder; you have displayed a powerful, splendid, hideous bestiality, +and it is that bestiality which we admire in you. + +Do not reject the title of Barbarians. It is the only one that suits +you. You might have been fine Barbarians, but for a long time to come +you will be only shabby civilised men. I had rather see you stand on a +pedestal, and hear you shout, exaggerating your misdeeds, overstraining +your cruelty, your vices, your animality: + +"Yes, we are Barbarians! and then?" + +Thus you might have been great, and since you are strong, since you know +how to fight, you would have been like a hero who defends himself as he +is, and not like a little girl about to be whipped, who tries to deny +her fault, and weeps. + +Believe me, you will cut no figure in history as saints. Where your +horses have trodden, the grass will not spring up again for long. So +make up your minds, unmask yourselves, and cry out: + +"We are _the_ Barbarians!" + +The train had reached the highest point of its journey. All the vale, +and the slopes of the mountains, were flecked with a thousand brilliant +points. They were the windows of the houses, more smiling than ever. A +few moments passed, and then a kind of excitement came over us. Were we +approaching the Swiss frontier? + +We had still to wait in our carriages for the morning. Long hours +together we should have to wait for our turn to be searched, and allow +the nurses to examine the soles of our shoes, and the hems of our +garments. But what did it matter? We were in raptures! It was over! Our +martyrdom was at an end! + +We were in Switzerland! We were free! + +A fraternal welcome cheered us all along the road. Here was rich Zurich, +whose prosperity dazzled our eyes. Then came Berne and fair Geneva, at +the end of its blue lake. + +Here was at last ... oh, my heart, do not throb so violently! Here she +was ... France ... it was France ... unsullied France, where no Germans +breathe, living, active France, the France that will crush the enemy. We +saw Mont Blanc watch over the frontier; then we came within sight of the +valley, of a rocky land, and then of the plain, the plain as vast as the +hope which filled our hearts. + +And now that we had reached France, now that we rode in a French +carriage, we sat close to one another, and with tears in our eyes looked +at the landscape. + +We felt heavy with an overwhelming joy, and we waited for the morrow, +not knowing whether it would bring happiness or mourning. + + +THE END + + +_Printed by_ R. & R. CLARK, LIMITED, _Edinburgh_. + + + + +MACMILLAN'S NEW BOOKS + + + RECOLLECTIONS. By Viscount MORLEY, O.M. 2 vols. 8vo. 25s. net. + + LIFE OF LORD LISTER. By Sir RICKMAN J. GODLEE, Bart., K.C.V.O., + F.R.C.S. With portraits and other illustrations. 8vo. 18s. net. + + MOMENTS OF VISION AND MISCELLANEOUS VERSES. By THOMAS HARDY. Crown + 8vo. + + MY REMINISCENCES. By Sir RABINDRANATH TAGORE. Illustrated. Extra + Crown 8vo. 7s. 6d. net. + + NATIONALISM. By Sir RABINDRANATH TAGORE. Extra Crown 8vo. 4s. 6d. + net. + + CONTENTS.--Nationalism in the West. Nationalism in Japan. + Nationalism in India. + + SACRIFICE AND OTHER PLAYS. By Sir RABINDRANATH TAGORE. Crown 8vo. + 5s. net. + + CONTENTS.--I. Sanyasi or the Ascetic; II. Malini; III. + Sacrifice; IV. The King and Queen. + + THE ROAD AND THE INN. By JAMES JOHN HISSEY, author of "The Charm of + the Road," "An English Holiday," "Over Fen and Wold," etc. With + 32 full-page illustrations from drawings and photographs by the + author, and a map. 8vo. 10s. net. + + HIGHWAYS AND BYWAYS IN WILTSHIRE. By EDWARD HUTTON. With + illustrations by NELLY ERICHSEN. Extra Crown 8vo. 6s. net. + [_Highways and Byways Series._ + +LONDON: MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED + + PRIEST OF THE IDEAL. By STEPHEN GRAHAM, author of "With the Russian + Pilgrims to Jerusalem," etc. 8vo. 7s. 6d. net. + + ABOUT WINCHESTER COLLEGE. By A. K. COOK. To which is prefixed _De + Collegia Wintoniensi_, by ROBERT MATHEW. With illustrations. 8vo. + 18s. net. + + PER AMICA SILENTIA LUNAE. By WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS. Crown 8vo. + + THE EVERLASTING QUEST: A POEM. By H. L. WEBB. Crown 8vo. 4s. 6d. + net. + + THE ROMANCE OF KING ARTHUR AND HIS KNIGHTS OF THE ROUND TABLE. + Abridged from Malory's _Morte d'Arthur_, by ALFRED W. POLLARD. + With sixteen plates in colour, full-page illustrations and + numerous decorations in line, by ARTHUR RACKHAM. + + ORDINARY EDITION. Fcap. 4to. 10s. 6d. net. + EDITION DE LUXE, limited to 500 copies. Demy 4to. 42s. net. + + +_NEW NOVELS_ + + SUMMER. By EDITH WHARTON, author of "The House of Mirth," etc. + Crown 8vo. 6s. net. + + THE DWELLING PLACE OF LIGHT. By WINSTON CHURCHILL, author of + "Richard Carvel," "A Far Country," etc. Crown 8vo. 6s. net. + + THE GREEN MIRROR. By HUGH WALPOLE, author of "Fortitude," etc. + Crown 8vo. 6s. net. + + CHRISTINE. By ALICE CHOLMONDELEY. Crown 8vo. 6s. net. + +LONDON: MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED + + + * * * * * + + +TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES: + +Obvious punctuation errors repaired. + +The following words appear both with and without hyphens and were +transcribed as they appear in the book: arm[-]chair, bank[-]notes, +battle[-]fields, cannon[-]ball, guard[-]room, hunch[-]backed, +needle[-]women, night[-]cap, tip[-]toe, way[-]worn. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Six Women and the Invasion, by +Gabrielle Yerta and Marguerite Yerta + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SIX WOMEN AND THE INVASION *** + +***** This file should be named 34985.txt or 34985.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/3/4/9/8/34985/ + +Produced by Moti Ben-Ari and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +https://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at https://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +https://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at https://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit https://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including including checks, online payments and credit card +donations. To donate, please visit: https://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart was the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + https://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |