THE LIBRARY 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 IN MEMORY OF 
 MRS. VIRGINIA B. SPORER
 
 MADAME THfeRfeSE 
 
 OR 
 
 THE VOLUNTEERS OF '92
 
 DOCTOB JACOB WAQNBB.
 
 MADAME THERESE 
 
 OR 
 
 THE VOLUNTEERS OF '92 
 
 TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH OF 
 
 ERCKMANN-CHATRIAN 
 
 ILLUSTRATED 
 
 NEW- YORK 
 CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 
 
 1904
 
 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1868, 
 
 By CHARLES SCRIBNER AND COMPANY, 
 be Clerk's office of the District Court of the United States for the 
 Southern District of New York. 
 
 COPYRIGHT, 1889 AND 1898, 
 BY CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
 
 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 DOCTOR JACOB WAGNER, Frontispiece 
 
 FACING 
 
 PAGE 
 
 MADAME THERESE, 30 
 
 MY UNCLE KNELT DOWN, 58 
 
 FOR SEVERAL MOMENTS HE CONTEMPLATED THIS U- 
 
 FORTUNATE CREATURE, <H 
 
 "CARRY ARMS!" 110 
 
 "An! WE ARE ONLY YOUNG ONCE!" . . . .114 
 
 THEN You OUGHT TO HAVE HEARD THE PLAINTIVE CRIES 
 
 OF MAX, 156 
 
 MADAME THERESE HAD BECOME THOUGHTFUL, . . 188 
 u To PRESENT You MY RESPECTS," SAID OLD SCHMITT, . 200 
 
 I'VE ALWAYS THOUGHT THESE PRUSSIANS DIDN'T AMOUNT 
 
 TO MUCH, ; 230 
 
 BATTLE OF FROESCHWILLER, 246 
 
 AT LAST I SAW UNCLE; HE WAS MOUNTED ON RAPPEL, 260 
 
 2041936
 
 INTRODUCTORY NOTE 
 
 THE public interest at the present time in the 
 classics of French literature is sufficient, in the pub- 
 lishers' opinion, to warrant the issue of a new edition 
 of the National Novels of MM. Erckmann-Cha- 
 trian. These novels, indeed, belong to the compara- 
 tively small number of literary productions of first- 
 rate importance in their special sphere which can 
 yet be transferred from one language to another 
 with entire adequacy. They lend themselves es- 
 pecially to the English idiom because their color 
 is that of the borderland between things French and 
 things German, and therefore often not unlike that 
 of much English literature comparable with them. 
 MM. Erckmann-Chatrian long since became French 
 classics. Every one knows their Alsatian ori- 
 gin, the peculiarly racy quality of both their style 
 and the substance it clothes, their unique position 
 in contemporary French literature, their long-con- 
 vii
 
 viii INTRODUCTORY NOTE 
 
 tinned, patient and finally triumphant struggle to 
 obtain it. But the cycle of stories known as " Ro- 
 mans Nationaux," is noteworthy in itself and of 
 particular interest to the American public for other 
 and more significant reasons than purely literary or 
 romantic ones. 
 
 The series of National Novels, indeed, is very 
 much more than a series of simple and affecting tales 
 with more form than German and more flavor than 
 French stories of a similar sort. It comprises six 
 chapters of familiar chronicle of the most valuable 
 kind, concerned for the most part with one of the 
 most interesting epochs of history that of the 
 French Revolution and the First Empire. Each 
 book describes public events of the first importance 
 from the stand-point of an actor in them and, thus, 
 together they give one a picture of the wars of the 
 First Republic and of Xapoleon of remarkable 
 vividness and reality. But this again would not 
 make the series as noteworthy as it is, if this were 
 its sole or its main characteristic. The novels, in 
 fact, are, further, so many historical pictures com- 
 posed not at hap-hazard nor for their pictorial value 
 alone, but in illustration of consistent and con- 
 firmed principles of political philosophy. 
 
 In these novels at all events "M"\f. Erckmana-
 
 INTRODUCTORY NOTE ix 
 
 Chatrian are publicists as well as romancers. 
 "Madame Therese," for example, preaches elo- 
 quently the ardent proselyting republicanism of 
 1793. " The Conscript " shows the change in the 
 popular feeling of Europe toward France, produced 
 by the Napoleonic conquests, and in the popular feel- 
 ing of France toward Napoleon by the constant 
 state of warfare, the constant call for men and the 
 consequent exhaustion of the country. " The 
 Plebiscite " is a scorching exposure of the hollow- 
 ness, corruption, and baseness of the policy responsi- 
 ble for the disasters of 1870-71. Each is not only 
 a vivid picture, that is to say, but a picture with a 
 pregnant moral. Taken as a whole the six novels 
 form one of the most powerful and persuasive pres- 
 entations that have ever been made of French 
 republicanism, eulogizing its early exaltation and 
 denouncing with equal vigor its betrayal by the 
 Bonapartes and the open antagonism of it by the 
 Bourbons. 
 
 Both picture and lesson are especially effective 
 because both are drawn from the stand-point as well 
 as in the interest of the people rather than from that 
 of the literary artist or the impersonal historian. 
 Not only is the fictitious narrator in each case an 
 eye-witness of the events he chronicles; he is also a
 
 x INTRODUCTORY NOTE 
 
 member of the class which sees the most of war and 
 suffers most from it. In " Madame Therese " it is 
 the little Fritzel who describes the effect of the rev- 
 olutionary rise of the people and the warlike prop- 
 agandism of the gospel of liberty and fraternity. 
 In " The Conscript " it is the jeweller's lame appren- 
 tice who tells the story of the ill-advised and ill- 
 fated Eussian expedition and of the subsequent dis- 
 asters of the campaign of 1813. In " The Blockade 
 of Phalsbourg " it is the shrewd Jew wine-seller who 
 narrates the hardships of the memorable siege. In 
 " Waterloo," the Conscript of two years before is 
 again conscripted and relates the wide-spread dis- 
 content with the stupid rule of the restored Bour- 
 bons, the ill-treatment of the old soldiers, the na- 
 tional enthusiasm over the return from Elba, the 
 national depression on realizing that Napoleon's re- 
 accession meant perpetual war, the dramatic events 
 of the Hundred Days and their crowning catas- 
 trophe. In " The Plebiscite " it is a miller, the 
 maire of his Alsatian village and a type of the mill- 
 ions of petites gens deceived by the epigram " the 
 Empire is peace," who describes the cynical policy 
 of Napoleon III.'s later days and the terrible re- 
 verses that were the inevitable consequence of bad 
 faith at home and ignorance of the situation abroad.
 
 INTRODUCTORY NOTE xi 
 
 We learn from each volume how the people felt, 
 and what they thought, how they were affected 
 benefited, used, betrayed, in succession by the 
 great changes of the century since '89. Historical 
 archives, in consequence, contain no more important 
 historic testimony than this fiction, and the modern 
 democratic spirit has no finer, no more rational and 
 elevated expression than it obtains in these stories. 
 
 On the other hand, their historic worth does not 
 at all obscure the literary attractiveness of the Na- 
 tional Novels. They are not only admirable contri- 
 butions to familiar history of a most convincing 
 and conclusive sense of reality; nor are they merely 
 besides this an eloquent exposition of the people's 
 gospel: they are, in the same rank with such other 
 works of their authors as " Friend Fritz " and " The 
 Polish Jew," for example, literary masterpieces of 
 a very high order. The depiction of character is 
 very sympathetic and very telling. Each personage 
 is evidently studied from the life, and illustrates a 
 type rather than an exception. The color of each 
 story is as delightfully harmonious as it is tenderly 
 subdued. The sentiment supplied doubtless by 
 the German temperament of the authors in more 
 generous measure and more winning way than are 
 characteristic of most French literature of the kind
 
 xii INTRODUCTORY NOTE 
 
 is qualified and refined by their French training 
 and literary traditions, with the result of a very 
 agreeable compromise. There are evidences on 
 every page of a simplicity which springs from 
 this sane and contained but still penetrating senti- 
 ment, and which is an infallible mark of the truest 
 literary distinction. In a word, the novels are 
 marked equally by heart and by taste. 
 
 The narrative, moreover, is always admirably in 
 character. The lucrative shrewdness of the sharp 
 Hebrew speculator in " The Blockade of Phals- 
 burg " is not dissembled ; the unheroic love of peace 
 appears as prominent in the Conscript as his domes- 
 ticity and industry. And, through a similar recti- 
 tude of literary conscience, there is a very note- 
 worthy impartiality shown in places where one 
 might reasonably expect in a " national novel " the 
 bias of patriotism. The Conscript noting, for ex- 
 ample, that the Prussians at Waterloo " kill with- 
 out mercy," immediately adds, " just as we did at 
 Ligny "; and no opportunity is neglected of point- 
 ing out the reasonableness of the German, Austrian, 
 and Cossack retaliation in 1813-14 for the French 
 treatment of themselves during the years when they 
 were the conquered. In fine, MM. Erckmann-Cha- 
 trian have more respect for their art than disposition
 
 INTRODUCTORY NOTE xiii 
 
 to appeal to the sensibility or the prejudice of their 
 readers; and the result, of course, is that in this 
 way the effect is greatly heightened, and that both 
 as literature and as history the absence of every 
 meretricious element and the presence of an absolute 
 candor cause the National Novels to take in their 
 field the very highest rank. The present edition can 
 but confer a public service in contributing to a 
 clearer public comprehension of a great movement 
 by a great people, described in the sympathetic but 
 impartial terms of literary artists of the first class. 
 
 " Madame Therese " begins the series, and is per- 
 haps the most romantic. The scene is laid in a little 
 town of the Vosges which witnesses bloody conflicts 
 between the Republican soldiers and the Croats and 
 Cossacks of the Allies attacking France in 1793 in 
 behalf of the restoration of the Bourbons. It is an 
 extraordinarily vivid picture of the events and also 
 of the popular feeling of the time. Nowhere is 
 there a more striking presentation of the way in 
 which what were then called " the new ideas " were 
 disseminated not only throughout France, but 
 among the feudally oppressed of contiguous coun- 
 tries. Nor is there anywhere else a more sympa- 
 thetic account of how popular and universal was the
 
 xiv INTRODUCTORY NOTE 
 
 enthusiasm which filled the French armies witH 
 volunteers and enabled Carnot to " organize vic- 
 tory." Madame Therese herself is a cantiniere of 
 the Republican cohorts, and her adventures are as 
 entertaining from the personal and human point of 
 view as the events among which they took place are 
 historically interesting.
 
 MADAME THERfiSE 
 
 WE lived in profound quiet in the village of An- 
 statt, in the midst of the German Vosges, my 
 uncle, Dr. Jacob Wagner, his old servant Lisbeth, 
 and I. After the death of his sister Christine, 
 Uncle Jacob had taken me to live with him. I was 
 nearly ten years old; fair, fresh and rosy as a 
 cherub. I used to wear a cotton cap, a little brown 
 velvet jacket made of a pair of my uncle's old 
 breeches, gray linen pantaloons, and wooden shoes 
 adorned on the top by a tuft of wool. 
 
 They called me little Fritzel in the village, and 
 every evening when Uncle Jacob returned from his 
 visits he used to take me on his knee, and teach me 
 to read, in French, from Buffon's Natural History. 
 
 It seems to me as if I were still in our low room, 
 
 with its ceiling crossed by beams blackened with 
 
 smoke. I see on my left, the little entry door and 
 
 the oaken chest of drawers ; on the right, the alcove 
 
 i
 
 2 MADAME THERESE 
 
 closed by a curtain of green serge; in the back part 
 of the room, the entrance to the kitchen, near the 
 cast-iron stove, with heavy mouldings representing 
 the twelve months of the year; and toward the 
 street the two little windows, hung with vine leaves, 
 that opened on the square of La Fontaine. 
 
 I see my Uncle Jacob also, a slender man, his 
 high forehead crowned with beautiful fair hair, 
 which clustered gracefully around his prominent 
 temples, his nose slightly aquiline, his eyes blue, 
 with a chin rounded, and lips tender and kind. He 
 wears black frieze breeches, and a sky-blue coat with 
 copper buttons. Seated in his leathern arm-chair, 
 he is reading with his elbows on the table, and the 
 sunlight makes the shadows of the vine leaves play 
 upon his face, which is somewhat long, and tanned 
 by exposure. 
 
 He was a kind-hearted man, and a lover of peace ; 
 nearly forty years old, and considered the best phy- 
 sician in the neighborhood. I have learned since, 
 that he busied himself a great deal in theorizing 
 about universal brotherhood, and that the bundle 
 of books which Fritz the carrier brought him from 
 time .to time treated of this important matter. 
 
 All this I see, not forgetting Lisbeth, a good old 
 dame, smiling and wrinkled, in a blue linen short
 
 MADAME THERESE 3 
 
 gown and petticoat, who sits in a corner and spins; 
 nor do I forget the cat Roller, who dreams, seated 
 on her tail, behind the stove, her great yellow eyes 
 opened in the gloom like an owPs. 
 
 It seems to me that I have only to cross* the lane 
 to slip into the orchard, with its delicious fragrance ; 
 only to climb the wooden staircase to reach my room 
 where I let loose the tomtits that Hans Aden the 
 shoemaker's son, and I, had caught in snares. 
 Some were blue and some were green. Little Eliza 
 Meyer, the burgomaster's daughter, often came to 
 see them and to ask me about them. When Hans 
 Aden, Ludwig, Frantz Sepel, Karl Stenger and I 
 led the cows and goats to pasture, on the Birkenwald 
 hill, Eliza always pulled my jacket and said: 
 
 " Fritzel, let me lead your cow don't send me 
 off." 
 
 And I would give her my whip, and we would 
 make a fire on the turf and roast potatoes in the 
 ashes. Oh, the good old times! How calm, how 
 peaceful was everything around us! How regu- 
 larly all went on! Nothing disturbed our quiet 
 Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday; every day of the 
 week passed exactly like every other day. 
 
 Every day we rose at the same hour, dressed, and 
 sat down to the good porridge prepared by Lisbeth.
 
 4 MADAME THERESE 
 
 Then my uncle went away on horseback, and I 
 went out to set traps and snares for the thrushes, 
 sparrows, or greenfinches, according to the season. 
 At noon we met again, and for dinner had bacon 
 and cabbage and noudels or kncepfels. After din- 
 ner I went to the pasture to look after my traps, or 
 to bathe in the Queich when it was warm. In the 
 evening we had good appetites, and at the table 
 thanked God for his goodness. Every day, when 
 supper was nearly over, and it began to grow dark 
 in the room, a heavy step crossed the passage, the 
 door opened, and on the threshold appeared a short, 
 thick, squarely-built, broad-shouldered man, wear- 
 ing a large felt hat. 
 
 " Good-evening, doctor." 
 
 " Be seated, mole-catcher," my uncle would reply. 
 " Lisbeth, open the kitchen door." 
 
 Lisbeth pushed open the door, and the red flame 
 dancing on the hearth showed us the mole-catcher 
 standing opposite the table, watching our supper 
 with his little gray eyes. He looked just like a 
 field-rat with his long nose, small mouth, retreating 
 chin, straight ears, and thin, bristling, yellow mous- 
 tache. His gray linen frock only reached partly 
 down his back, and his great red waistcoat with deep 
 pockets hung loosely over his hips. His immense
 
 MADAME THERESE 5 
 
 shoes, covered with yellow earth, had large nails in 
 them, which looked in front like shining claws all 
 around his thick soles. 
 
 He looked fifty years old; his hair was turning 
 gray, his ruddy forehead was deeply wrinkled, and 
 his eyebrows, white with streaks of yellow, hung 
 over his eyes. 
 
 He was always in the fields, setting his traps, or 
 at the door of his apiary on the hill-side in the 
 heath of the Birkenwald, with his wire mask and 
 great linen mittens, and the broad sharp-edged 
 spoon with which he took the honey from the 
 hives. At the close of autumn he would leave the 
 village for a month, his wallet on his back, a large 
 pot of honey on one side, and on the other cakes of 
 yellow wax which he sold to the clergy in the 
 neighborhood, for their wax tapers. Such was the 
 mole-catcher. 
 
 After looking steadily at the table for a time, he 
 would say, " There is cheese and there are nuts." 
 
 " Yes," my uncle would answer, " at your ser- 
 vice." 
 
 " Thanks! I would rather smoke my pipe now." 
 Then he would draw from his pocket a black pipe 
 with a copper lid and chain attached; fill it with 
 care, still looking at us, go into the kitchen,
 
 6 MADAME THERESE 
 
 take a burning coal in the hollow of his hard hand, 
 and place it on the tobacco. I see him, now, with 
 his rat-like face, his nose upturned, blowing great 
 puffs before the gloomy fire-place, then coming 
 back and seating himself in the shadow at the cor- 
 ner of the stove, with his legs crossed. Besides 
 moles and bees, honey and wax, the mole-catcher 
 had another serious occupation: he predicted the 
 future by means of the flight of birds, the abun- 
 dance of grasshoppers and caterpillars, and certain 
 traditions inscribed in a large book with wooden 
 covers which he had inherited from an old aunt in 
 Heming, and which informed him of future events. 
 But he would not enter upon the subject unless 
 Koffel were present, Koffel the joiner, the turner, 
 the watchmaker, the shearer of dogs, and healer of 
 animals; in short, the finest genius of Anstatt, and 
 the neighborhood. Koffel was a Jack of all trades. 
 He wired broken crockery, tinned saucepans, re- 
 paired damaged furniture, and even the organ, when 
 the pipes or bellows were out of order; and Uncle 
 Jacob had been obliged to forbid his setting broken 
 arms and legs, for he had also a talent for surgery, 
 he thought. The mole-catcher admired him very 
 much, sometimes saying, " What a shame that Kof- 
 fel has not studied! What a shame!" And
 
 MADAME THERESE 7 
 
 all the gossips in the place thought him a universal 
 genius. But all this did not " make the pot boil," 
 and the surest of his resources after all was to cut 
 cabbage for sour-krout in autumn, carrying his tool- 
 chest on his back wallet-fashion, and crying from 
 door to door, " Any cabbage ? Any cabbage ? " 
 
 Such is the fate of genius. Koffel, diminutive, 
 meagre, with his black beard and hair, and his 
 sharp nose pointed like the beak of a teal, was not 
 long in coming- his hands in the pockets of his 
 little short jacket, a cotton cap far back on his head, 
 with the point between his shoulders, and his 
 breeches and coarse blue stockings spotted with 
 glue, hanging loosely on his thin wiry legs, his old 
 shoes cut in several places to make room for his 
 bunions. He came in a few minutes after the mole- 
 catcher, and approaching the table with short steps, 
 said gravely: 
 
 " A good appetite to you, doctor." 
 
 " Will you not share our meal with us? " asked 
 my uncle. 
 
 " Many thanks. We had salad, to-night; that is 
 what I like best." 
 
 Saying this, Koffel would seat himself behind the 
 stove, and never stir until my uncle said, " Light 
 the candle, Lisbeth, and take away the cloth."
 
 8 MADAME THERESE 
 
 Then he filled his pipe in his turn, and drew near 
 the stove. They talked of the weather, the crops, 
 etc. The mole-catcher had set so many traps that 
 day, had turned off the water from such a meadow 
 during the storm, or else he had taken so much 
 honey from the hives; the bees would soon swarm; 
 they were getting ready, and he was preparing be- 
 forehand baskets to receive the young. 
 
 Koffel was always pondering over some inven- 
 tion; he told of his clock without weights, from 
 which the twelve apostles would come out at the 
 stroke of noon, while the cock crowed, and death 
 mowed with his scythe; or of his plough, which 
 would go alone, wound up like a clock, or some 
 other wonderful discovery. My uncle would listen 
 gravely, nodding his head in approA^al, but think- 
 ing meanwhile of his patients. In summer, the 
 women of the neighborhood, seated on the stone 
 bench under the open windows, chatted with Lis- 
 beth about household matters. One had woven so 
 many yards of linen in the winter; the hens of 
 another had laid so many eggs that day, and so 
 on. 
 
 For myself, I seized a favorable moment to run 
 off to KlipfeFs forge, whose fire shone far off, at 
 night, at the end of the village. There I always
 
 . MADAME THERESE 9 
 
 met Hans Aden, Frantz Sepel and several others. 
 We watched the sparks flying from the heated iron 
 under the strokes of the hammer; we whistled 
 to the sound of the anvil. If a quiet old horse came 
 to be shod, we helped to hold up his leg. Some of 
 the older boys made themselves sick trying to smoke 
 walnut leaves. Others boasted of going every Sun- 
 day to the dance. These were fifteen or sixteen 
 years old. They wore their hats on one side, and 
 smoked with an important air, with their hands 
 deep down in their pockets. At ten o'clock we 
 separated, and everybody went home. Most days 
 passed thus, but Mondays and Fridays, the Frank- 
 fort Gazette came, and then the gatherings at our 
 house were large. Besides the mole-catcher and 
 Koffel came our burgomaster Christian Meyer, and 
 M. Karolus Bichter, the grandson of an old valet 
 of Count Salm-Salm's. STone of these people would 
 subscribe for the Gazette, but they liked to hear it 
 read for nothing. 
 
 How often since then I have called to mind the 
 burly burgomaster, with his red ears, wearing a 
 woollen jacket and cotton nightcap, sitting in the 
 arm-chair my uncle's accustomed seat. He 
 seemed to be thinking profoundly, but was really 
 intent upon remembering the news to impart to his
 
 I0 MADAME THERESE 
 
 wife, the excellent Barbara, who ruled the parish 
 in his name. And the great Karolus, a sort of grey- 
 hound in hunting-coat and cap of boiled leather, the 
 greatest usurer in the country, who looked down 
 upon all the peasants from the height of his 
 grandeur because his grandfather had been a lackey 
 of Salm-Salm; who thought he did you a great 
 favor in smoking your tobacco, and talked inces- 
 santly of parks and preserves, great hunts and the 
 rights and privileges of my Lord Salm-Salm. How 
 many times have I seen him in my dreams, march- 
 ing up and down our room, listening, frowning, sud- 
 denly plunging his hand into the great pocket of my 
 uncle's coat, for his tobacco, filling his pipe, and 
 lighting it at the candle, saying, " By your leave." 
 All these things. I see again. 
 
 Poor Uncle Jacob! how good-natured he was to 
 let his tobacco be smoked! But he paid no atten- 
 tion, apparently, so absorbed was he in the day's 
 news. The Republicans were invading the Palati- 
 nate; were descending the Rhine. They dared to 
 defy the three Electors, King William of Prussia, 
 and the Emperor Joseph. Their audacity aston- 
 ished our circle. M. Richter said this state of things 
 could not last; these wicked beggars would be ex- 
 terminated to the last man. When my uncle fin-
 
 MADAME THERESE n 
 
 islied, he would make some judicious reflection. As 
 he refolded the paper he would say: 
 
 " Let us thank God that we live in the midst of 
 the forest rather than in the vineyards on the 
 bleak mountain rather than in the fertile plain. 
 These Republicans can hope for no plunder here, 
 this is our security. We can sleep in peace. But 
 how many are exposed to their ravages! They do 
 everything by force; but no good ever comes of 
 force. They talk to us of love, equality and lib- 
 erty, but they do not apply these principles. They 
 trust to their arms, and not to the justice of their 
 cause. Long ago, before their time, others came 
 to deliver the world. They struck no blows, they 
 took no lives, they died by thousands, and their 
 symbol in all succeeding ages has been the lamb, 
 devoured by wolves. One would think that not 
 even a single memorial of these men would remain. 
 Well, they conquered the world; they conquered 
 not the body, but the soul of man. And the soul 
 is all. Why do not these men follow their exam- 
 ple? 
 
 Karolus Richter immediately rejoined, with a 
 contemptuous air: 
 
 "Why? because they laugh at souls and envy 
 the powerful of the earth. And besides, these Re-
 
 I2 MADAME THERESE 
 
 publicans are atheists, every man of them. They 
 respect neither throne nor altar. They have over- 
 turned the established order of things from the 
 beginning of time. They will have no more nobil- 
 ity; as if the nobility were not the very essence 
 of things on earth and in heaven; as if it were 
 not acknowledged by mankind that some were born 
 to be slaves and others to be rulers; as if we did 
 not see this order established even in nature. The 
 mosses are beneath the grass, the grass beneath the 
 bushes, the bushes beneath the trees, and the trees 
 beneath the starry sky. Just so are the peasants 
 under the merchants, the merchants under the 
 gownsmen, the gownsmen under the military nobles, 
 the military nobles under the king, the king under 
 the pope, represented by his cardinals, archbishops, 
 and bishops. This is the natural order of things. 
 A thistle can never grow to the height of an oak ; a 
 peasant can never wield the sword like the descen- 
 dant of an illustrious race of warriors. These Re- 
 publicans have obtained transient success, because 
 they have surprised everybody by their incredible 
 audacity and their want of common sense. In 
 denying all doctrines and all acknowledged rules, 
 they have stupefied reasonable men hence these 
 disorders. Just as sometimes an ox or a bull stops
 
 MADAME THERESE 1 3 
 
 suddenly, then flies at the sight of a rat which un- 
 expectedly comes up from the ground before him, 
 so are our soldiers astounded and even put to flight 
 by such audacity. But this cannot last, and after 
 the first surprise is over, I am very sure that our old 
 generals of the Seven Years War will defeat ut- 
 terly this disorderly crowd of wretches, and that not 
 one of them will return to his unfortunate country." 
 
 Having said this, M. Karolus relighted his pipe, 
 and continued his walk up and down with long 
 strides, his hands behind him, and a self-satisfied 
 air. 
 
 All reflected upon what they had just heard, and 
 the mole-catcher finally spoke in his turn. 
 
 " All that ought to happen, happens," said he. 
 " Since these Republicans have driven away their 
 lords and their priests, it was so ordained in heaven 
 from the beginning of time; ' God willed it.' ISTow, 
 whether they return or not depends upon what the 
 Lord God wills. If He chooses to raise the dead, 
 that depends on Him alone. But last year, as I 
 watched my bees working, I saw, all of a sudden, 
 these little gentle and pretty creatures fall upon 
 the drones, sting them and drag them out of the hive. 
 These drones produce the young, and the bees keep 
 them so long as the hive needs them, but then they
 
 I4 MADAME THERESE 
 
 kill them. It is abominable; but nevertheless it is 
 written! Seeing this, I thought of these Republi- 
 cans. They are disposed to kill their drones ; but 
 be tranquil; we can't live without them; others will 
 come. They must be feathered and fed anew; after 
 that the bees will get angry again, and kill them by 
 hundreds. We think they are exterminated, but 
 more will come, and so it goes on. It must be so! 
 It must be so!" 
 
 Then the mole-catcher shook his head, and M. 
 Karolus, stopping in the midst of his walk, cried : 
 
 "Whom do you call drones? The true drones 
 are the conceited reptiles, who believe themselves 
 capable of anything, and not the nobles and priests." 
 
 " Begging your pardon, M. Richter," replied the 
 mole-catcher, " the drones are those who wish to do 
 nothing and to enjoy everything; those who, with- 
 out rendering any service except buzzing around the 
 queen, wish to be generously provided for. They 
 are cared for, but at last, it is written, they must 
 be cast out. It has happened thousands of times and 
 it must happen always. The working bees, orderly 
 and economical, cannot support creatures that are 
 good for nothing. It is unfortunate it is sad. 
 But so it is. When we make honey we like to keep 
 it for ourselves.
 
 MADAME THERESE 15 
 
 " You are a Jacobin ! " cried Karolus, angrily. 
 
 " No, on the contrary, I am a merchant of An- 
 statt, a mole-catcher and raiser of bees. I love my 
 country as well as you. I would sacrifice myself for 
 her, perhaps, sooner than you would. But I am 
 forced to say that the true drones are those who do 
 nothing, and the true bees those who work, for I 
 have seen it a hundred times." 
 
 "Ah," cried Karohis Richter, " I wager that 
 Koffel has the same ideas as you! " 
 
 Then the little joiner, who had said nothing, re- 
 plied, winking one eye: 
 
 " M. Karolus, if I had the happiness of being 
 the grandson of a servant of Yeri-Peter or Salm- 
 Salm, and if I had inherited great wealth which 
 would support me in abundance and idleness, then 
 I should say that the drones are the workers, and 
 the bees the lazy ones. But, situated as I am, I have 
 need of everybody's help, and so I say nothing. I 
 am silent. Only I think that every one ought to 
 have what he earns by his labor." 
 
 " My dear friends," said my uncle, gravely, " we 
 will not speak of these things, for we cannot under- 
 stand them. Peace! peace! that is what we must 
 have. It is peace that makes men prosper, and puts 
 them all in their true place. In war bad instincts
 
 j6 MADAME THERESE 
 
 prevail; murder, rapine, and the rest. Besides, all 
 men who lead bad lives love war; it is the only way 
 they can appear to be anything. In time of peace, 
 they would be nothing; we would see too easily 
 through their thoughts, their tricks and their de- 
 sires. Man has been created by God for peace, for 
 labor, the love of his family, and the like. But since 
 war opposes all these it is truly a scourge. The 
 clock has struck ten; we could discuss the subject 
 until to-morrow morning without understanding it 
 better. I propose, therefore, that we go to bed." 
 
 Then everybody rose, and the burgomaster, plac- 
 ing his two great hands on the arm of his chair, 
 cried : 
 
 " God grant that neither the Republicans, nor 
 Prussians, nor Imperialists pass through here, for 
 they are all hungry and thirsty. And as it is more 
 agreeable to drink our own wine than to see it 
 swallowed by others, I would rather learn these 
 things from the papers than see them with my own 
 eyes. That is what I think." 
 
 "With this remark, he moved toward the door; 
 the others followed. 
 
 " Good-night," said my uncle. 
 
 "Good-night," replied the mole-catcher, disap- 
 pearing in the dark street.
 
 MADAME THERESE 17 
 
 The door was closed, and my careful uncle said 
 tome: 
 
 " Go to bed, Fritzel. Pleasant dreams." 
 
 " And you, too, uncle," I answered. 
 
 Lisbeth and I mounted the staircase. A quarter 
 of an hour afterwards perfect silence reigned in the 
 house.
 
 n 
 
 ONE Friday evening, in the month of November, 
 1793, Lisbeth, after supper, was kneading tLe 
 dough to make bread for the household, as usual. 
 As it was to be used for cakes and apple-pies also, 
 I kept near her in the kitchen, and as I watched her, 
 gave myself up to the pleasantest dreams. When 
 the dough was kneaded yeast was added, the knead- 
 ing-trough carefully scraped, and a thick covering 
 was spread over it, to let it ferment. Then Lisbeth 
 scattered blazing coals from the hearth inside the 
 oven, and pushed into it with the poker three great 
 dry fagots, which soon began to blaze under the dark 
 vaulted roof. Finally, when the fire was lighted, 
 she closed the door of the oven and turned to me : 
 
 " Now, Fritzel, let us go to bed; to-morrow, 
 when you wake up, there will be a pie for you." 
 
 We went up to our rooms. Uncle Jacob had 
 been snoring for an hour in his alcove. I went 
 to bed thinking of pies and cakes, and fell sound 
 asleep immediately. I had slept for some hours, 
 
 13
 
 MADAME THERESE 19 
 
 but it was still night, and the moon was shining 
 brightly into my little window, when I was aroused 
 by a strange tumult. It seemed as if the whole vil- 
 lage were in commotion; doors were slamming in 
 the distance; many footsteps were splashing 
 through the muddy pools of the street; and I 
 heard, too, people moving about in our house, and 
 saw the purple reflection of lights on my window- 
 panes. My alarm may be imagined. After listen- 
 ing awhile, I got quietly up, and opened a window. 
 The street was full of people, and not only the street 
 but the garden, and by-streets. I saw only large 
 men with immense cocked hats, long blue coats with 
 red facings, wide white belts, and large queues 
 hanging down their backs, carrying sabres and 
 cartridge-boxes, which I had never seen before. 
 They had stacked their guns before our barn. Two 
 sentinels guarded them. The others had already 
 made themselves at home in the houses. In the 
 stable three horses pawed the ground. Before 
 Sepel's butcher shop, across the way, from the 
 hooks in the wall on which calves were hung to be 
 skinned, a whole ox was hanging, his head and 
 back dragging on the ground, in the blaze of a 
 great fire which lighted up the square. A man with 
 his shirt-sleeves rolled up over his brawny arms was
 
 20 MADAME THERESE 
 
 skinning him. He had cut him entirely open, and 
 the blood was running and mixing with the mire 
 of the street. The face of this man, with- his bare 
 throat and unkempt hair, was terrible to see. 
 
 I understood at once that the Republicans had 
 unexpectedly entered the village, and while I was 
 dressing I invoked the aid of the Emperor Joseph, 
 of whom M. Karolus Richter so often spoke. The 
 French had arrived during our first sleep, at least 
 two hours before; for as I went down stairs I saw 
 three of them, in their shirt-sleeves, like the butcher, 
 taking the bread from our oven with the shovel. 
 They had spared Lisbeth the trouble of baking, as 
 their companions had spared Sepel the trouble of 
 butchering. These men could do anything. Noth- 
 ing embarrassed them. Lisbeth, seated in a corner, 
 her hands crossed on her knees, watched them quite 
 peacefully. Her first terror was over. Seeing me 
 at the head of the stairs, she called out: 
 
 " Fritzel, come down. They will not hurt you." 
 Then I went down, and the men kept at their 
 work without noticing me. The passage-door on 
 the left was open, and I saw two more Republicans 
 in the orchard mixing dough for a second or third 
 batch of bread. Through the half-open door of the 
 sitting-room, on the right, I saw Uncle Jacob sitting
 
 MADAME THERESE 21 
 
 at the table, while a robust man, with large red 
 whiskers, pug nose, projecting eyebrows, ears stand- 
 ing out from his head, and a tow-colored wig hang- 
 ing down his back in a queue as thick as one's arm, 
 was installed in the arm-chair, devouring one of our 
 hams with evident relish. I could see his strong 
 brown hands plying the knife and fork, and his 
 muscular jaws moving. From time to time he raised 
 his glass, took a good draught, and went on. 
 
 He wore lead-colored epaulettes, a large sabre, in 
 a leathern sheath, whose guard rose behind his el- 
 bow, and boots which were hardly visible for the 
 yellow mud which was beginning to dry upon them. 
 From his hat on the sideboard, drooped red plumes 
 which waved in the wind ; for notwithstanding the 
 cold, the windows were wide open. An armed sen- 
 tinel paced up and down before them, stopping oc- 
 casionally to glance at the table. 
 
 "While carving the ham the man with large whis- 
 kers spoke roughly to my uncle. 
 
 " So you are a physician? " 
 
 " Yes, monsieur le commandant" 
 
 " Call me simply colonel, or citizen colonel. I 
 have already told you that ' monsieur ' and ' ma- 
 dame ' are out of fashion. But to return to our 
 subject. You ought to know the country; a coun-
 
 22 
 
 MADAME THERESE 
 
 try physician is always on the road. How far are 
 we from Kaiserslautern? " 
 
 " Seven leagues, Colonel." 
 
 " And from Pirmasens? " 
 
 " About eight." 
 
 "And from Landau?" 
 
 " Five good leagues, I believe." 
 
 " 1 1 believe ' ' nearly ' ' about ' is it thus a 
 native of the country ought to speak? Listen: you 
 look as if you were afraid. You are afraid that if 
 the white coats should come this way, they would 
 hang you for the information you give us. You 
 may put that idea out of your head ; you are under 
 the protection of the French Republic." And 
 looking Uncle Jacob in the face with his gray eyes: 
 " To the health of the Republic, one and indivisi- 
 ble! " he cried, lifting his glass. 
 
 They touched glasses, and my uncle, very pale, 
 drank to the Republic. 
 
 " How is it," said the other, " you have not seen 
 any Austrians near here? " 
 
 " No, Colonel." 
 
 " Are you very sure of it? Look me straight in 
 the face." 
 
 " I have not seen any." 
 
 "Did you not make a journey to Reethal, 
 lately?"
 
 MADAME THERESE 23 
 
 My uncle had been to Reethal three days before. 
 He thought that some one in the village had told 
 the Colonel, and answered, 
 
 " Yes, Colonel." 
 
 " So; and were there no Austrians there? " 
 
 " No." 
 
 The Republican emptied his glass, casting a side- 
 long glance at Uncle Jacob; then stretched out his 
 arm, and took him by the wrist, with a strange 
 expression. 
 
 " You say there were none? " 
 
 " Yes, Colonel." 
 
 " Well, you lie, then ! " and in a slow voice he 
 added: " We do not hang, but sometimes we shoot 
 those who deceive us ! " 
 
 My uncle's face became still paler, but he held 
 up his head, and repeated in a firm tone : 
 
 " Colonel, I swear to you on my honor that there 
 were no Imperialists at Reethal three days ago." 
 
 " And I," cried the Republican, his small gray 
 eyes flashing under their thick, tawny brows, " I 
 tell you that they were there ! Is that plain ? " 
 
 There was a silence. All in the kitchen had 
 turned round; the Colonel's manner was not reas- 
 suring. I began to cry, and even went into the 
 room, as if I could help Uncle Jacob, and placed
 
 24 MADAME THERESE 
 
 myself behind him. The Republican looked at us, 
 frowningly, which did not prevent him from swal- 
 lowing another mouthful of ham, as if to give him- 
 self time for thought. Outside, Lisbeth sobbed 
 aloud. 
 
 " Colonel," said my uncle, firmly, " perhaps you 
 do not know that there are two Reethals, one on 
 the road to Kaiserslautern, and the other on the 
 Queich, three short leagues from Landau; the Aus- 
 trians may have been at the lower one, but at the 
 other, they had not been seen Wednesday evening." 
 
 " So! " said the Commandant, in bad Lorraine 
 German, with a jeering smile, " that may be. But 
 we from the country between Bitche and Sarre- 
 guemines, are as knowing as you. Unless you can 
 prove to me that there are two Reethals, I will tell 
 you that it is my duty to have you arrested, and 
 tried by a court-martial." 
 
 " Colonel," cried my uncle, stretching out his 
 arm, " the proof that there are two Reethals is that 
 they are to be found on all the maps of the country." 
 
 He pointed to our old map, hanging on the wall. 
 The Republican turned round, and looking at it, 
 said: 
 
 " Ah, it is a map of the country! Let us examine 
 it a little."
 
 MADAME THERESE 25 
 
 My uncle took the map down, and spreading it 
 on the table, showed him the two villages. 
 
 " It is true," said the Colonel. " Well and good; 
 I ask nothing better than to see a thing plainly." 
 
 He leaned his elbows on the table, and with his 
 large head between his hands, looked at the map. 
 
 "Hold, hold! this is famous! " he said; "where 
 did this map come from? " 
 
 " My father made it. He was a mathematician." 
 
 The Republican smiled. 
 
 " Yes; the woods, the rivers, the roads, all are 
 marked," said he. " I recognize that we passed 
 that place it is good very good ! " Then straight- 
 ening himself up : " You have no use for this map, 
 citizen doctor," said he in German. " I need it, 
 and I put it in requisition for the service of the Re- 
 public. Well, well, I beg your pardon. Let us 
 have one drink more in honor of the Republic." 
 
 We can imagine with what eagerness Lisbeth 
 went down into the cellar to find another bottle. 
 Uncle Jacob had recovered his confidence. The 
 Colonel, looking at me, asked: 
 
 "Is that your son?" 
 
 " No, he is my nephew." 
 
 " A well-built little fellow. It pleased me to see 
 him come in just now to your aid. Come here,
 
 2 6 MADAME THERESE 
 
 close," he said, drawing me to him by the arm. 
 He passed his hand through my hair, and said, in a 
 voice a little harsh, but kindly: " Bring up this 
 boy in the love of the rights of man. Instead of 
 taking care of cows, he may become colonel, or gen- 
 eral, as well as anybody else. Now all the doors are 
 open; any position can be taken. One need only 
 have heart and luck to succeed. I, such as you see 
 me, am the son of a blacksmith of Sarreguemines; 
 but for the Republic, I should still hammer the 
 anvil; our great lanky fellow of a count, who is 
 with the white coats, would be an eagle by the grace 
 of God, and I should be an ass. Instead of this, it 
 is all the other way, thanks to the Revolution." 
 
 He emptied his glass brusquely, and half shut- 
 ting his eyes with a crafty expression, added: 
 
 " That makes a little difference." 
 
 On the table, beside the ham, was one of our 
 short-cakes which the Republicans had baked with 
 the first batch of bread. He cut a piece for me, 
 and said, very good-humoredly, 
 
 " Eat this boldly and try to become a man." Then 
 turning toward the kitchen, " Sergeant Lafleche! " 
 roared he, in a voice of thunder. 
 
 An old sergeant with gray moustaches, dry as a 
 salt herring, appeared in the doorway.
 
 MADAME THERESE 27 
 
 " How many loaves, Sergeant? " 
 
 "Forty." 
 
 " In an hour we must have fifty; with our ten 
 ovens, five hundred, three pounds of bread for 
 each man." 
 
 The Sergeant went back to the kitchen. My 
 uncle and I observed all this without moving. The 
 Colonel again bent over the map, his head between 
 his hands. Day began to dawn. The armed sen- 
 tinel was still pacing up and down before our win- 
 dows. Silence prevailed. Many of the soldiers 
 were sleeping, their heads on their knapsacks, 
 around the large fires which they had kindled; 
 others were in the houses. The clock ticked slowly; 
 the fire still sparkled in the kitchen. But in a few 
 moments, a great noise arose in the street ; window- 
 panes crashed; a door was thrown open noisily, and 
 we heard our neighbor, Joseph Spick, cry, " To 
 the rescue ! Fire ! " But no one stirred in the vil- 
 lage. All were glad to remain quietly in their own 
 houses. The Colonel listened. 
 
 " Sergeant Lafleche! " cried he. The Sergeant 
 had gone to see what the matter was. He came 
 back in a moment. " What has happened? " asked 
 the Colonel. 
 
 "It is an aristocrat of an inn-keeper, who re-
 
 2 8 MADAME THERESE 
 
 fuses to comply with the requisitions of the citizen 
 Therese," replied he, gravely. 
 
 "Very well! bring him to me." 
 
 The Sergeant went out. In a few minutes our 
 lane was full of people. The door reopened, and 
 Joseph Spick, in a short jacket, loose linen panta- 
 loons, and a cap of curled wool, appeared between 
 four armed soldiers of the Republic, with faces yel- 
 low as gingerbread, worn-out hats, ragged elbows, 
 patched knees, and torn shoes, mended with twine; 
 all of which did not, however, prevent their hold- 
 ing up their heads high, as proud as kings. Joseph 
 Spick, his hands in his pockets, shoulders bent, 
 mouth open, and quaking cheeks, trembled so that 
 he could hardly stand on his long legs. He seemed 
 bewildered. Behind him, in the shadow, the head 
 of a woman, pale and thin, at once attracted my at- 
 tention. She had a high forehead, straight nose, 
 long chin, and blue-black hair, which drooped in 
 large bands over her temples, and was braided be- 
 hind the ears, so that her face seemed extremely 
 long. Her eyes were large, and black. She 
 wore a felt hat with the tri-color cockade, and 
 over it a red handkerchief knotted under the 
 chin. As I had seen, in our country, only blondes 
 or brunettes, this woman filled me with astonish-
 
 MADAME THERESE 29 
 
 ment and admiration. Young as I was, I looked at 
 her amazed. My uncle appeared no less astonished 
 than I, and after she had come in, followed by five 
 or six other Republicans, dressed like the first, we 
 could not take our eyes off of her. 
 
 She wore a large cloak of blue cloth, with a triple 
 cape falling to the elbows, a little cask, which was 
 hung over her shoulder, and around her neck a thick 
 black silk cravat, with long fringe doubtless some 
 spoil of war which heightened still more the 
 beauty of her calm, proud face. 
 
 The Colonel waited until all had come in, look- 
 ing closely at Joseph Spick, who seemed more dead 
 than alive. Then turning to the woman, who had 
 just raised her hat, with a movement of the head, 
 said: 
 
 " Well, Therese, what has happened? " 
 
 " You know, Colonel, that at the last halting- 
 place I had not another drop of brandy," said she, 
 in a firm, clear voice. " My first care on arriving 
 here, was to go through the village to find some, in- 
 tending to pay for it, of course. But the people 
 hid it all, and it was not until half an hour ago that 
 I saw the fir-branch on this man's door. Corporal 
 Merlot, Private Cincinnatus, and Drum-major 
 Horatius Codes followed, to help me. We went in
 
 3 o MADAME THERESE 
 
 and asked for wine, brandy, or anything of the 
 kind; but the aristocrat had nothing; he was deaf. 
 Then we searched the place, and at last found the 
 entrance to the cellar, in the wood-house, concealed 
 by a pile of fagots. We might have quarreled with 
 him; instead of that, we went down, and found 
 wine, bacon, sour-krout, and brandy. We filled our 
 casks, took some bacon, and came up quietly. But 
 seeing us return thus laden, this man, who was 
 seated tranquilly in his room, began to cry for. help, 
 and instead of accepting my money, tore it up, and 
 seizing me by the arm, shook me with all his 
 strength. Cincinnatus put his load on the table, 
 and taking this great fool by the collar, threw him 
 against the window of his old house. Then Sergeant 
 Lafleche arrived. That is all, Colonel." 
 
 When she had finished, she withdrew behind the 
 others, and immediately a little dry man, thin and 
 brusque, whose hat was on one side, and who held 
 under his arm a long cane with a copper knob, 
 shaped like an onion, came forward, and said, 
 pompously : 
 
 " Colonel, what Citizen Therese has just com- 
 municated is an expression of the indignation which 
 one naturally feels at coming in contact with a 
 senseless aristocrat who thinks "
 
 MADAME TUEKtSB.
 
 MADAME THERESE 31 
 
 "Very well," interrupted the Commandant, 
 " the word of Citizen Therese is sufficient." And 
 addressing Joseph Spick in German, he said, frown- 
 ingly: " Tell me, do you wish to be shot? It will 
 cost only the trouble of leading you into your gar- 
 den. Do you not know that the paper of the Re- 
 public is worth more than the gold of tyrants ? Lis- 
 ten; this time I will pardon yon, in consideration of 
 your ignorance; but if it happens that you again 
 conceal your provisions, and refuse to accept our 
 money in payment, I will have you shot in the vil- 
 lage square to serve as an example to others. Go, 
 then! march, you great idiot! " 
 
 He delivered this little harangue very emphati- 
 cally. Then turning to the cantiniere, said, 
 
 " "Well, Therese, you can fill your cask ; this man 
 will make no further objections. And you, soldiers, 
 release him." 
 
 They all went out. Therese first, Joseph last. 
 The poor devil had hardly a drop of blood left in 
 his veins. He had just had a narrow escape. 
 
 Meanwhile, daylight had come. The Colonel 
 rose, folded the map, and put it into his pocket. 
 Then he went to a window and looked out on the 
 village. My uncle and I looked from the other win- 
 dow. It was about five o'clock in the morning.
 
 in 
 
 As long as I live I shall remember that silent 
 street, filled with sleeping men; some stretched out, 
 some coiled up, their heads resting on their knap- 
 sacks. I can still see those muddy feet, those worn- 
 out shoes, and patched coats, those young faces, 
 tinged with brown, and rigid old faces, with closed 
 eyelids; the large hats, faded epaulettes, the cock- 
 ades, the woollen blankets with ragged red borders, 
 the gray cloaks, and the straw scattered in the mud. 
 Then the great silence of their sleep after the forced 
 march this absolute repose like death. All was 
 enveloped in the bluish light of early morning ; the 
 pale sun, rising in a fog, shed but a sickly light 
 over the little houses with their large thatched roofs, 
 and small black windows. In the distance, at both 
 ends of the village, on the Altenberg, and the Kee- 
 pockel, above the orchards and hemp-fields, the sen- 
 tinels' bayonets gleamed among the fading stars. 
 No, I shall never forget that strange spectacle. I 
 was very young then, but such memories are eternal. 
 32
 
 MADAME THERESE 33 
 
 As the day advanced, the picture became ani- 
 mated. One man raised his head, leaned on his 
 elbow, and looked round; then yawned, and went 
 to sleep again. Then an old soldier suddenly 
 straightened himself, shook the straw from his 
 clothes, adjusted his felt hat, and folded his ragged 
 blanket; another rolled up his cloak and buckled 
 it on his knapsack; a third drew from his pocket 
 the stump of a pipe, and struck a light. The early 
 risers had gathered together, and were talking, and 
 the others joined them, stamping their feet, for it 
 was cold at that hour, and the fires which had been 
 lighted in the streets and on the Common had gone 
 out. 
 
 Opposite our house, on the little square, was the 
 fountain. Some of the Republicans were collected 
 around two large moss-covered troughs, washing 
 themselves, laughing, and chatting pleasantly, not- 
 withstanding the cold; others were stooping down, 
 drinking with upturned mouths from the pump. 
 
 Then the houses were opened, one by one, and 
 we saw soldiers coming out from them, stooping 
 so as not to strike their heads against the low door- 
 ways. Nearly all had their pipes lighted. 
 
 To the right of our barn, before Spick's inn, was 
 stationed the cantiniere's cart, covered with a large 
 3
 
 3 4 MADAME THERESE 
 
 cloth. It had two wheels, like a hand-barrow, the 
 shafts lying on the ground. 
 
 The mule was behind, covered with an old woollen 
 horse-blanket of red and blue check, and had drawn 
 from our stall a long wisp of hay, which he chewed 
 gravely with half-closed eyes and a sentimental air. 
 
 The cantinierc was seated at the window mending 
 a little pair of pantaloons, and throwing a glance 
 from time to time at the shed, where the drum- 
 major, Horatius Codes, Cincinnatus, Merlot, and 
 a tall, thin, dry, jovial fellow, were seated astride 
 bundles of hay, making each other's queues. They 
 combed out the braids, and smoothed them by spit- 
 ting on their hands. 
 
 Horatius Codes, who was the head of the band, 
 was humming an air, and his comrades repeated the 
 refrain. 
 
 Near them against two old casks slept a little 
 drummer, about twelve years old, as fair as myself, 
 who interested me particularly. It was he whbm 
 the cantiniere was watching, and doubtless they 
 were his pantaloons that she was mending. He was 
 stretched out, his face upturned, his mouth half- 
 opened, his back against the two casks and one arm 
 over his drum. His drumsticks were slipped into 
 his shoulder-belt, and on his feet, covered with
 
 MADAME THERESE 35 
 
 straw, was stretched out a large, and very dirty 
 spaniel, which kept him warm. Every moment this 
 dog raised his head and looked at the boy, as if to 
 say: 
 
 " I should like very much to take a tour among 
 the kitchens of the village! " 
 
 But the little one did not stir, he slept so soundly I 
 When some dogs barked in the distance the spaniel 
 gaped. He would have liked to be one of the party. 
 
 Soon two officers came out of a neighboring 
 house; two slender young men in tightly-fitting 
 coats. As they passed the house, the Colonel cried: 
 
 "Duchene! Eicher! " 
 
 " Good-morning, Colonel," said they, turning 
 back. 
 
 " Are the posts relieved? " 
 
 " Yes, Colonel." 
 
 "Nothing new?" 
 
 " Nothing, Colonel." 
 
 " In half an hour we begin our march. Sound 
 the call, Richer. Come in, Duchene." 
 
 One of the officers went in. The other passed 
 into the shed and said something to Horatius Codes. 
 I looked at the new-comer. The Colonel had or- 
 dered a bottle of brandy. They were drinking to- 
 gether, when a hum was heard outside. It was the
 
 36 MADAME THERESE 
 
 drum-beat. I ran to see what was going on. Ho- 
 ratius Codes, at the head of five drummers among 
 whom, on the left, was the little boy raising his 
 baton, initiated the performance, which continued 
 as long as he held it up. The Republicans came in 
 from all the by-streets of the village, and were 
 ranged in two lines in front of the fountain, and 
 their sergeants began the call. My uncle and I 
 were astonished at the order which prevailed among 
 these men. When their names were called they an- 
 swered so promptly that it seemed as if there were 
 but one reply from all sides. They had taken their 
 guns, and held them carelessly, on their shoulders, 
 or with the butt-end on the ground, just as they 
 chose. 
 
 After the call there was perfect silence, and then 
 several men from each company were detached, un- 
 der the escort of the corporals, to go and fetch their 
 bread. Citizen Therese harnessed her mule to the 
 cart. Some moments afterwards the squads re- 
 turned, bringing loaves of bread in bags and baskets. 
 The distribution began. As the Republicans had 
 made and eaten soup on their arrival, they were not 
 hungry, and each one buckled a loaf to his knapsack. 
 
 "Come!" cried the Colonel, in a joyful tone, 
 "let us move I"
 
 MADAME THERESE 37 
 
 He took his cloak, threw it over his shoulders, and 
 went out, without saying good-by to anybody. 
 
 We thought we had got rid of these people for- 
 ever. 
 
 As soon as he had gone, the burgomaster came 
 to entreat Uncle Jacob to go home with him imme- 
 diately, as the sight of the Republicans had made 
 his wife ill. 
 
 They went out together. Lisbeth at once ar- 
 ranged the chairs, and swept out the sitting-room. 
 We could hear the officers' commands outside. 
 " Forward, march ! " The drums sounded. The 
 cantiniere cried "Hue!" to her mule, and the 
 battalion was starling, when suddenly a terrible 
 cracking resounded through the village. It was 
 the firing of guns, sometimes several together, 
 then one at a time. 
 
 The Republicans were just going into the street. 
 
 " Halt ! " cried the Colonel, standing in his stir- 
 rups and looking around, listening attentively. 
 
 I went to the window, and saw all these men 
 attentive, and the officers outside the ranks, gath- 
 ered around their chief, who was speaking with an- 
 imation. 
 
 Suddenly a soldier appeared at the corner of the 
 street. He was running with his gun on his shoul- 
 der.
 
 3 8 MADAME THERESE 
 
 " Colonel," he called out, while still at a distance, 
 quite breathless, "the Croats! The outposts are 
 carried they are coming! " 
 
 He had hardly finished speaking when the Colo- 
 nel turned back, galloped along the line at full 
 speed, and cried: 
 
 " Form square ! " 
 
 The officers, the drummers, and the cantiniere, 
 all fell back, in front of the fountain, while the 
 companies crossed each other like the shuffling of a 
 pack of cards. In less than a minute they had 
 formed a square, three deep, with the others in the 
 middle. Immediately after, a terrible noise was 
 heard in the street; the Croats were coming; the 
 ground shook. I see them now pouring into the 
 street, their large red cloaks trimmed with fur float- 
 ing behind them like banners, and bending so low 
 in their saddles with their sabres in front, that one 
 could hardly see the brown bony faces, with long 
 yellow moustaches. 
 
 It seems as if children must be possessed with the 
 devil, for instead of running to a place of safety, 
 I stayed there, with eyes wide-open to see the fight. 
 I was very much afraid, it is true, but curiosity 
 was stronger than fear. 
 
 While I looked and trembled, the Croats had
 
 MADAME THERESE 39 
 
 reached the square. Instantly the Colonel cried: 
 " Fire ! " 
 
 Then a clap of thunder, then nothing but a buzz- 
 ing in my ears. Each side of the square turned 
 toward the street had fired at once; our window- 
 panes were shivered, the smoke came into the room, 
 with pieces of cartridges, and the smell of powder 
 filled the air. I, my hair standing on end, still 
 looked on, and saw the Croats on their small horses 
 rush forward in the gray smoke, fall back, then rush 
 forward again, as if trying to climb over the square, 
 and others coming up constantly, crying in a savage 
 voice: 
 
 "Forward! forward!" 
 
 " Fire, the second rank! " cried the Colonel, in 
 the midst of neighings and ceaseless cries. His voice 
 was as calm as when he was speaking in our room. 
 Another clap of thunder followed, and how the 
 plastering fell, how the tiles rattled from the roofs, 
 how heaven and earth seemed to mingle ! Lisbeth, 
 in the kitchen, uttered screams so piercing that even 
 in all the tumult they could be heard like a shrill 
 whistle. 
 
 After the fire of the platoon, began the fire of 
 the file. We could see the guns of the second rank 
 lower, fire, then rise again, while the first rank,
 
 4 o MADAME THERESE 
 
 with their knees bent on the ground, crossed bay- 
 onets, and the third loaded the guns and passed 
 them to the second. The Croats whirled round the 
 square striking from a distance with their long 
 sabres. From time to time a hat fell, sometimes 
 a man. One of the Croats, throwing his horse back 
 on his haunches, leaped so far that he cleared the 
 three lines, and fell inside the square. But then 
 the Eepublican Colonel threw himself upon him, 
 and with a furious stroke, nailed him, so to speak, 
 to the back of his horse. I saw him withdraw his 
 sabre red to the hilt. This sight made me turn cold. 
 I was going to fly, but had hardly risen, when the 
 Croats faced about, and fled, leaving a great num- 
 ber of men and horses in the square. The horses 
 tried to rise, then fell again. Five or six horsemen 
 lay under their beasts, trying to free their legs; 
 others, all bloody, dragged themselves along on all 
 fours, raising their hands, and crying in a lament- 
 able voice, in their fear of being killed, " Pardon, 
 Frenchmen ! " Some, not able to endure their suf- 
 ferings, begged the favor of being put out of such 
 misery. 
 
 Most of them, however, lay motionless. For the 
 first time, I fully understood what death is; these 
 men that I had seen two minutes before, full of life
 
 MADAME THERESE 41 
 
 and strength, charging their enemies with fury, and 
 rushing forward like wolves, lay there, pell-mell, 
 senseless as the stones of the street. 
 
 In the ranks of the Republicans there were also 
 vacant places, bodies stretched on their faces, and 
 some wounded, their heads and faces covered with 
 blood. They bandaged their heads, placing their 
 guns at their feet, without leaving the ranks. 
 Their comrades helped them to bind on a hand- 
 kerchief, and put the hat above it. The Colonel, 
 on horseback near the fountain, his large plumed 
 hat pushed back, and his sabre clenched in his hand, 
 closed up the ranks; near him were some drummers 
 in line, and a little farther on, near the trough, was 
 the cantiniere with her cask. We could hear the 
 trumpets of the Croats sounding the retreat. They 
 had halted at the turn of the street. One of their 
 sentinels was posted there, behind the corner of the 
 Town Hall. Only his horse's head was to be seen. 
 Some guns were still being fired. 
 
 " Cease firing ! " cried the Colonel, and all was 
 silent. We heard only the trumpet in the distance. 
 
 The cantiniere then went inside the ranks to pour 
 out brandy for the men, while seven or eight sturdy 
 fellows drew water from a fountain in their 
 bowls, for the wounded, who begged for drink in
 
 42 MADAME THERESE 
 
 pitiable voices. I leaned from the window, looking 
 down the deserted street, and asking myself if the 
 red cloaks would dare to return. The Colonel also 
 looked in that direction, and talked with a captain 
 who was leaning against his saddle. Suddenly the 
 captain crossed the square, left the ranks, and 
 rushed into our house, crying: 
 
 " The master of the house? " 
 
 " He has gone out." 
 
 " Well you lead me to your garret quick! " 
 
 I left my shoes there, and began to climb the steps 
 at the end of the hall like a squirrel; the captain 
 followed me. At the top, he saw at a single glance 
 the ladder of the pigeon-house, and mounted before 
 me. When we had entered, he placed his elbows 
 on the edge of the somewhat low window, and leaned 
 forward so as to see. I looked over his shoulder. 
 The entire road, as far as one could see, was lined 
 with men, cavalry, infantry, cannon, army wagons, 
 red cloaks, green pelisses, white coats, helmets, 
 cuirasses, files of lances and bayonets, ranks of 
 horses, and all were coming toward the village. 
 
 " It is an army! " exclaimed the captain, in a low 
 voice. 
 
 He turned suddenly to go down, then, seized with 
 an idea, pointed out to me along the village, within
 
 MADAME THERESE 43 
 
 two gunshots, a file of red cloaks who were turning 
 the curve of the road just behind the orchards. 
 
 " You see those red cloaks? " said he. 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " Does a carriage road pass there? " 
 
 " !No, it is a foot-path." 
 
 " And this large hollow which cuts it in the 
 middle, directly before us is it deep ? " 
 
 "Oh, yes!" 
 
 " Carriages and carts never pass" that way? " 
 
 " No, they could not." 
 
 Then, without asking anything more, he de- 
 scended the ladder backwards, as rapidly as pos- 
 sible, and hastened down the stairs. I followed 
 him; we were soon at the foot, but before we 
 had reached the end of the hall, the approach of 
 a body of cavalry caused the houses to shake. De- 
 spite this, the captain went out, took two men from 
 the ranks, and disappeared. Thousands of quick, 
 strange cries, like those of a flock of crows, " Hur- 
 rah ! hurrah ! " filled the street from one end to the 
 other, and nearly drowned the dull thud of the 
 horses' galloping. I, feeling very proud of having 
 conducted the captain to the pigeon-house, was so 
 imprudent as to go to the door. The lancers, for 
 this time they were lancers, came like the wind,
 
 44 MADAME THERESE 
 
 their spears in rest, their ears covered by large hair 
 caps, eyes staring, noses almost concealed by their 
 moustaches, and large pistols, with butt ends of 
 brass, in their belts. It was like a vision. I had 
 only time to jump back from the door. My blood 
 froze in my veins. And it was only when the firing 
 recommenced that I awoke, as if from a dream, and 
 found myself in the back part of our room opposite 
 the broken windows. The air was thick, the square 
 all white with smoke. The Colonel alone was vis- 
 ible, seated immovable on his horse near the foun- 
 tain. He might have been taken for a bronze statue 
 in this blue sea, from which hundreds of red flames 
 spouted. The lancers leaped about like immense 
 grasshoppers, thrust their spears, and withdrew 
 them; others fired their pistols into the ranks, at 
 four paces. 
 
 It seemed to me that the square was breaking. 
 It was true. 
 
 " Close the ranks! stand firm! " cried the Colo- 
 nel, in his calm voice. 
 
 " Close the ranks! Close! " repeated the officers 
 all along the line. But the square gave way, and 
 became a semi-circle. The centre nearly touched 
 the fountain. At each stroke of the lance, the parry 
 of the bayonet came like a flash of light, but some-
 
 MADAME THERESE 45 
 
 times the man fell. The Republicans no longer had 
 time to reload. They ceased firing, and the lances 
 were constantly corning, bolder, more numerous, en- 
 veloping the square in a whirlwind, and already ut- 
 tering cries of triumph, for they believed themselves 
 conquerors. 
 
 For myself, I thought the Republicans were lost, 
 when, in the height of the combat, the Colonel, rais- 
 ing his hat on the end of his sabre, began to sing a 
 song which made one's flesh creep, and all the bat- 
 talion, as one man, sang with him. In the twinkling 
 of an eye the whole front of the square straightened 
 itself, and forced into the street all the mass of 
 horsemen, pressed one against another, with their 
 long lances, like corn in the fields. This song seemed 
 to render the Republicans furious. It was terrible 
 to see them. And I have thought many times since 
 that men arrayed in battle are more ferocious than 
 wild beasts. But there was something still more 
 horrible; the last ranks of the Austrian column, at 
 the end of the street, not seeing what was passing 
 at the entrance of the square, rushed forward, cry- 
 ing, " Hurrah ! hurrah ! " so that those in the first 
 ranks, repulsed by the bayonets of the Republicans, 
 and not able to go further back, were thrown into 
 unspeakable confusion, and uttered distressing cries;
 
 46 MADAME THERESE 
 
 their large horses, pricked in the nostrils, were so 
 frightened that their manes stood up straight, their 
 eyes started from their heads, and they uttered shrill 
 cries, and kicked wildly. From a distance I saw 
 these unfortunate lancers, mad with fear, turn 
 round, strike their comrades with the handles of 
 their lanees to force a passage for themselves, and 
 fly like hares past the houses. 
 
 A few minutes afterward the street was empty. 
 There remained, indeed, twenty-five or thirty poor 
 devils shut up in the square. They had not seen 
 the retreat, and were entirely disconcerted, not 
 knowing where to fly. But this was soon over. A 
 fresh discharge of the guns stretched them on their 
 backs, except two or three who were thrown into 
 Tanners' Lane. Only a heap of horses and dead 
 men was to be seen. Blood flowed through the 
 gutters, into the trough. 
 
 " Cease firing! " cried the Colonel, for the second 
 time. "Load!" 
 
 At that moment nine o'clock struck from the 
 church tower. It is impossible to describe the vil- 
 lage as it looked then; houses pierced with balls; 
 shutters hanging from their hinges; windows shat- 
 tered; chimneys tottering; the street full of tiles 
 and broken bricks, the roofs of the sheds open to the
 
 MADAME THERESE 47 
 
 sky, and that heap of dead, those horses stretched 
 on the ground, struggling and bleeding. It is a 
 scene which defies description. 
 
 The Republicans, diminished by half their num- 
 ber, their large hats fallen back, stern and terrible in 
 aspect, awaited orders under arms. Behind, at a 
 little distance from our house, stood the Colonel, de- 
 liberating with his officers. I could easily hear what 
 he said. 
 
 " We have an Austrian army before us," said he, 
 abruptly. " The question is, how to save ourselves. 
 In an hour we shall have twenty or thirty thousand 
 men upon us. They will surround the village with 
 their infantry, and we shall all be lost. I am going 
 to beat a retreat. Has anybody anything to say? " 
 
 " No, it is a wise decision." 
 
 Then they disappeared, and two minutes after, 
 I saw a number of soldiers enter the houses, throw 
 chairs, tables, and chests of drawers into a heap 
 outside; some threw straw and hay from the barns; 
 others brought carts and carriages from the out- 
 houses. In less than ten minutes they had formed 
 at the entrance of the street a barrier as high as the 
 houses; they placed hay and straw above and be- 
 neath it. The drum-beat recalled those who were 
 engaged in this work. The fire rose immediately,
 
 48 MADAME THERESE 
 
 step by step, to the top of the barricade, licking the 
 neighboring roofs with its red flames, and spreading 
 its black smoke like an immense vault over the vil- 
 lage. Loud cries rose in the distance; shots were 
 heard on the other side, but we saw nothing, and 
 the Colonel gave the order for retreat. I saw the 
 Republicans defile past our house with slow, firm 
 steps, flashing eyes, red bayonets, black hands, hol- 
 low cheeks. Two drummers marched silently be- 
 hind, one of whom was the little boy whom I had 
 seen sleeping in our shed. He had his drum slung 
 over his shoulder, and was bent forward, in march- 
 ing attitude; large tears flowed over his round 
 cheeks, which were blackened by the smoke of the 
 powder. His comrade said, " Come, little Jean, 
 courage ! " But he did not seem to hear him. Ho- 
 ratius Codes and the cantiniere had disappeared. 
 I followed the troop with my eyes until they turned 
 the street. A few moments afterward the bell of 
 the Town Hall sounded, and in the distance dis- 
 tressed voices were heard, crying, " Fire! fire! " 
 
 I looked toward the barricade of the Republicans. 
 The fire had reached the houses, and rose toward the 
 sky. On the other side the din of arms filled the 
 street, and already long black pikes were thrust 
 from the garret-windows of the neighboring houses 
 to break down the burning barricade.
 
 IV 
 
 AFTER the departure of the Republicans, a quar- 
 te- of an hour passed before anybody appeared on 
 our side of the street. All the houses seemed de- 
 serted. On the other side of the barricade the 
 tumult increased ; cries of " Fire ! fire ! " continued, 
 in dismal tones. I went into the shed, frightened 
 at the fire. Nothing stirred. I heard only the 
 crackling of the flames and the sighs of a wounded 
 man leaning against the wall of our stable. He had 
 a ball in his loins, and leaned forward, supporting 
 himself on his hands. He was a Croat. He looked 
 at me with terrible, despairing eyes. A little fur- 
 ther on, a horse, lying on his side, swung his head to 
 and fro, on his long neck, like a pendulum. As I 
 stood there, thinking that the French must be great 
 brigands, to burn our houses without any reason, 
 I heard a faint sound behind me. Turning round, 
 I saw in the gloom of the shed under the straw 
 falling from the beams, the half open door of the 
 barn, and behind it the pale face and staring eyes 
 
 4 49
 
 5 o MADAME THERESE 
 
 of our neighbor Spick. He put his head out softly, 
 and listened; then, convinced that the Republicans 
 had retreated, he rushed out, brandishing his axe 
 like a madman, and crying: 
 
 " Where are they, those beggars? "Where are 
 they let me exterminate them! " 
 
 " Ah," said I; " they're gone, but if you run, you 
 can overtake them at the end of the village." 
 
 He gave me a sidelong glance, and seeing that I 
 spoke innocently, left me, and ran to the fire. 
 Other doors now opened, and men and women came 
 out, looked around them, and raised their hands to 
 heaven, crying: 
 
 " Curse them ! Curse them ! " 
 
 They all hastened with their buckets to extin- 
 guish the fire. The fountain was soon surrounded. 
 They formed a line on both sides of the barricade, 
 which extended to the houses that were in danger. 
 Some soldiers standing on the roof, poured water 
 upon the flames; but all they could do was to save 
 the neighboring houses. Toward eleven o'clock a 
 column of bluish fire rose toward the sky; among 
 the vehicles that were piled up was found the can- 
 tinier 'tfs cart; its two casks of brandy had burst. 
 Uncle Jacob was in the line, also, on the other side, 
 under the guard of the Austrian sentinels; but he
 
 MADAME THERESE 51 
 
 managed to escape while crossing a yard, and en- 
 tered our house by the garden. 
 
 " Oh Lord," cried he, " Fritzel is saved! " 
 
 I saw by this how much he loved me. He kissed 
 me, and asked: 
 
 " Where have you been, poor child ? " 
 
 " At the window," said I. 
 
 He became very pale, and cried: 
 
 "Lisbeth! Lisbeth!" 
 
 But she did not answer, and we could not find 
 her, although we went into all the rooms, and even 
 looked under the beds. We thought she must have 
 gone to some neighbor's house for safety. Mean- 
 while they had put out the fire, and suddenly we 
 heard the Austrians cry outside: 
 
 "Room! room! fallback!" 
 
 And a regiment of Croats passed us like a thun- 
 derbolt. They rushed on in pursuit of the Republi- 
 cans; but we learned the next day, that they had 
 arrived too late ; the enemy had gained the forest of 
 Rothalps, which extended as far as the Pirmasens. 
 ]STow we understood why they had barricaded the 
 street and set fire to the houses. They wished to 
 retard the pursuit of the cavalry, and thus showed 
 their great experience in war. 
 
 From that moment until five in the evening two
 
 5 2 MADAME THERESE 
 
 Austrian brigades were defiling into the village un 
 der our windows; lancers, dragoons, hussars; then 
 cannon and army-wagons ; toward three o'clock, 
 the general-in-chief, in the midst of his officers, 
 a large old man in a three-cornered hat, and long 
 white Polonaise,* so covered with lace and gold 
 embroidery that the Republican commander, in his 
 shabby hat and uniform, would have looked like 
 a simple corporal beside him. The burgomaster and 
 councillors of Anstatt, in cloth coats with large 
 sleeves, their heads uncovered, awaited him in the 
 square. He stopped there a few minute?,, and look- 
 ing at the dead bodies heaped up around the foun- 
 tain, asked: 
 
 " How many of the French were here \ " 
 
 " A battalion, your Excellency," replied the bu**- 
 gomaster, bent double. 
 
 The general said nothing, but raised his three- 
 cornered hat, and pursued his way. 
 
 Then the second brigade arrived; TyroJese rifle- 
 men in front, in green coats, black hats, with turned- 
 up brims, and little Inspruck carbines; then another 
 troop of infantry in white coats, sky-blue breeches, 
 and great gaiters reaching to their knees; then the 
 heavy cavalry, men six feet high, encased it cui- 
 * Polish robe.
 
 MADAME THERESE 53 
 
 rasses, only the chin and long red moustache visible 
 under the visor of the helmet; then came large 
 ambulances, covered with gray linen, stretched over 
 hoops, and behind them, the lame, the stragglers, 
 and the cowards. The army surgeons made the 
 tour of the square, raised the wounded, and placed 
 them in the wagons, and one of their leaders, a little 
 old man in a white wig, said to the burgomaster, 
 pointing to those who remained: 
 
 " You will bury all those as soon as possible." 
 
 " Your orders shall be obeyed, sir," answered he, 
 gravely. 
 
 At length the last wagons rolled away. It was 
 about six o'clock. Night had come. Uncle Jacob 
 and I stood in the doorway. Before us, near the 
 fountain, all the dead lay in rows, with upturned 
 faces, and staring eyes, white as wax, and bloodless. 
 The women and children of the village walked 
 around them. When the grave-digger, Jeffer, with 
 his two sons, Karl and Ludwig, arrived with their 
 pick-axes on their shoulders, the burgomaster said 
 to them: 
 
 " Take twelve men with you, and dig a deep grave 
 for all these bodies, in the meadow of the Wolf thai. 
 Do you hear me? And all who have carts must 
 lend them, with their horses; for it is a public ser-
 
 54 MADAME THERESE 
 
 Jeffer bent his head, and went immediately to 
 the meadow of the "Wolf thai, with his two boys and 
 the men whom he had chosen. 
 
 " Now, we must find Lisbeth," said my uncle. 
 
 "We recommenced our search, going from garret 
 to cellar, and at last, just as we were going to re- 
 mount the stairs, we saw in the darkness, behind the 
 barrel of sour-krout between the two air-holes, a 
 bundle of linen, which my uncle began to shake. 
 Lisbeth cried immediately in a pitiful voice 
 
 "Don't kill me! In heaven's name have pity 
 upon me! " 
 
 " Get up," said my uncle, kindly; " it is all 
 over." 
 
 But she was still so much frightened that she 
 could hardly put one foot before the other, and 
 I had to lead her up stairs by the hand, like a child. 
 Then finding herself again in the kitchen, she sat 
 down by the hearth, and burst into tears, praying, 
 and thanking God for having saved her; which 
 proves that the old cling to life quite as much as 
 the young. 
 
 I shall never forget the hours of desolation which 
 followed, and the constant calls upon my uncle from 
 the unfortunates who claimed his care. Not a mo- 
 ment passed but a woman or child ran into the hoiue,
 
 MADAME THERESE 55 
 
 crying: "Doctor! come quickly; my husband 
 my brother my sister are ill! " 
 
 One had been wounded, another had become 
 almost insane with fear; another, stretched out to 
 his full length, gave no sign of life. My uncle 
 could not be everywhere. 
 
 " You will find him at such a house," I would 
 say to these wretched ones; " make haste! " 
 
 And they would hasten away. It was very late, 
 nearly ten o'clock, when he at last returned. Lis- 
 beth had recovered from her fright a little, She 
 had made the fire on the hearth, and laid the table, 
 as usual; but the plastering from the ceiling, the 
 pieces of window-glass and wood still covered the 
 floor. In the midst of it all, we seated ourselves 
 at the table, and ate in silence. From time to time, 
 my uncle raised his head, and looked out on the 
 square, at the torches moving around the dead, the 
 black carts stationed before the fountain, with their 
 little country ponies, the grave-diggers, the lookers 
 on, all out in the darkness. He observed them 
 gravely, and suddenly, when we had nearly finished, 
 he said to me, stretching out his hand : 
 
 " Behold what war is, Fritzel ; look, and re- 
 member! Yes, this is war; death and destruc- 
 tion, fury and hatred, disregard of all human
 
 56 MADAME THERESE 
 
 feelings. "When God strikes us with His curses, 
 when he sends us pestilence and famine, these are 
 at least inevitable scourges, decreed by His wis- 
 dom. But here it is man himself, who decrees mis- 
 ery to his kind, spreads his ravages far and wide, 
 without pity. Yesterday, we were at peace; we 
 asked nothing of anybody; we had done no harm; 
 and suddenly strange men came to strike, to ruin 
 and destroy us. Ah, cursed be those whose ambi- 
 tious spirit provokes such misfortunes! Let them 
 be execrated through all ages! Fritzel, remember 
 this; war is all that is most abominable on earth. 
 Men who do not know, who have never seen each 
 other, rush suddenly together, to tear each other 
 to pieces. This alone would make us believe in 
 God, for there must be an avenger of such in- 
 iquity." 
 
 My uncle spoke earnestly. He was much moved ; 
 and I listened with head bowed down, retaining 
 every word and graving it upon my memory. As 
 we sat thus, a kind of dispute arose outside in the 
 square. We heard a dog growl, and our neighbor 
 Spick say, angrily: 
 
 "Stop! stop! you beggar of a dog. I'll give 
 you a blow with my pick-axe! He's an animal of 
 the same species as his masters. They pay you
 
 MADAME THERESE 57 
 
 with assignats * and bites; but I'm not the man 
 to submit to that! " 
 
 The dog growled more fiercely. Other voices 
 broke the silence of the night: 
 
 " It is very curious, though : see, he won't leave 
 the woman. Perhaps she isn't quite dead." 
 
 My uncle rose hastily, and went out. I followed. 
 Nothing could be more terrible than the sight of 
 those dead bodies in the red reflection of the torches. 
 There was no wind, but the flame swayed to and 
 fro, and all those ghostly creatures with open eyes 
 seemed to move. 
 
 " Not dead ! " cried Spick. " Are you a fool, 
 Jeffer? Do you think that you know more than 
 the army surgeons? No, no, she's received her 
 due. She's well served she's the woman who paid 
 for my brandy with paper. Go away from here, 
 that I may kill the dog, and thus end the matter." 
 
 "What's going on here?" asked my uncle, in 
 a loud voice. They all turned round and looked 
 frightened. The grave-digger took off his hat, 
 two or three others moved aside, and we saw on 
 the steps of the fountain, the cantiniere stretched 
 out, white as snow, her beautiful black hair all 
 unbound, in a pool of blood; her little cask still at 
 * The paper money of the French Republic.
 
 5 8 MADAME THERESE 
 
 her side, and her pale hands thrown to the right and 
 left on the wet stones, over which the water flowed. 
 Several corpses lay around her, and at her feet was 
 the spaniel that I had seen in the morning with the 
 little drummer, the hair standing up on his back, 
 his eyes flashing and lips trembling, as he looked 
 at Spick, growling and shivering. Notwithstanding 
 his great courage and his pick-axe, the innkeeper 
 dared not approach, for it was easy to see that if 
 he missed his blow the dog would leap at his throat. 
 
 " What is this? " repeated Uncle Jacob. 
 
 " Because the dog remains here," answered Spick, 
 sneeringly, " they say the woman isn't dead." 
 
 " They are right," said my uncle, sharply. 
 " Some animals have more mind and heart than 
 some men. Take yourself away! " 
 
 He pushed him aside with his elbow, went 
 to the woman, and bent over her. The dog, in- 
 stead of springing upon him, seemed to grow quiet, 
 and allowed him to do as he would. The others 
 came near. My uncle knelt down, uncovered her 
 bosom, and placed his hand on her heart. No one 
 spoke; the silence was profound. It lasted nearly 
 a minute, then Spick said: 
 
 " Ha! ha! Let them bury her. Isn't it so, doc- 
 tor?
 
 MT UNCLE KNELT DOWW.
 
 MADAME THERESE 59 
 
 Uncle Jacob rose, frowning, and looked at the 
 man sternly, from head to foot. 
 
 " Wretched man! " said he, " on account of a 
 few pints of brandy, for which this poor woman 
 paid you as well as she could, you now wish to see 
 her dead, and perhaps buried alive ! " 
 
 " Doctor ! " cried the innkeeper, straightening 
 himself with an arrogant air, " do you know that 
 there are laws, and that " 
 
 " Silence! " interrupted my uncle. " Your be- 
 havior is infamous! " Then turning to the others: 
 " Jeffer, carry this woman into my house she still 
 lives." 
 
 He threw a last indignant look at Spick, while 
 the grave-digger and his sons placed the cantiniere 
 on the litter. They went toward the house. The 
 dog followed Uncle Jacob, pressing close to his 
 legs. As to the innkeeper, we heard him say be- 
 hind us, mockingly: 
 
 " The woman's dead! This doctor knows as 
 much about it as my pick-axe. The woman's 
 dead it makes no difference whether she's buried 
 to-day or to-morrow. We'll see which of us is 
 right." 
 
 As we were crossing the square, I saw the mole- 
 catcher and Koffel following us, which re-assured
 
 60 MADAME THERESE 
 
 me; for since night had come, a sort of terror had 
 seized me, especially when near the dead bodies, 
 and I was glad to have a good many people about. 
 The mole-catcher walked before the litter, holding 
 a large torch. Koffel kept near my uncle and looked 
 grave. 
 
 " These are terrible things, doctor," said he. 
 
 " Ah, is it you, Koffel? Yes, yes, the genius of 
 evil is in the air, the spirits of darkness are un- 
 chained." 
 
 We entered the little alley, which was filled with 
 rubbish. The mole-catcher stopped in the door- 
 way to light Jeffer and his sons, who came forward 
 with heavy steps. "We followed them into the room, 
 and raising his torch, he said, in a solemn tone : 
 
 " Where are the days of tranquillity, the mo- 
 ments of peace, repose and trust, after labor 
 where are they, doctor? Ah, they have flown away 
 through all these openings! " 
 
 Then I noticed for the first time the desolate 
 look of our old room, with its broken windows, 
 whose shining fragments gleamed in the darkness. 
 I understood the mole-catcher's words, and thought 
 that we were indeed unfortunate. 
 
 " Jeffer, lay the woman on my bed," said my 
 uncle, sadly. " Our own miseries must not make
 
 MADAME THERESE 61 
 
 us forget those who are even more unhappy than 
 we are." And turning to the mole-catcher: " You 
 will stay and hold the light for me, and Koffel will 
 help me." 
 
 The grave-digger and his sons having placed the 
 litter on the floor, lifted the woman out, and put 
 her upon the bed in the alcove. The mole-catcher 
 held the torch, the reflections of which made his 
 ruddy face look purple. Uncle Jacob gave some 
 kreutzers to Jeffer, who went away with his boys. 
 Old Lisbeth had come to see what was going on. 
 She trembled and dared not approach the bed, and 
 I heard her repeating the Ave Maria in a low tone. 
 Her terror was beginning to infect me, when my 
 uncle cried: 
 
 " Lisbeth, what are you thinking of? In heaven's 
 name, are you crazy ? Isn't this woman like all 
 women, and haven't you helped me in my opera- 
 tions a hundred times? Come come folly has 
 taken possession of you. Go heat some water, that's 
 all the assistance I can hope for from you." 
 
 The dog was sitting in front of the alcove, look- 
 ing, through his shaggy hair, at the woman stretched 
 upon the bed, pale and motionless as a corpse. 
 
 " Fritzel," said my uncle, " close the shutters; 
 we must have less air. And you, Koffel, make a fire
 
 62 MADAME THERESE 
 
 in the stove, for we cannot expect to get any help 
 from Lisbeth now. Ah, if amid so much wretched- 
 ness we still had the good sense to keep somewhat 
 calm! But all must be in confusion. When the 
 devil starts out, no one knows where he'll stop." 
 
 He spoke in a discouraged tone. I ran out to 
 close the shutters, and heard him fasten them in- 
 side. Looking toward the fountain, I saw two more 
 carts laden with the dead. I re-entered the house, 
 shivering. Koffel had lighted the fire which crac- 
 kled in the stove. My uncle opened his case of in- 
 struments on the table. The mole-catcher stood 
 by, looking at the thousand shining little knives. 
 Uncle Jacob took a probe and approached the bed, 
 putting aside the curtains. The mole-catcher and 
 Koffel followed. Curiosity impelled me to watch 
 them. The candle lighted up th,e alcove ; my uncle 
 had cut open the cantiniere's jacket. Koffel, with 
 a large sponge, bathed her breast, which was covered 
 with dark blood. The dog watched him without 
 stirring. Lisbeth also had returned. She held my 
 hand, and muttered some prayer. No one spoke in 
 the alcove, and my uncle, hearing the old servant, 
 cried, angrily: 
 
 "Will you be quiet, foolish woman! Come 
 mole-catcher, eome, raise her arm."
 
 MADAME THERESE 63 
 
 "A beautiful creature," said the mole-catcher, 
 " still very young." 
 
 " How pale she is! " said Koffel. 
 
 I went nearer and saw her lying there, white as 
 snow, her head thrown back, and her black hair 
 falling around her. The mole-catcher held up her 
 arm, and beneath it, between the breast and the arm- 
 pit, appeared a bluish opening from which flowed 
 some drops of blood. Uncle Jacob, his lips com- 
 pressed, probed this wound; the probe would not 
 go in. I became so interested, never having seen 
 anything of the kind, that my whole soul was in 
 that alcove, and I heard my uncle murmur 
 
 "It is strange! " 
 
 At that moment the woman breathed a long sigh, 
 and the dog, who had been quiet until then, began 
 to cry in a voice as lamentable and gentle as a human 
 being's. It made my hair stand on end. 
 
 " Be silent ! " cried the mole-catcher. 
 
 The dog was silent, and my uncle said: 
 
 " Eaise the arm again, mole-catcher. Koffel, 
 come here and support the body." 
 
 Koffel went behind the bed, and raised the woman 
 by the shoulders. The probe immediately went in 
 very far. She groaned, and the dog growled. 
 
 " There," cried my uncle, " she is saved. Hold,
 
 64 MADAME THERESE 
 
 Koffel, sec: the ball has glanced along the ribs, it 
 is here, under the shoulder. Do you feel it? " 
 
 " Very plainly." 
 
 Uncle Jacob went out, and seeing me behind the 
 curtain, cried: 
 
 " What are you doing here? " 
 
 " I'm looking." 
 
 " Good, now, he's looking! Everything goes 
 wrong." 
 
 He took a knife from the table and went back. 
 
 The dog watched me with his shining eyes, which 
 disturbed me. Suddenly the woman uttered a cry, 
 and my uncle exclaimed, joyfully: 
 
 " See! it is a pistol-ball. The poor creature 
 has lost a great deal of blood, but she will re- 
 cover." 
 
 " She must have received that during the great 
 charge of the lancers," said Koffel. " I was at old 
 Krsemer's, on the first floor, cleaning his clock, and 
 I saw that they fired as they came in." 
 
 " It's possible," answered my uncle, who now for 
 the first time thought of looking at the woman's 
 face. 
 
 He took the candle from the mole-catcher, and 
 standing behind the bed, looked dreamily for some 
 seconds at the unfortunate creature.
 
 POR SEVERAL MOMENTS HE CONTEMPLATED THIS UNFORTtNATE 
 CREATORS.
 
 MADAME THERESE 65 
 
 " Yes," he said, " she is a beautiful woman, and 
 has a noble head. How sad that such creatures 
 should follow the army. How much better would 
 it be to see them in the bosom of an honest family, 
 surrounded by lovely children, beside an honest man 
 whose happiness they would make. What a shame! 
 After all, though, it is the will of God." 
 
 He went out, calling Lisbeth. 
 
 " Get some of your clothes for this woman, and 
 put them on her," he said. " Mole-catcher, Koffel, 
 come; we will have a glass of wine, for this has 
 been a hard day for us." 
 
 He went down into the cellar, and returned just 
 as the old servant came in with the garments. Lis- 
 beth, seeing that the cantiniere was not dead, had 
 taken courage; she went into the alcove and drew 
 the curtains, while my uncle uncorked the bottle 
 and went to the side-board for glasses. The mole- 
 catcher and Koffel seemed content. I, too, drew 
 near the table, which was still laid, and we finished 
 our supper. The dog watched us at a distance. My 
 uncle threw him some pieces of bread, but he would 
 not eat them. The church-clock struck one. 
 
 " It is half-past twelve," said Koffel. 
 
 " No," replied the mole-catcher, " it is one 
 o'clock. I think it is time for us to go to bed." 
 5
 
 66 MADAME THERESE 
 
 Lisbeth came out from the alcove, and we all 
 went in to see the cantiniere. She seemed to sleep. 
 The dog placed his fore paws on the edge of the bed, 
 and looked at her also. Uncle Jacob patted his head, 
 saying: 
 
 "Don't be afraid; she will get well, I promise 
 thee!" 
 
 The poor animal seemed to understand, and 
 whined softly. Then we went out. My uncle 
 lighted Koffel and the mole-catcher to the door, and 
 then said to us: 
 
 " Go to bed, now, it's time." 
 
 " And you, doctor? " asked the old servant. 
 
 " I shall watch this woman's in danger, and 
 they may also want me in the village." 
 
 He put a log on the fire, and threw himself back 
 on the arm-chair, twisting a piece of paper to light 
 his pipe. Lisbeth and I went up to our rooms, but 
 it was very late before I could get to sleep, despite 
 my great fatigue; for every half -hour the rumbling 
 of carts and the reflection of torches on the windows, 
 told me that the dead were still passing. At length, 
 at daybreak, all the noises ceased, and I slept 
 soundly.
 
 WHAT a sight the village was the next day when 
 each one was trying to find out what remained, and 
 what he had lost. They found that a great number 
 of Republicans, lancers, and Croats had entered the 
 houses through the back doors, and ransacked them. 
 Then there was general indignation, and I felt that 
 the mole-catcher was right in saying: 
 
 " The days of peace and quiet have flown away 
 through these openings." 
 
 All the doors and windows were thrown open 
 so the havoc might be seen; the street was filled 
 with furniture, vehicles, cattle, and men who were 
 exclaiming, 
 
 "Ah, the beggars! Ah, the robbers! They've 
 taken everything! " 
 
 One was looking for his ducks, another for his 
 chickens, another found under his bed a pair of old 
 shoes instead of his boots, a fourth, finding his chim- 
 ney-place empty, where sausages and pieces of bacon 
 had hung the morning before, went into a terrible 
 67
 
 68 MADAME THERESE 
 
 passion; the women raised their hands to heaven in 
 despair, and the girls seemed stupefied. Butter, 
 eggs, tobacco, potatoes, even linen had all been 
 stolen. The more they looked, the more they missed. 
 The greatest rage was felt against the Croats, for 
 after the general had passed, they, no longer fearing 
 that they might be complained of, had rushed into 
 the houses like a band of famished wolves, and God 
 knows how much had been given them to induce 
 them to go, without reckoning what they had taken. 
 
 It is very unfortunate that old Germany has sol- 
 diers from whom she has more to fear than from the 
 French. The Lord preserve us from ever again 
 needing their aid. We children, Hans Aden, Frantz 
 Sepel, Nickel, Johann, and I, went from door to 
 door, looking at the broken tiles and shutters, and 
 unroofed sheds, and picking up scraps, papers of 
 cartridges, and balls flattened against the walls. We 
 enjoyed these treasures so much, that we did not 
 think of returning home before nightfall. Toward 
 two o'clock we met Zapheri Schmouck, the basket- 
 maker's son, who held up his red head, and seemed 
 prouder than usual. He had something hidden un- 
 der his blouse, and when we asked, 
 
 " What have you got there? " he showed us the 
 end of a great horse-pistol.
 
 MADAME THERESE 6g 
 
 Then we all followed him. 
 
 He marched in the midst of us like a general; 
 we said to every boy we met, " He's got a pistol," 
 and the new-comer would join the troop. 
 
 We would not have left Schmouck for an empire. 
 It seemed to us that the glory of his pistol was re- 
 flected upon us. 
 
 Such are children, and such are men! 
 
 Each boasted of the dangers he had incurred dur- 
 ing the great battle. 
 
 " I heard the balls whistle," said Frantz Sepel, 
 " two of them came into our kitchen." 
 
 " I saw the general of the lancers galloping, in 
 his red cap," cried Hans Aden, " that was much 
 more terrible than hearing the balls whistle." 
 
 What elated me most was that the Republican 
 commander had given me the cake, saying: " Eat 
 this boldly ! " I thought myself worthy of having a 
 pistol, like Zapheri ]-^but nobody would believe me. 
 
 As we passed the steps of the Town Hall 
 Schmouck cried: 
 
 "Come and see!" 
 
 We mounted the grand staircase behind him, and 
 stopping before the door of the council-chamber, 
 which was pierced by a square opening as large as 
 one's hand, he said:
 
 jo MADAME THERESE 
 
 " Look the dead men's clothes are there. Jeffer 
 and the burgomaster brought them in a cart, this 
 morning." 
 
 We remained more than an hour looking at these 
 clothes, climbing on each other's shoulders, and 
 whispering: 
 
 " Let me look now, Hans Aden it's my turn," 
 etc. 
 
 The clothes were piled up in the middle of the 
 large, deserted room, under the dim light of two 
 high grated windows. There were the Republican 
 hats and lancers' caps, belts and pouches, blue coats, 
 and red cloaks, sabres, and pistols. The guns were 
 placed against the walls on the right, and further 
 on we saw a row of lances. 
 
 The sight of them gave me a chill, and I have 
 never forgotten them. 
 
 At the end of an hour, when night came, one of 
 the boys suddenly became frightened, and ran down 
 the stairs, crying in a loud voice: 
 
 "Here they are!" 
 
 Then all the party rushed down the steps, falling 
 over each other in the darkness. It is a wonder that 
 we did not break our necks, so great was our terror. 
 I was the last; and although my heart beat vio- 
 lently, I turned at the foot of the stairs, to look
 
 MADAME THERESE 71 
 
 back. It was nearly dark in the vestibule; through 
 a little window on the right, a faint ray of light fell 
 on the dark steps. Not a sound disturbed the si- 
 lence under the sombre vault. The cries in the 
 street died away in the distance. I began to fear 
 that my uncle would be anxious about me, and went 
 home alone, not without looking around again; for 
 it seemed to me that stealthy steps were following 
 me, and I dared not run. 
 
 I stopped before the inn of the Two Keys, whose 
 windows shone in the darkness of the night. The 
 noise of the drinkers reassured me. I looked 
 through the little opening in the door, into the large 
 room, where there was the hum of many voices, and 
 saw Koffel, the mole-catcher, M. Richter, and many 
 others seated at the deal tables, bending over pitch- 
 ers and goblets. The angular figure of M. Richter, 
 in his hunting-jacket and leather cap, was ges- 
 ticulating, under the hanging lamp, in the gray 
 smoke. 
 
 "Behold these famous Republicans," said he, 
 " these terrible men who are going to upset the 
 world. The glorious shadow of the Field Mar- 
 shal Wurmser is sufficient to scatter them. You've 
 seen them turn their backs, and stretch their legs! 
 How many times have I told you that their great
 
 ; 2 MADAME THERESE 
 
 enterprise would end in an explosion? Mole-catch- 
 er, Koffel, didn't I say so? " 
 
 "Yes, you said so," replied the mole-catcher, 
 " but that's no reason why you should talk so loud. 
 Come, M. Richter, sit down and order a bottle of 
 wine; Koffel and I've paid for ours. That's the 
 principal thing." 
 
 M. Richter sat down, and I went home. It 
 was about half-past seven o'clock. The passage 
 was swept, and the window-panes reset. I went 
 at once to the kitchen, and Lisbeth seeing me, 
 cried: 
 
 " Oh, here he is." She opened the door and 
 said, in a lower tone, " Doctor, the child's come ! " 
 
 " Very well," said my uncle, who was seated at 
 the table, " let him come in." 
 
 I was beginning to speak loud. 
 
 "Hush!" said he, pointing to the alcove, "sit 
 down; you must have a good appetite." 
 
 " Yes, uncle." 
 
 " Where do you come from ? " 
 
 " I've been to see the village." 
 
 "Very well, Fritzel; you've made me uneasy, 
 but I'm glad you've witnessed these horrors." 
 
 Lisbeth brought me a good plate of soup, and 
 while I ate, he added
 
 MADAME THERESE 73 
 
 , you know what war is. Remember these 
 things, Fritzel, to curse them. It is a good lesson. 
 What we see in our youth, remains with us all our 
 lives." 
 
 He spoke to himself rather than to me; I was 
 too much occupied with my supper to attend. After 
 soup, Lisbeth gave me meat and vegetables; but 
 just as I was taking my fork, I saw a motionless 
 creature sitting near me on the floor, watching me. 
 This startled me. 
 
 " Don't be afraid, Fritzel," said my uncle, smil- 
 ing. 
 
 I looked again and saw that it was the cantiniere's 
 dog. He was sitting gravely, with upturned nose 
 and hanging ears, observing me attentively. 
 
 " Give him some of your supper, and you will 
 soon be good friends." 
 
 He called the dog, who came and seated himself 
 near his chair, seeming well pleased with the little 
 pats my uncle gave him on the head. He licked my 
 plate clean, then looked at me again seriously. Sup- 
 per was nearly over and I was just going to rise from 
 the table, when a confused muttering was heard in 
 the alcove. My uncle listened ; the woman was 
 speaking extremely fast and low. Those confused, 
 mysterious words, in the midst of the silence, moved
 
 74 MADAME THERESE 
 
 me more than all the rest. I felt that I turned pale. 
 Uncle Jacob, his head bent forward, looked at me, 
 but his thoughts were elsewhere ; he was listening. 
 Among the many words she uttered, a few were 
 very distinct. 
 
 " My father Jean killed all all my coun- 
 try ! " 
 
 I saw that my uncle was much troubled ; his lips 
 trembled. He took the lamp and approached the 
 bed. Lisbeth entered, to clear the table. He 
 turned to her and said : 
 
 " See, fever has set in," and he drew aside the 
 curtains. She followed. I did not move from my 
 chair. I was no longer hungry. The woman was 
 silent. I saw my uncle's and Lisbeth's shadows on 
 the curtains. He held the woman's arm. The dog 
 was in the alcove with them. I was alone in the 
 dark room, and felt afraid. The cantiniere spoke 
 again more loudly ; then the room seemed to grow 
 darker, and I drew near the light. But at that mo- 
 ment there was a struggle ; Lisbeth, who was hold- 
 ing the lamp, recoiled, and the woman, very pale, 
 with wide open eyes, half rose, crying : 
 
 " Jean Jean take care I'm coming ! " Then 
 she uttered a great cry " Long live the Republic I" 
 and fell back.
 
 MADAME THERESE 75 
 
 My uncle came out, exclaiming in great agita- 
 tion : 
 
 " Lisbeth, quick, quick, go upstairs in the closet 
 ~ the gray vial with a glass stopper hurry! " 
 
 He re-entered the alcove. Lisbeth ran upstairs; 
 I held fast to my uncle's coat. The dog growled ; 
 the woman was stretched out as if dead. Lisbeth 
 returned with the vial. Uncle Jacob looked at it, 
 and said, quickly, 
 
 "That's it a spoon !" 
 
 I ran to get my spoon. He wiped it, poured a 
 few drops into it, and raising the woman's head 
 made her swallow them, saying, with extreme gen- 
 tleness, 
 
 " Come, come, courage, my child courage ! " 
 
 I had never heard him speak in a voice so sweet, 
 so tender it touched my heart. The cantiniere 
 sighed gently. My uncle laid her back upon the 
 bed, raising her pillow. Then he came out, looking 
 very pale, and said to us : 
 
 " Go to bed, leave me I'm going to watch." 
 
 " But, doctor," said Lisbeth, " last night " 
 
 "Go to bed," repeated he, impatiently. "I 
 haven't time to listen to your babbling. For 
 heaven's sake leave me in peace this may become 
 serious ! "
 
 76 MADAME THERESE 
 
 We felt that he must be obeyed. 
 
 As we went upstairs, Lisbeth said, 
 
 "Did you see that unhappy creature, Fritzel? 
 Perhaps she's going to die. Yet she is still think- 
 ing of that devilish Republic ! Those people are 
 real savages. All that we can do is to pray to God 
 to- pardon them." 
 
 Then she began to pray. I knew not what to 
 think of all this, but after having run about so much, 
 and wallowed in dirt, once in bed I slept so soundly 
 that not even the return of the Republicans them- 
 selves, with all their platoons and battalion-firing, 
 would have waked me before ten the next morning.
 
 VI 
 
 THE day after the departure of the Republicans, 
 everybody in the village knew that there was a 
 French woman at Uncle Jacob's house, who had re- 
 ceived a pistol-shot, and was recovering very slowly. 
 But the roofs of the houses, the doors and windows 
 must be repaired, and each had enough business of 
 his own to attend to, without troubling himself 
 about the affairs of others, and it was not until the 
 third day, when things were nearly all put in order 
 again, that people began to think about the woman. 
 Then Joseph Spick spread the news that the French 
 woman had become raving, and cried, " Long live 
 the Republic ! " in a terrible manner. 
 
 The scoundrel stood in the doorway of his inn, his 
 arms crossed, leaning against the wall, pretending to 
 smoke his pipe, and saying to the passers-by : 
 
 " Nickel Yokel listen ! listen how she 
 screams ! Isn't it abominable? Ought we to al- 
 low this?" 
 
 Uncle Jacob, the best man in the world, was so in- 
 77
 
 ;8 MADAME THERESE 
 
 dignant with Spick, that I heard him say several 
 times, that he deserved to be hung. Unhappily, we 
 could not deny that the cantinierc spoke of France, 
 of the Eepublic, and other things contrary to good 
 order. These ideas always returned to her mind, 
 and we were the more embarrassed because all the 
 gossips, all the old Salomes of the village came in 
 procession to our house ; one with her broom under 
 her arm, and petticoat tucked up, another with her 
 knitting-needles in her hair, and cap awry ; a third 
 bringing her spinning-wheel, with a sentimental air, 
 as if to spin in the chimney-corner. This one came 
 to borrow a gridiron, that one to buy a pot of curdled 
 milk, or to ask for a little yeast, to make bread. 
 What a shame ! Our passage was two inches deep 
 in mud from their wooden shoes. And to hear them 
 chatter while Lisbeth washed her dishes, or watched 
 her pots ; to see them come in, courtesying, and 
 playing the agreeable ! 
 
 " Ah ! good day, M'lle Lisbeth. How long it is 
 since I've seen you ! " 
 
 " Ah, it's M'lle Oursoula ! God of heaven ! how 
 glad I am to see you. Do sit down, M'lle Our- 
 soula ! " 
 
 " Oh, you're too good, too good ! M'lle Lisbeth ' 
 iWhat beautiful weather, this morning ! "
 
 MADAME THERESE 79 
 
 " Yes, M'lle Oursoula very fine weather deli- 
 cious weather for rheumatism." 
 
 " Delicious for colds, also." 
 
 " Ah, yes ! and for all kinds of sickness. How 
 is monsieur Ic cure's rheumatism, M'lle Oursoula? " 
 
 " Oh, Lord ! How should it be? Sometimes on 
 one side sometimes on the other. Yesterday in 
 the shoulder to-day in the back. So it moves 
 about. Always suffering, always suffering ! " 
 
 " Ah, I'm sorry to hear it very sorry ! " 
 
 " But apropos, M'lle Lisbeth, you'll call me very 
 curious they are talking about it all over the vil- 
 lage ; is your French lady still ill? " 
 
 " Ah, M'lle Oursoula, don't speak of it ; we've 
 had such a night such a night ! " 
 
 "Is it possible? That poor lady is no better? 
 What do I hear? " 
 
 And they would clasp their hands, and bend for- 
 ward with an air of great commiseration, rolling 
 their eyes, and shaking their heads. 
 
 The first two days, my uncle, thinking this would 
 end when people's curiosity was gratified, said noth- 
 ing. But seeing that it still continued, he entered 
 the kitchen abruptly, one fine morning, when his 
 patient had a great deal of fever and said to the old 
 women, angrily :
 
 8o MADAME THERESE 
 
 " What do you come here for? Why don't you 
 stay at home? Have you no work in your houses? 
 You ought to be ashamed to pass your lives in 
 chattering like old magpies, and giving yourselves 
 the airs of great ladies, when you are nothing 
 but servants. It is ridiculous, and I'm very tired 
 of it!" 
 
 " But," answered one, " I came to buy a pot of 
 milk." 
 
 " Does it take two hours to buy a pot of milk? " 
 replied he, really angry. " Lisbeth, give her the 
 pot of milk, and let her go with the others. I'm 
 tired of all this. I shall allow no one to come here 
 to spy, and take false news from my house to spread 
 over the country. Go, and don't come here again." 
 
 The gossips went off quite ashamed. 
 
 That day my uncle had a great discussion. M. 
 Ri.chter ventured to say to him that he was wrong 
 to interest himself so much in strangers, who came 
 into the country to pillage, and above all in this 
 woman, who could not be of much account, as she 
 had followed the soldiers. He listened coldly, and 
 answered : 
 
 " M. Richter, when I do a humane act, I do not 
 ask the person, ' From what country are you? Have 
 you the same belief as I? Are you rich or poor?
 
 MADAME THERESE 81 
 
 Can you pay me for what I have done for you? ' I 
 follow the impulse of my heart, and the rest matters 
 little. Whether this woman be French or German, 
 whether she has Republican ideas or not, whether 
 she has followed the soldiers of her own accord, or 
 been forced to do so by necessity, does not trouble 
 me. I saw that she was dying ; my duty was to 
 save her life. And now my duty is, with the help 
 of God, to go on with what I have undertaken. As 
 to you, M. Richter, I know you are an egotist ; you 
 do not love your fellow-creatures. Instead of ren- 
 dering them a service, you seek to gain some per- 
 sonal advantage from them. This is the foundation 
 of your opinion on all matters. And as such opin- 
 ions make me angry, I beg that you will not enter 
 my house again." 
 
 He opened the door, and as M. Richter wished to 
 reply, without listening to him, he politely took him 
 by the arm, and put him out. The mole-catcher, 
 Koffel, and I were present, and Uncle Jacob's firm- 
 ness on this occasion astonished us ; we had never 
 seen him more calm and resolute. He only kept 
 the mole-catcher and Koffel for his friends. Each 
 in turn watched with the patient, which did not pre- 
 vent them from attending to their business during 
 the day. 
 6
 
 82 MADAME THERESE 
 
 From that time tranquillity was re-established in 
 our house. 
 
 One morning, on awaking, I found that winter 
 had come. Its white light filled my little room. 
 Great snow-flakes were falling from the sky in 
 myriads whirling against my window-panes. All 
 was still outside ; not a soul was in the street ; 
 everybody's doors were closed ; the chickens were 
 quiet ; the dogs looked out from their kennels, and 
 in the neighboring thickets the poor green-finches, 
 shivering under their ruffled feathers, uttered that 
 plaintive cry of distress which lasts until spring. I, 
 with my elbow on my pillow, and my eyes dazzled, 
 looked at the snow piled up on the edge of the little 
 windows, and pictured to myself past winters the 
 light from our great stove in the evenings, dancing 
 on the floor, the mole-catcher, Koffel, and my uncle 
 bending over it, smoking their pipes and talking of 
 unimportant matters. I heard Lisbeth's wheel buz- 
 zing in the silence like the downy wings of a moth, 
 and her foot keeping time to the song that the green 
 log was singing on the hearth. Without, I pictured 
 to myself the slides on the river, the sleighing par- 
 ties, the battle with snow-balls, the shouts of laugh- 
 ter, the broken window-panes, the old grandmother 
 calling after us, while the band scampered away.
 
 MADAME THERESE 83 
 
 All this came into my mind in a moment, and half 
 sad, half glad, I said to myself, " It's winter." 
 Then thinking it would be pleasant to be sitting in 
 front of the fire, eating some of Lisbeth's good por- 
 ridge, I sprang from my bed, and dressed myself 
 quickly, feeling very chilly. Without taking time 
 to put on both sleeves of my jacket, I went rolling 
 downstairs like a ball. Lisbeth was sweeping the 
 yard. The kitchen door was open, but despite the 
 beautiful fire which danced around the pots, I hur- 
 ried into the sitting-room. Uncle Jacob had just 
 returned from a visit. His great riding-coat lined 
 with foxes' fur, and his otter-skin cap, hung on the 
 wall, and his large boots were near the stove. He 
 was taking a glass of kirsclienwasser* with the 
 mole-catcher, who had been watching that night. 
 Both seemed in good spirits. 
 
 " So, mole-catcher," said my uncle, " the night 
 has passed well?" 
 
 "Very well, doctor; we've all slept; the wom- 
 an in her bed, I in the arm-chair, and the dog 
 behind the curtain. Nobody has stirred. This 
 morning, on opening the window, I saw the country 
 as white as Hans Wurst, when he comes out of his 
 bag of flour ; all had been done without a sound. 
 * Cherry-brandy.
 
 84 MADAME THERESE 
 
 As I opened the window, you were coming up the 
 street, and I wanted to call out good morning, but 
 the woman was still asleep, and I didn't want to 
 wake her." 
 
 " Well, well, you did right. To your health, 
 mole-catcher." 
 
 " To yours, doctor." 
 
 They drained their little glasses at a draught, and 
 put them on the table, smiling. 
 
 " All goes well," said Uncle Jacob ; " the wound 
 is closing ; the fever diminishes, but strength is still 
 wanting ; the poor thing has lost too much blood. 
 But at last, at last, that will come right." 
 
 I sat down near the stove. The dog came from 
 the alcove, and began to caress my uncle, who said, 
 looking at him : 
 
 " What a good animal ! See, mole-catcher, 
 wouldn't you say that he understands us? Doesn't 
 he seem more joyous this morning? I cannot but 
 believe that these animals understand some things 
 very well ; if they have less judgment than we, they 
 often have more heart." 
 
 " That's true," said the mole-catcher. "For my 
 part, all the time the fever lasted, I would look at 
 the dog and think ( He's sad ; that's a bad sign. 
 He's gay ; that's a good sign ! ' On my honor, I
 
 MADAME THERESE 85 
 
 agree with you, doctor. I have great confidence in 
 the understanding of animals." 
 
 " Come, mole-catcher, take another little glass, 
 it's cold out of doors, and the old kirschemvasser 
 warms you like a ray of sunlight." He opened the 
 side-board, took out a loaf of bread and two knives, 
 and said, " Let us have a crust." 
 
 The mole-catcher nodded assent. My uncle, per- 
 ceiving me, said, smilingly : 
 
 " Well, Fritzel, snow-balls and slides have come 
 again. Doesn't that please you? " 
 
 " Yes, uncle." 
 
 " Yes, yes, amuse yourself. One is never hap- 
 pier than at your age, my boy. But above all, don't 
 make your snow-balls too hard. Those who make 
 them too hard don't want to amuse themselves, they 
 want to do harm ; they're bad boys." 
 
 " Ah, doctor," said the mole-catcher, laughing, 
 " I always made my balls too hard." 
 
 " And see how wrong you were ; that proves that 
 there was a spice of malice in your nature. Hap- 
 pily reason has conquered that. I'm sure you re- 
 pent of having made your balls too hard." 
 
 " Oh, yes," said the mole-catcher, not knowing 
 what to reply ; " although the rest made theirs too 
 hard, too."
 
 86 MADAME THERESE 
 
 " We should never trouble ourselves about oth- 
 ers. We must do what kindness commands. All 
 men are naturally good and just ; but bad example 
 leads them astray." 
 
 While we were talking, some words were heard 
 in the alcove. We all became silent, and lis- 
 tened. 
 
 " That, mole-catcher, is not the voice of de- 
 lirium," said Uncle Jacob. " It's a weak but nat- 
 ural voice." 
 
 He rose and drew aside the curtains. The mole- 
 catcher and I stood behind him, stretching forward 
 our heads. The woman, very pale and thin, seemed 
 to be asleep ; we could hardly hear her breathe. 
 But in a moment she opened her eyes, and looked 
 from one to another in astonishment, then around 
 the alcove, then at the windows white with snow, at 
 the chest of drawers, the old clock, and at the dog, 
 who stood with his paws on the edge of the bed. At 
 length she closed her eyes, and my uncle said, in a 
 very low tone : 
 
 "She has come to herself." 
 
 " Yes," said the mole-catcher, " she has seen us; 
 she doesn't know us, and now she's thinking of what 
 she has just seen." 
 
 We were going to withdraw, when she re-opened
 
 MADAME THERESE 87 
 
 her eyes, and made an effort to speak. But Uncle 
 Jacob, raising his voice, said, kindly : 
 
 " Don't agitate yourself, madame ; be calm ; have 
 no uneasiness. You are with those who will let you 
 want for nothing. You've been ill, but you're get- 
 ting better. But I beg you to have confidence 
 you're among friends true friends." 
 
 She looked at him with her large black eyes, while 
 he spoke. We could see that she understood him. 
 But notwithstanding his advice, she tried to speak 
 again, and said in a low voice : 
 
 " The drummer the little drummer." 
 
 My uncle, looking at the mole-catcher, asked : 
 
 " Do you understand her? " 
 
 And the mole-catcher, putting his hand to his 
 her.d, answered : 
 
 " A remnant of fever, doctor a little remnant 
 it'll pass off." 
 
 But the woman in a loud voice repeated 
 
 " Jean the little drummer." 
 
 I was standing on tip-toe, very attentive, and it 
 suddenly occurred to me that she was speaking of 
 the little drummer whom I had seen lying in our 
 shed, the day of the great battle. I remembered 
 how she watched him from the window, as she 
 mended his little pantaloons, and said :
 
 88 MADAME THERESE 
 
 " Uncle, perhaps she is speaking of the little 
 drummer who was with the Republicans." 
 
 The poor woman at once tried to turn toward me. 
 
 " Yes, yes ! " cried she. " Jean my brother!" 
 
 " Be quiet, madame," said my ancle. " Don't 
 move ; your wound might re-open. Mole- catcher, 
 bring a chair." And taking me under the arms, he 
 placed me on the chair before her, saying, ' Tell 
 madame what you know, Fritzel. Do you remem- 
 ber the little drummer? " 
 
 " Oh, yes ! the morning of the battle he was ly- 
 ing under our shed ; the dog was at his feet. He 
 was asleep. I remember him well ! " answered I, 
 much disturbed, for she was looking at me as if she 
 would search my very soul just as she had looked 
 at Uncle Jacob. 
 
 " And then, Fritzel?" 
 
 <k Then he was with the other drummers in the 
 midst of the battalion, when the Croats came. And 
 at last, when they had set the street on fire, and the 
 Republicans were leaving, I saw him in the rear." 
 
 " Wounded ? " asked the woman, in a voice so 
 faint that we could hardly hear it. 
 
 " Oh, no ! he had his drum on his shoulder, and 
 was crying as he marched, and a larger boy was say- 
 ing to him, ' Courage, little Jean, courage ! ' but
 
 MADAME THERESE 89 
 
 lie didn't seem to hear him his cheeks were wet 
 with tears." 
 
 " You are sure you saw him go away with them, 
 Fritzel? " asked my uncle. 
 
 " Yes, uncle ; he made me sorry, and I watched 
 him to the end of the village." 
 
 The cantiniere closed her eyes, and sobbed quiet- 
 ly. Tears flowed down her face, one of ter another, 
 in silence. It was very sad, and uncle said, softly : 
 
 " Get down, Fritzel ; we must let her cry without 
 hindrance." 
 
 But as I was getting down, she stretched out her 
 hand, and drew me to her, murmuring something. 
 Uncle Jacob understood her, and asked : 
 
 " Do you wish to kiss the child? " 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 He held me toward her. She kissed me, sobbing. 
 Then I too began to cry. 
 
 " Well, well ! " said my uncle. " You must be 
 calm now, madame ; you must try to sleep if you 
 would get well. You'll see your little brother 
 again. Courage ! " 
 
 He took me out, and closed the curtains. The 
 mole-catcher was walking up and down the room 
 with long strides. His face was red, and he said : 
 
 " That's a good woman, doctor an honest worn-
 
 9 o MADAME THERESE 
 
 an let her be a Republican, or what you will 
 They who think the contrary are no better than 
 scoundrels ! " 
 
 " Yes, she has a generous nature ; I knew it at 
 once by her face. It is fortunate that Fritzel re- 
 members the child. The poor woman was very 
 anxious. I understand now why the name of 
 Jean constantly recurred in her delirium. It is all 
 right, mole-catcher, it is all right tears will soothe 
 her." 
 
 They went out together. I heard them still talk- 
 ing about her outside the door. And as I sat near 
 the stove, wiping my eyes on my sleeve, I suddenly 
 saw the dog near me, looking at me with great gen- 
 tleness. He put his paw on my knee, and began to 
 caress me. For the first time I took his great 
 shaggy head between my hands without fear. It 
 seemed as if we had been friends for a long time, 
 and that I had never been afraid of him. Raising 
 my eyes, I saw Uncle Jacob, who had just come in, 
 and was watching me, smiling. 
 
 " You see, Fritzel, that the poor animal loves you. 
 He'll follow you now, for he's found out that you 
 have a kind heart." 
 
 And so it was ; from that day the dog no longer 
 refused to accompany me ; on the contrary, he fol-
 
 MADAME THERESE 91 
 
 lowed me gravely all over the village, which made 
 me prouder than Zapheri Schmouck with his lan- 
 cers' pistol. He would, sit near my chair, to eat 
 from my plate, and do whatever I wished.
 
 vn 
 
 THE snow continued to fall that day and the fol- 
 lowing night. Every one thought that the moun- 
 tain roads would be blocked up, and that we should 
 see no more of the lancers nor the Republicans ; but 
 a little incident happened which served to show the 
 sad consequences of war, and to make men reflect 
 on the mishaps of this world. 
 
 It was the day after that on which our patient had 
 recovered her reason, between eight and nine in the 
 morning. The kitchen door was open so that the 
 stove might warm the sitting : room. I was stand- 
 ing by Lisbeth, who was churning butter near the 
 hearth. Turning my head a little I could see my 
 uncle sitting by the window, which was white with 
 snow, reading the almanac and smiling occasionally. 
 
 The dog Scipio was near me, grave and motion- 
 less, and as I every minute tasted the cream, which 
 was coming out of the churn, he gaped in a melan- 
 choly manner. 
 
 " But Fritzel," said Lisbeth, " what are you 
 92
 
 MADAME THERESE 93 
 
 thinking of? If you eat all the cream, we'll have 
 no more butter." 
 
 The clock ticked slowly in the sitting-room ; out- 
 of-doors the silence was perfect. 
 
 This lasted for half an hour, and Lisbeth had just 
 put the fresh butter on a plate, when voices were 
 heard in the street ; the gate opened, and feet cov- 
 ered with snow were stamped on the stones of the 
 court. My uncle hung the almanac on the wall and 
 looked toward the door, through which the burgo- 
 master, Meyer, came in, with his cap of curled wool, 
 with two tassels, drawn over his ears, the collar of 
 his great coat white with frost, and his hands en- 
 closed in rabbit-skin mittens which reached to his 
 elbows. 
 
 " Good-day, doctor, good-day," said the large 
 man. " I come at a snowy time. But what of 
 that? It is necessary, it is necessary." 
 
 Then shaking his mittens, which hung from 
 his neck by a string, he took off his cap and con- 
 tinued: 
 
 " A poor devil, doctor, is lying in Reebock's 
 wood-house behind a heap of fagots. He's a soldier, 
 or rather a corporal, or a captain. I don't know ex- 
 actly which. He must have crept in there to die 
 quietly, during the fight. It will be necessary to
 
 94 MADAME THERESE 
 
 hold an inquest. I can't certify of what the man 
 died that's not part of my office." 
 
 " Well, burgomaster/' said Uncle Jacob, rising, 
 " I will go : but there must be one more witness." 
 
 " Michel Furst is outside, waiting at the gate. 
 What a snow ! what a snow ! up to one's knees, 
 doctor. It will be good for the crops, and for his 
 majesty's armies, who will go into quarters God 
 bless them ! I would rather they should go to 
 Kaiserslautern than come here; one never has a 
 better friend than himself." 
 
 While the burgomaster indulged in these reflec- 
 tions, my uncle was putting on his boots, great coat, 
 and otter-skin cap. Then he said : 
 
 " I am ready." 
 
 They went out, and despite the entreaties of Lis- 
 beth, who wanted to keep me in, I hurried out, and 
 followed them. I was seized with a curiosity to see 
 the soldier. 
 
 Uncle Jacob, the burgomaster, and Furst, were 
 the only persons in the deserted streets ; but as they 
 walked along, faces appeared at the windows and 
 doors were heard opening in the distance. People 
 seeing the burgomaster, the doctor, and the garde- 
 champetre* thought something extraordinary must 
 * An officer who has charge of the fields.
 
 MADAME THERESE 95 
 
 have happened, and several even came out, but, not 
 finding out anything, went in again immediately. 
 
 Arriving at Reebock's house, one of the oldest in 
 the village, with barn, stables, and shed in the fields 
 behind, and thatched cow-houses with mouldy roofs 
 on the right, the burgomaster, Furst, and my un- 
 cle, entered the little gloomy passage paved with 
 broken flag-stones. 
 
 I followed unperceived. 
 
 Old Ixeebock, who had seen them pass his win- 
 dows, opened the door of the sitting-room, which 
 was as full of smoke as a steam-bath, where the old 
 grandmother, her two sons, and two daughters-in- 
 law sat. 
 
 Their dog, with long gray hair and tail dragging 
 on the ground, came out, also, and smelt Scipio, who 
 followed me, holding himself proudly while the 
 other walked around him, trying to make his ac- 
 quaintance. 
 
 " I'll show you the way," said old Reebock 
 " it's there inside behind the barn." 
 
 " No, stay here, Father Reebock," said Uncle 
 Jacob, " it's chilly, and you are old your son will 
 show us the way." 
 
 But the son, after discovering the soldier, had ran 
 away.
 
 96 MADAME THERESE 
 
 The old man went before ; we followed in file. 
 It was very dark in the passage. In passing we saw 
 the cow-house lighted by a pane of glass in the roof, 
 five goats with full udders, who looked at us with 
 their golden brown eyes, and two kids who began to 
 cry in a shrill, plaintive voice ; then the stable ; two 
 oxen and the cow, with their worm-eaten racks and 
 litter of dead leaves. 
 
 The animals turned quietly round. ~VVe walked 
 along the wall : something rolled under my feet. 
 It was a rabbit which disappeared under the man- 
 ger. Scipio did not stir. 
 
 Then we came to the barn, low, filled with hay 
 and straw to the roof. Inside we saw a window of 
 bluish glass opening in the garden ; the light from 
 it fell upon a great pile of logs and some fagots 
 heaped against the wall ; below all was dark. 
 
 Strange to say, in the window were a cock and two 
 or three hens, their heads under their wings, who 
 stood out black against the light. I could not see 
 much at first, on account of the gloom. We all 
 stopped. The hens gave a low cackle. 
 
 " Perhaps I should have lighted the lantern," 
 said old Reebock : " we can't see very well." 
 
 As he spoke, I saw to the right of the window, 
 against the wall, between two fagots, a large red
 
 MADAME THERESE 97 
 
 cloak : then looking closer, a dark head and yellow- 
 ish mustache; the cock jumped down from the 
 window and made it lighter. 
 
 I was seized with fear. Had I not felt Scipio 
 against my leg, I should have run away. 
 
 " I see," said my uncle, " I see ! " And he ap- 
 proached, saying : " It is a Croat. Let us see 
 Furst, we must draw him forward a little." 
 
 But neither Furst nor the burgomaster moved. 
 
 My uncle drew the man by the leg, so that the 
 light fell upon him. He had a red head, sunken 
 eyes, pinched nose, compressed lips, and a reddish 
 tuft on his chin. Uncle Jacob unbuckled his cloak, 
 throwing the folds over the wood, and we saw that 
 the Croat held a sabre with a long blue curved blade. 
 On his left side a large black spot showed that he had 
 bled there. My uncle unbuttoned his vest and said : 
 
 " He died of a bayonet-stroke, doubtless during 
 the last encounter. He must have withdrawn from 
 the contest. Father Keebock, what astonishes me, 
 is that he did not knock at your door, and that he 
 came so far to die." 
 
 " We were all hidden in the cellar," said the old 
 
 man ; " the door of the room was shut. We heard 
 
 some one running in the passage, but there was so 
 
 much noise outside. I believe the poor man wanted 
 
 7
 
 98 MADAME THERESE 
 
 to escape through the house ; unfortunately there 
 is no back door. A Republican must have followed 
 him like a wild beast as far as the barn. We've seen 
 no blood in the passage ; it is here in the darkness 
 that they must have fought, and the Frenchman, 
 after giving him this bad blow, must have gone 
 quietly away. This is what I think ; otherwise we 
 should have found blood somewhere. But no one 
 has seen any, either in the stable or the cow-house. 
 It was not till this morning, when we needed some 
 large wood for the stove, that Sepel, going into the 
 woodhouse, discovered the unfortunate man." 
 
 As we listened to this explanation, we pictured to 
 ourselves the Republican with his great queue, like 
 a black sausage, and his large pointed hat, pursuing 
 the Croat in the darkness, and it made one tremble. 
 
 " Yes," said Uncle Jacob, rising, and looking at 
 the burgomaster, sadly, "that's the way it must 
 have happened." 
 
 All became thoughtful. The silence near the 
 dead body chilled me. 
 
 " Row the inquest is over," said my uncle, in a 
 moment, " we can go." Then, be-thinking him- 
 self, " Perhaps there may be some means of finding 
 out who this man is." 
 
 He knelt again, put his hand into the man's
 
 MADAME THE'RESE 
 
 99 
 
 pocket, and drew out some papers. Then he pulled 
 a little copper chain that crossed his breast, and 
 drew a large silver watch from the fob of his panta- 
 loons. 
 
 " Take the watch," he said to the burgomaster. 
 " I'll keep the papers until I've written the certifi- 
 cate." 
 
 " Keep everything, doctor," said the burgomas- 
 ter. " I don't like to carry into my house a watch 
 which has already marked the death of one of God's 
 creatures no, keep everything. Later, we'll talk 
 of this again. Now, let us go." 
 
 " Yes, and you may send Jeffer." 
 
 Then my uncle, perceiving me, said : 
 
 " You here, Fritzel ? Must you then see every- 
 thing? " 
 
 He made no other reproach, and we went home' 
 together. The burgomaster and Furst went to their 
 homes. As we walked along, Uncle Jacob read the 
 Croat's papers. Opening the door of our room, we 
 saw that the woman had just taken some broth ; the 
 curtains were still open and the plate on the table. 
 
 " Well, madame," said my uncle, smiling, 
 " you're getting better." 
 
 She had turned and was looking at him gratefully 
 with her large black eyes.
 
 loo MADAME THERESE 
 
 " Yes, doctor, you have saved me. I feel that 
 I'm recovering." Then, in a second, she added in 
 a tone full of compassion " You have just found 
 another unfortunate victim of war." 
 
 My uncle knew then that she had overheard the 
 conversation when the burgomaster came for him 
 half an hour before. 
 
 " It is true, it is true, madame ; another unfortu- 
 nate creature who will never more see his home ; 
 another poor mother who will never again embrace 
 her son." 
 
 She seemed moved, and asked in a low voice : 
 
 " Is it one of our men? " 
 
 " Xo, madame ; he is a Croat. I have just been 
 reading a letter that his mother wrote him three 
 weeks ago. The poor woman begs him not to for- 
 get his prayers night and morning, and to do right. 
 She speaks to him with tenderness, as if he were a 
 child. Yet he was an old soldier ; but doubtless 
 she saw him still fresh and fair as on the day when, 
 for the last time, she embraced him, sobbing." 
 
 My uncle's voice, as he said this, was very touch- 
 ing. He looked at the woman, who also seemed 
 much moved. 
 
 " Yes, you are right," said she, " it must be 
 dreadful to know that a child will never come back
 
 MADAME THERESE 101 
 
 again. I, at least, have the consolation of no longer 
 causing such suffering to those who loved me." 
 
 She turned away her head, and my uncle, who had 
 become very grave, asked her : 
 
 " Yet you are not alone in the world? " 
 
 " I have neither father nor mother," said she, 
 sadly ; " my father was commander of the battalion 
 that you saw. I had three brothers. We all came 
 away together in '92 from Fenetrange in Lorraine. 
 Three are now dead ; my father and two eldest 
 brothers ; only I, and Jean the little drummer, are 
 left." As she said this, she seemed ready to burst 
 into tears. Uncle Jacob, his head bent forward, his 
 arms crossed on his back, walked up and down the 
 room. Again all was silent. Suddenly the French 
 woman said : " I have something to ask you, doc- 
 tor." 
 
 "What,madame?" 
 
 " Write to the mother of the unfortunate Croat. 
 It is terrible, no doubt, to hear of the death of a son, 
 but to be always expecting him, to hope for years 
 that he will return, and yet never to see him even 
 at one's last hour, that must be more cruel still." 
 
 She ceased, and my uncle said, thoughtfully : 
 
 " Yes, yes, it is a good thought. Fritzel, bring 
 the ink and paper. What a terrible thing, my God !
 
 102 MADAME THERESE 
 
 To think that writing such news to a mother should 
 be considered a good deed. Oh war ! war ! " 
 
 He sat down and began to write. Lisbeth came 
 in to lay the cloth. She put the plates and loaf on 
 the side-board. Twelve o'clock struck. The can- 
 tiniere seemed to be sleeping. Uncle Jacob fin- 
 ished his letter, folded, sealed, and addressed it, and 
 said to me : 
 
 " Go, Fritzel, put this letter into the box, and 
 hurry. Ask for the newspaper at Mother Eber- 
 hardt's. It's Saturday ; there must be news of the 
 war." 
 
 I ran out, and put the letter in the village box. 
 But the newspaper had not come. Clementz had 
 been delayed by the snow, which did not surprise 
 my uncle, as such things happened nearly every 
 winter.
 
 VIII 
 
 HE-TURNING from the post-office, I saw at a dis- 
 tance, in the large meadow behind the church Hans 
 Aden, Frantz Sepel, and many of my other com- 
 rades, sliding on the pond. I could see a whole row 
 of them give a sudden spring, and glide off like ar- 
 rows, bending forward, their arms extended in the 
 air to preserve their equilibrium, and I heard the 
 prolonged whir of their wooden shoes on the ice, and 
 their shouts of joy. 
 
 How my heart bounded as I watched them ! How 
 I wished that I could join them ! Unfortunately 
 Uncle Jacob was waiting for me, and I went in with 
 my head full of this joyous sight. All the time we 
 were at dinner, the idea of running down to the 
 meadow never left me for a second ; but I was very 
 careful not to speak of it to my uncle, for he always 
 forbade my sliding on the pond for fear of accidents. 
 
 At last he went out to visit the cure, who was suf- 
 fering from rheumatism. I waited until he had 
 reached the main street, and then whistled to Scipio, 
 103
 
 104 MADAME THERESE 
 
 and ran like a hare to Holly Lane. The dog bound- 
 ed after me, and it was not until we reached the little 
 lane full of snow, that we stopped to take breath. I 
 thought I should find my comrades on the pond, but 
 they had gone to dinner. On turning the corner of 
 the church, I only saw the great deserted slides. I 
 therefore had to slide alone, and as it was cold, I had 
 enough of it in half an hour. I was returning to the 
 village, when Hans Aden, Frantz Sepel, and two or 
 three others, with red cheeks, cotton caps drawn over 
 their ears, and hands in their pockets, came out from 
 the hedges covered with snow. 
 
 " Is it you, Fritzel? " said Hans. " Are you go- 
 ing away?" 
 
 " Yes. I've just been sliding, and Uncle Jacob 
 doesn't want me to slide. I'd rather go home." 
 
 " I split my shoe on the ice this morning," said 
 Frantz, " and my father has mended it. Look ! " 
 
 He took off his shoe and showed it to us. His 
 father had put a band of iron across it, fastened by 
 four great nails, with pointed heads. 
 
 This made us laugh, and Frantz cried : 
 
 " There ! that isn't very fine for sliding ! Lis- 
 ten : let us go in a sled up the Altenberg, and we'll 
 come down like the wind." 
 
 The idea of going in a sled seemed to me so mag-
 
 MADAME THERESE 105 
 
 nificent, that I already saw myself on one, rushing 
 down the hill, and guiding it with my heels, crying, 
 in a voice which reached the clouds, " Himmels- 
 farth! Himmelsfarth ! " I was enchanted with 
 the idea. 
 
 " Yes," said Hans Aden, " but how are we to get 
 a sled?" 
 
 " Leave that to me," replied Frantz Sepel, the 
 most mischievous of us all. " Father had one last 
 year, but it was all worm-eaten, and grandmother 
 made fire-wood of it. But it's all the same. Come 
 on." 
 
 We followed him, full of doubt and hope. As 
 we went down the street, we stopped before every 
 shed, and looked up with envious eyes at the sleds 
 hanging from the beams. 
 
 " There's a beautiful sled ! " said one ; " it could 
 hold us all, easily." 
 
 " Yes," answered another, " but it would be too 
 heavy to drag up the hill ; it is made of green 
 wood." 
 
 "Ah," said Hans Aden, " but we'd take it for 
 all that, if Father Gitzig would lend it to us. But 
 he's a miser. He keeps his sled for himself alone ; 
 as if sleds could wear out ! " 
 
 " Come on ! " cried Frantz Sepel, who was in ad-
 
 106 MADAME THERESE 
 
 vance. All the party started again. From time to 
 time they glanced at Scipio, who kept near me. 
 
 "You have a fine dog," said Hans, "he's a 
 French dog. They have wool like sheep, and let 
 you shear them without saying a word." 
 
 Frantz declared that he had seen, the year before, 
 at the fair at Kaiserslautern, a French dog who wore 
 glasses, and counted on a drum up to a hundred. 
 He guessed all sorts of things, and Grandmother 
 Anne thought he must be a sorcerer. 
 
 Scipio stopped and looked at us during this 
 speech. I was very proud of him. Little Karl, the 
 weaver's son, said that if Scipio were a sorcerer, he 
 could get a sled for us ; but it would be necessary to 
 give him our souls in exchange, and not one of us 
 wanted to give him his soul. 
 
 So we went from house to house, and the church 
 clock was striking two, when M. Richter passed us 
 on his sled, crying to his great lean horse, " Get up ! 
 Charlotte, get up ! " The poor beast strained every 
 nerve. M. Richter, contrary to his custom, seemed 
 very merry. As he passed the butcher Sepel's 
 house, he cried, " Good news, Sepel, good news ! " 
 He cracked his whip, and Hans said : 
 
 " M. Richter'& a little fuddled. He must have 
 found, somewhere, some wine which didn't cost him 
 anything."
 
 MADAME THERESE 107 
 
 We laughed loudly at this ; for all in the Tillage 
 knew that M. Richter was a miser. We had reached 
 the end of the street where stood the house of Father 
 Adam Schmitt, an old soldier of Frederic II., who 
 received a little pension to buy bread, and tobacco, 
 and occasionally schnapps. He had been in the 
 Seven Years' War, and in all the campaigns of Si- 
 lesia and Pomerania. He was very old now, and 
 since his sister Roesel's death, lived alone in the last 
 house of the village a little thatched house, having 
 only one room below, one above, and the roof with 
 its two attic windows. There was also a shed on one 
 side, a pig-sty behind, and a little garden in front, 
 surrounded by a quick-set hedge, which Father 
 Schmitt cultivated with care. 
 
 Uncle Jacob liked this old soldier ; sometimes, 
 when he saw him passing the house, he would tap 
 on the window-pane, and cry, " Come in, Adam ! " 
 He always came in, knowing that uncle had real 
 French cognac in a cupboard, and that he called him 
 in to offer him a little glass. 
 
 We stopped, then, before his house, and Frantz, 
 leaning on the hedge, said : 
 
 " Look at that sled ! I bet Father Schmitt will 
 lend it to us, if Fritzel goes in boldly, puts his hand 
 beside the old man's ear, and says, ( Father Adam,
 
 Io8 MADAME THERESE 
 
 will you lend us your sled? ' Yes, I bet he'll lend 
 it to us ; I'm sure of it only we must be bold ! " 
 
 I became very red. I looked at the sled with one 
 eye, and with the other at the little low window on a 
 level with the ground. All my comrades stood at 
 the corner of the house, pushing me forward by the 
 shoulder, saying : 
 
 " Go in, he'll lend it to you ! " 
 
 " I dare not," said I, speaking very low. 
 
 "You haven't any courage," replied Hans 
 Aden; " if I were in your place, I'd go in at once." 
 
 " Let me look in, a little, and see if he's in good 
 humor." 
 
 Then I peeped in at the little window, and saw 
 Father Schmitt sitting on a stool before the stone 
 hearth, on which a few coals burned amid a heap of 
 ashes. His back was turned toward me. I could 
 see only his long figure and stooping shoulders, his 
 little blue cloth jacket, too short to reach the coarse 
 gray linen pantaloons, his white hair falling on his 
 neck, the blue cotton cap, with a little tassel in front, 
 the large red ears standing out from his head, and 
 great wooden shoes resting on the stove hearth. He 
 was smoking his clay pipe, the bowl of which I could 
 see projecting a little beyond his sunburnt cheek. 
 This is all I saw beside the broken flag-stones of the
 
 MADAME THERESE 109 
 
 floor, and on the left, a sort of manger filled with 
 straw. These observations did not inspire me with 
 much confidence, and I tried to escape ; but the 
 others pushed me into the entry, saying, in low 
 voices : 
 
 " Fritzel Fritzel he'll lend it to you, I'm 
 sure ! " 
 
 " No." 
 
 " Yes." 
 
 " I don't want to." 
 
 But Hans Aden had opened the door, and I was 
 already in the room with Scipio, the others behind 
 me, with wide-open eyes, staring and listening. Oh, 
 how I wished I could escape ! Unfortunately, 
 Frantz Sepel, outside, held the door half closed. 
 There was room only for his head, and Hans Aden's, 
 who stood on tip-toe behind him. Old Schmitt had 
 turned round. 
 
 " Why, it's Fritzel ! " said he, rising. " What's 
 the matter? " 
 
 He opened the door, and all the party fled like a 
 flock of sparrows. I was left alone. The old sol- 
 dier looked at me much astonished. 
 
 " What do you want, Fritzel? " asked he, taking 
 a coal from the hearth to re-light his pipe, which had 
 gone out. Then seeing Scipio, he contemplated
 
 oo MADAME THERESE 
 
 him gravely, blowing great puffs of smoke. I had 
 recovered my confidence a little. 
 
 " Father Schmitt," said I, " the boys want me 
 to ask you for your sled, to ride down the Alten- 
 berg." 
 
 The old soldier, who was opposite the dog, winked 
 and smiled. Instead of replying, he rubbed his ear, 
 raising his cap, and asked : 
 
 " Is that your dog, Fritzel? " 
 
 " Yes, Father Adam ; he belongs to the woman 
 who is at our house." 
 
 " Ah, good ! he must be a soldier's dog. He 
 must know the drill." 
 
 Scipio was watching us, with nose upturned, and 
 Father Schmitt, taking his pipe from his mouth, 
 said : 
 
 " He's a dog of the regiment. He looks like old 
 Michel, whom we had in Silesia." Then raising 
 his pipe, he cried : " Shoulder arms ! " in a voice 
 so loud that it resounded through the whole house. 
 But what was my surprise to see Scipio sit on his 
 hind legs, his fore legs hanging down, and carrying 
 himself like a real soldier. 
 
 " Ha! ha ! ha ! " cried old Schmitt, " I was 
 sure of it ! " 
 
 My comrades had all come back. Some were
 
 "CABBY ARMS 2"
 
 MADAME THERESE m 
 
 looking in through the half -open door, some through 
 the window. Scipio did not stir, and Father 
 Schmitt, as joyous as he had seemed grave before, 
 said : 
 
 " Attention, march ! " Then imitating the 
 sound of a drum, he marched backward on his great 
 wooden shoes, and began to cry, " March ! Pan 
 pan rataplan. One two. One two ! " 
 
 And Scipio marched with astonishing gravity, his 
 long ears on his shoulders, and his tail curled. It 
 was marvellous. My heart leaped. All the others 
 were speechless with admiration. 
 
 " Halt ! " cried Schmitt, and Scipio halted. 
 
 Then I thought no more of the sled ; I was so 
 proud of Scipio's talents, that I would have run 
 home and exclaimed to my uncle, " We have a dog 
 who can drill ! " But Hans Aden, Frantz Sepel, 
 and all the rest, encouraged by the old soldier's good 
 humor, had come in, and were standing there in 
 ecstasy, their backs against the door, their caps un- 
 der their arms. 
 
 " In place, rest ! " cried Father Schmitt, and 
 Scipio came down on his four paws, shaking his 
 head, and scratching his neck with his hind leg, as if 
 to say, " A flea has been biting me for two min- 
 utes, but one dares not scratch himself wliile under 
 arms! "
 
 H2 MADAME THERESE 
 
 I was speechless with joy at seeing these per- 
 formances, and dared not call Scipio for fear of mak- 
 ing him ashamed. But he placed himself near me, 
 modestly, which overwhelmed me with satisfaction. 
 I considered myself in some sort, a field-marshal at 
 the head of his armies. All the others envied me. 
 
 Father Schmitt looked at Scipio with emotion. 
 "We could see that he was recalling his soldier life. 
 
 " Yes," said he, in a few minutes, " he's a true 
 soldier's dog. But let us see if he understands pol- 
 itics, for very few dogs understand politics." He 
 took a stick from behind the door, and held it cross- 
 wise, crying, " Attention to the word of com- 
 mand ! " Scipio was already in readiness. 
 
 " Jump for the Republic ! " cried the old soldier, 
 and Scipio leaped over the stick like a stag. 
 
 " Jump for General Hoche ! " Scipio jumped. 
 
 " Jump for the King of Prussia ! " But then he 
 seated himself on his tail very firmly, and the old 
 man began to laugh quietly, his eyes half shut, say- 
 ing? 
 
 " Yes, he understands politics ha ! ha ! ha ! 
 Come ! " He passed his hand over the dog's head, 
 and Scipio seemed very happy. 
 
 " Fritzel, you have a dog worth his weight in 
 gold ; he's a true soldier's dog." And looking at
 
 MADAME THERESE 113 
 
 all of us, he added, " I'm going to lend you my sled, 
 since you have such a good dog ; but you must 
 bring it back at five o'clock, and take care not to 
 break your necks." 
 
 He went out with us, and took his sled from the 
 shed. My mind was divided between going to an- 
 nounce to my uncle Scipio's extraordinary talents, 
 and riding down the Altenberg on our sled. But 
 when I saw Hans Aden, Frantz Sepel, and all my 
 companions, some before, some behind, pushing and 
 pulling, galloping in ecstasy, I could not resist the 
 pleasure of joining the party. 
 
 Schmitt watched us from the door : 
 
 " Take care not to upset," said he, again. 
 
 Then he went in, while we marched along in the 
 snow. Scipio leaped at my side. I leave you to 
 imagine our joy, our screams and shouts of laughter, 
 as we went up the hill. 
 
 And when we were at the top, Hans Aden in 
 front, his hands clinging to the sides of the sled, the 
 rest behind, three together, Scipio in the middle, 
 and the sled suddenly started, jolting in the ruts, and 
 spinning over the slopes what delight ! 
 
 Ah ! we are never young but once. 
 
 The sled had hardly started, when Scipio sprang 
 
 with one bound over our heads. He would rather 
 
 8
 
 II 4 MADAME THERESE 
 
 run, leap, bark, roll in the snow like a child, than go 
 in a sled. But this did not prevent us from retain- 
 ing great respect for his talents. Every time we 
 went up, and he walked near us, full of dignity, first 
 one, then the other would turn round, as we pushed 
 our sled, and say : 
 
 " You're very fortunate, Fritzel, to have such a 
 dog. Adam Schmitt says he's worth his weight in 
 gold." 
 
 " Yes, but he doesn't belong to them," cried an- 
 other, " he's the woman's." 
 
 The idea that he was the woman's dog disturbed 
 me very much, and I thought, " I hope they'll both 
 stay at our house ! " 
 
 We continued to go up and down the hill until 
 nearly four o'clock. Then night began to fall, and 
 we remembered our promise to Father Schmitt, and 
 returned to the village. As we drew near the old 
 soldier's house we saw him standing at his door. He 
 had heard us laughing and talking at a distance. 
 
 " Here you are," cried he ; " nobody's hurt? " 
 
 " K"o, Father Schmitt." 
 
 " So much the better." 
 
 He put his sled under the shed, and I ran off with- 
 out saying " good-day," or " good-night," eager 
 to announce to my uncle what a dog we had the
 
 AH ! WE ARE ONLY YOUNG ONCE ! '
 
 MADAME THERESE 115 
 
 honor of possessing. This idea made me so happy 
 that I was home before I knew it. Scipio was at 
 my heels. 
 
 " Uncle Jacob ! " cried I, opening the door, 
 " Scipio knows how to drill ! Father Schmitt saw 
 at once that he was a real soldier's dog. He made 
 him march on his hind legs like a grenadier, only 
 saying to him ' One ! two ! ' ' 
 
 My uncle was reading behind the stove. Seeing 
 me so enthusiastic, he put his book on the mantel- 
 piece, and said with an air of astonishment 
 
 " Is it possible, Fritzel?" 
 
 " Yes," cried I, " and he understands politics, 
 too : he leaps for the Republic and for General 
 Hoche, but he won't leap for the King of Prussia." 
 
 My uncle laughed, and looked at the woman, who 
 was also smiling, in the alcove, her elbow on the pil- 
 low. 
 
 " Madame Therese," said he, gravely, " you 
 have not spoken of the remarkable talents of your 
 dog. Is it true that Scipio knows so many fine 
 things?" 
 
 " It is true, doctor," she said, caressing the dog, 
 who had approached the bed, and stretched out his 
 head to her, joyfully, " Yes, he knows all that, he 
 was the amusement of the regiment. Little Jean
 
 n6 MADAME THERESE 
 
 taught him something new every day. Isn't it so, 
 my poor Scipio? Didn't you play at drogue* 
 shake the dice for good luck, and beat the reveille? 
 How many times have our father and two elder 
 brothers, when we halted for the night, been de- 
 lighted to see you mount guard? You made every- 
 body laugh by your air of gravity and your accom- 
 plishments ; we forgot the fatigue of the march as 
 we gathered around you, and laughed heartily ! " 
 
 She said this in a tender voice, and was much 
 moved, although smiling a little. 
 
 Scipio had straightened himself up, his paws on 
 the edge of the bed, to listen to this praise. 
 
 But Uncle Jacob, seeing that Madame Therese 
 became more and more agitated by these remem- 
 brances, feared they would do her harm, and said 
 
 " I'm very glad, Fritzel, that Scipio knows how 
 to drill, and understands politics ; but what have 
 you been doing since noon? " 
 
 " We've been on a sled up the Altenberg, Father 
 Adam lent us his sled." 
 
 " That's very well, but all these doings have made 
 us forget M. de Buffon and Klopstock. If this con- 
 tinues, Scipio will soon know more than you." 
 
 He rose and took from the bureau Buffon's Nat- 
 * Game played by soldiers and sailors.
 
 MADAME THERESE 117 
 
 ural History, and put the candle on the table. 
 " Come, Fritzel," said he, smiling at my long face, 
 for I was wishing I had not returned so soon, 
 " Come ! " 
 
 He sat down and took me on his knee. It seemed 
 very hard to return to M. de Buff on after eight days' 
 holiday ; but my uncle had so much patience that I 
 was forced to have some also, and we began our 
 French lesson. It lasted an hour, until Lisbeth 
 came to lay the cloth. Then we turned round, and 
 saw that Madame Therese was dozing. My uncle 
 closed the book and drew the curtains, while Lisbeth 
 arranged the dishes.
 
 IX 
 
 THAT evening, after supper, Uncle Jacob smoked 
 his pipe in silence behind the stove. I sat before it, 
 drying my pantaloons, Scipio's head between my 
 knees, and watched the red firelight dancing on the 
 floor. Lisbeth had taken away the candle as usual ; 
 we were in darkness ; the fire burned briskly, as it 
 does in very cold weather, the clock ticked slowly, 
 and we could hear the old servant in the kitchen 
 washing her dishes in the sink. 
 
 How many thoughts passed through my head, 
 then ! Sometimes I thought of the dead soldier in 
 Eeebock's barn, and the black cock in the window. 
 Sometimes of Father Schmitt making Scipio go 
 through the drill ; then of the Altenberg and our 
 descent on the sled. It all came back to me like a 
 dream ; the plaintive murmur of the fire seemed to 
 me the music of these remembrances, and I felt my 
 eyes close softly. 
 
 About half an hour afterward I was awakened by 
 218
 
 MADAME THERESE 
 
 119 
 
 the sound of steps in the alley ; the door opened, 
 and the mole-catcher's cheerful voice said : 
 
 " Snow, doctor, snow ! It's begun to fall again. 
 We shall have it all night." 
 
 Uncle must have been dozing, for a minute passed 
 before I heard him move, and answer : 
 
 " What would you have, mole-catcher? This is 
 the season. "VVe must expect it now." 
 
 Then he rose and went into the kitchen for a 
 light. 
 
 The mole-catcher drew near. 
 
 " How, Fritzel here ! " said he. " You not 
 asleep yet ? " 
 
 My uncle returned. I turned my head and saw 
 that the mole-catcher had his winter clothes on ; his 
 old cap of martin's fur, the worn-out tail hanging 
 down his back ; his goat-skin jacket, the hair in- 
 side, his red waistcoat with pockets hanging looso- 
 ly on his hips, and old brown velvet breeches, 
 adorned with patches on the knees. He was smil- 
 ing, half-shutting his small eyes, and holding some- 
 thing under his arm. 
 
 " Have you come for the Gazette, mole-catcher?" 
 asked Uncle Jacob. " It didn't come this morning. 
 The messenger is behindhand." 
 
 " No, doctor, no. I've come for something else."
 
 120 MADAME .THERESE 
 
 He placed on the table an old square book, with a 
 wooden cover at least a quarter of an inch thick, and 
 covered with large brass ornaments, representing 
 vine leaves. The edges were all blackened and 
 greasy with age, and from each page hung strings 
 and threads to mark the right places. 
 
 " See why I've come ! " said the mole-catcher, 
 " I don't need news ; when I want to know what's 
 going on in the world, I open, and look." 
 
 Then he smiled and his long yellow teeth showed 
 themselves under the four hairs of his mustache, 
 slender as needles. 
 
 My uncle said nothing, but drew the table near 
 the stove, and sat down in his corner. 
 
 " Yes," continued the mole-catcher, " every- 
 thing's in that, but one must understand one must 
 understand ! " touching his head dreamily. " The 
 letters are nothing, it's the spirit the spirit that one 
 must understand." 
 
 Then he seated himself in the arm-chair, and took 
 the book in his lap, with a sort of veneration ; he 
 opened it, and said, while my uncle looked at him : 
 
 " Doctor, I've told you a hundred times about the 
 book of my Aunt Roesel of Heming ; well, to-day 
 I have brought it, to show you the past, the present, 
 and the future. You will see! You will see!
 
 MADAME THERESE 121 
 
 All that has happened during the last four years, 
 was written beforehand. I knew it well, but I 
 wouldn't tell it because of that Richter, who would 
 have laughed at me, for he can't see farther than the 
 end of his nose. And the future, also, is here ; but 
 I will only explain it to you, doctor, who are a sen- 
 sible, reasonable, clear-sighted man. This is why 
 I have come." 
 
 " Listen, mole-catcher," replied Uncle Jacob. 
 " I know very well that all is mystery in this lower 
 world, and I am not conceited enough to refuse to 
 believe in predictions and miracles related by such 
 wise authors as Moses, Herodotus, Thucydides, 
 Livy, and many others. But nevertheless, I respect 
 the will of God too much to wish to penetrate the 
 secrets hidden by His infinite wisdom. I would 
 rather see in your book the accomplishment of 
 things already past, than the future. That will bo 
 clearer, too." 
 
 " Well, well, you shall know everything ! " said 
 the mole-catcher, satisfied with my uncle's grave 
 manner. He pulled his chair toward the table, and 
 leaned the book on the edge, then rummaging in his 
 pocket, drew out a pair of old brass spectacles, and 
 put them on his nose, which gave him a very fan- 
 tastic appearance. My interest may be imagined.
 
 122 MADAME THERESE 
 
 I too had approached the table, and leaning my 
 elbows upon it, my chin in my hands, I watched 
 him, holding my breath, my eyes staring from my 
 head. 
 
 This scene will always be present to me ; the 
 perfect silence of the room, the ticking of the clock, 
 the murmur of the fire, the candle like a star in the 
 midst of us ; opposite me my uncle in his dark cor- 
 ner, Scipio at my feet ; then the mole-catcher bend- 
 ing over his book of predictions, and behind him 
 the little black window-panes, where the snow was 
 falling in the darkness ; I see it all again, and it 
 even seems as if I can hear the voice of the poor old 
 mole-catcher, and that of good Uncle Jacob, both of 
 whom have been so long in their graves. It was a 
 strange scene. 
 
 "How, mole-catcher," said my uncle, "you 
 need glasses at your age ? I thought your sight was 
 excellent." 
 
 " I don't need them to read ordinary things, nor 
 to see out-of-doors ; I have good eyes. From here 
 I can see, in the spring, a nest of caterpillars in the 
 trees on the side of the Altenberg. But these 
 glasses belonged to my Aunt Roesel of Heming, and 
 it's necessary to have them on to understand this 
 book. Sometimes they trouble me, but I read over
 
 MADAME THERESE 123 
 
 them or under them. The principal thing is to have 
 them on my nose." 
 
 " Ah, that's different, very different ! " said my 
 uncle, seriously, for he was too kind-hearted to let 
 the mole-catcher see that he was astonished. 
 
 The mole-catcher began to read : " ' A. D. 1793. 
 The grass is dry, the flower has fallen, because 
 the wind has blown upon it.' That means that it is 
 winter ; the grass is dry, the flower has fallen be- 
 cause the wind has blown upon it." 
 
 My uncle nodded, and he continued : 
 
 " ' The isles saw, and were seized with fear, the 
 ends of the earth were afraid ; they approached, 
 and entered.' That, doctor, means that England 
 and even the farthest isles of the sea have become 
 alarmed because of the Republicans. ' They ap- 
 proached and entered.' Everybody knows that the 
 English have landed in Belgium to fight the French. 
 But listen carefully to the rest. ' In that time the 
 leaders of the people will be like a fire in the midst 
 of woods, and like a torch in the midst of sheaves. 
 They will ravage the country right and left.' " 
 
 The mole-catcher then raised his finger gravely, 
 and said : 
 
 " These are the kings and emperors who advance 
 in the midst of their armies, and destroy everything
 
 124 MADAME THERESE 
 
 in the countries which they cross. Unhappily, we 
 know these things from having seen them. Our 
 poor' village will remember them a long time." 
 
 And as Uncle Jacob did not answer, he con- 
 tinued : 
 
 " * In that time, woe to the unfaithful shepherd 
 who shall abandon his flock ; the sword will fall 
 from his hand, and his right eye will be entirely 
 darkened.' We see in these words the Bishop of 
 Mayence, with his nurse and five mistresses, who 
 made his escape last year on the arrival of General 
 Oustine. He was truly an unfaithful shepherd, 
 who caused scandal throughout the country ; his 
 arm is withered, and his right eye is darkened." 
 
 "But," said my uncle, "remember, mole- 
 catcher, that this bishop was not the only one, there 
 were many more who behaved in the same manner, 
 in Germany, France, Italy, and every where." 
 
 " The more reason, doctor ; the book speaks for 
 all the world ; ' for,' said he, placing his finger 
 on the page, ' for, in that time, said the Eternal, I 
 will take away from the world, false prophets, doer? 
 of miracles, and the spirit of impurity.' What can 
 that mean, Dr. Jacob, but all these men who talk in- 
 cessantly of loving our neighbors, to obtain our 
 money ; who believe nothing, and menace us with
 
 MADAME THERESE 125 
 
 liell ; who dress in purple and gold, and preach 
 humility to us ; who say, ' Sell all your goods, and 
 follow Christ/ and heap up riches upon riches in 
 their palaces and convents ; who recommend faith 
 to us, and laugh among themselves at the fools who 
 listen to them? Isn't that the spirit of impurity? " 
 
 " Yes," said Uncle Jacob, " it is abominable." 
 
 " Well, it is for them, for all the bad shepherds, 
 that these things are written." 
 
 Then he continued : 
 
 " ' In that time, there will be on the mountains, 
 the noise of a multitude of a great people who are 
 rising the noise of an assembled nation. The 
 peoples round about will hear, and every man's 
 heart will soften. And the haughty will be fright- 
 ened. The world will be in travail ; the good will 
 look at each other with burning faces ; they will 
 hear for the first time great things spoken of ; they 
 will know that all are equal in the sight of the Lord, 
 that all have a right to justice, as the trees of the 
 forest have to light ! ' " 
 
 " Is that written so, mole-catcher? " asked my 
 uncle. 
 
 " You can see for yourself," answered the mole- 
 catcher, handing him the book. 
 
 Uncle Jacob looked at it with a troubled expres- 
 sion.
 
 I 2 6 MADAME THERESE 
 
 " Yes, it is written," said he, in a low voice ; " it 
 is written. Ah, may the Lord accomplish such 
 great things in our time! May He rejoice our 
 hearts with such a spectacle ! " 
 
 Then stopping suddenly, as if astonished at his 
 own enthusiasm 
 
 " Is it possible that at my age I allow myself to be 
 so excited on this subject? I am a child, a real 
 child ! " 
 
 He returned the book to the mole-catcher, who 
 said, smiling, 
 
 " I see very well, doctor, that you understand this 
 passage as I do ; this noise of a great people rising, 
 it is France that proclaims the rights of man." 
 
 " How ! you believe that relates to the French 
 Revolution ? " asked my uncle. 
 
 " To what, then? 'tis as clear as the day." 
 
 Then he put on his glasses, which he had taken 
 off, and read : 
 
 " ' There are seventy weeks in which to consum- 
 mate the sin, to expiate the iniquity, to bring about 
 the justice of ages. After which men will throw 
 their idols of silver to the moles and bats. And the 
 peoples will say, Let us beat our swords into plough- 
 shares, and our spears into pruning hooks.' " 
 
 At this point the mole-catcher leaned his elbows
 
 MADAME THERESE 
 
 127 
 
 on the book, and rubbing his beard, with nose up- 
 turned, seemed to reflect profoundly. I could not 
 take my eyes from him. He seemed to me to see 
 strange things an unknown world in the darkness 
 around us. The faint crackling of the fire and the 
 sighs of Scipio sleeping near me, produced on me the 
 effects of far-off human voices, and even the silence 
 disquieted me. 
 
 Uncle Jacob seemed to have recovered his calm- 
 ness. He had just filled his large pipe, and lit it 
 with a piece of paper, slowly drawing two or three 
 puffs. He shut the lid and threw himself back in 
 his chair, with a sigh. 
 
 " ' Men will cast down their silver idols,' " said 
 the mole-catcher. " That is to say their crowns, 
 florins, and money of all kinds. l They will throw 
 them to the moles.' That is to the blind, for you 
 know, doctor, that moles are blind. The unfortu- 
 nate blind creatures, like Father Harich, are truly 
 moles. In broad daylight they walk in darkness, 
 as if under ground. In that time men will give 
 their money to the blind and to the bats. By bats 
 you must understand the old old women, who are 
 no longer able to work, who are bald, and sit in their 
 chimney-corners, like Christine Besme, whom you 
 know as well as I. Poor Christine is so thin, and
 
 128 MADAME THERESE 
 
 has so little hair, that one naturally thinks when one 
 sees her, ' she's a bat.' " 
 
 " Yes, yes," said my uncle, in a peculiar tone, 
 nodding his head slowly, " it is clear, very clear. 
 Xow I understand your book ; it is something ad- 
 mirable." 
 
 " Men will give their money to the blind, and the 
 old women, in the spirit of charity," continued the 
 mole-catcher, " and that will be the end of misery 
 in this world ; there will be no more poor people, 
 1 in seventy weeks,' which are not weeks of days, 
 but weeks of months. ' They will beat their 
 swords into ploughshares, to cultivate the earth, and 
 live in peace ! ' ' 
 
 This explanation of the moles and bats had struck 
 me so forcibly that I remained with eyes stretched 
 wide open, imagining that I saw this wonderful 
 transformation in the dark corner where my uncle 
 sat. I had stopped listening, and the mole-catcher 
 was continuing his monotonous reading, when the 
 door opened again. I felt my flesh creep. If old 
 Ilarich the blind man, and old Christine, had come 
 in arm in arm, in their new forms, I would not have 
 been more frightened. I turned with my mouth 
 open, and breathed freely ; it was our friend Kof- 
 fel, who had come in. I had to look twice before I
 
 MADAME THERESE , 129 
 
 recognized him, my mind was so filled with thoughts 
 of moles and bats. 
 
 Koffel wore his old gray winter jacket, a cloth 
 cap drawn over his ears, and great shoes run down 
 at the heels, in which he had put old slippers to go 
 out in. He stood with knees bent and hands in his 
 pockets, as if he were chilly ; innumerable flakes of 
 snow covered him. 
 
 " Good-morning, doctor," said he, shaking his 
 cap in the entry, " I am late ; so many people 
 stopped me on the way to the ' Red Ox,' and the 
 < Little Gold Pitcher.' " 
 
 " Come in, Koffel. Did you close the alley 
 
 " Yes, Dr. Jacob, never fear." 
 
 He came in, and asked smilingly: 
 
 " The Gazette didn't come, this morning? " 
 
 " !NV), but we haven't needed it," said my uncle 
 in a tone of comical good humor. " We have the 
 mole-catcher's book, which relates the past, the pres- 
 ent, and the future." 
 
 " Does it also relate our victory? " asked Koffel, 
 approaching the stove. My uncle and the mole- 
 catcher looked at each other in astonishment. 
 
 " What victory? " asked the latter. 
 
 " Ah, that of the day before yesterday, at Kaisers- 
 9
 
 I 3 o MADAME THERESE 
 
 lautern. They are talking of nothing else in the 
 village. It was Richter, M. Richter, who came up 
 at two o'clock to bring the news. They've already 
 emptied fifty bottles at the ' Little Gold Pitcher ' 
 in honor of the Prussians; the Republicans are en- 
 tirely put to rout ! " 
 
 When he spoke of the Republicans we looked 
 toward the alcove, fearing that the French woman 
 might hear us. It pained us, for we knew that she 
 was a good woman, and we thought this news would 
 cause her much suffering. Uncle Jacob raised his 
 hand and shook his head sadly, then got up softly 
 and half-opened the curtains to see if Madame 
 Therese was asleep. 
 
 " It is you, doctor," she said immediately; " I 
 have listened to the mole-catcher's predictions for 
 an hour; I have heard all." 
 
 " Ah, Madame Therese," said my uncle, " the 
 news is false." 
 
 " I don't think so, doctor. From the moment a 
 battle was fought at Kaiserslautern, day before yes- 
 terday, we must have been defeated ; otherwise the 
 French would have marched at once upon Landau 
 to raise the siege, and cut off the retreat of the 
 Austrians. Their right wing would have passed 
 through the village." Then raising her voice,
 
 MADAME THERESE 131 
 
 " M. Koffel, will you tell me the details that you 
 know." 
 
 This scene will always remain in my memory 
 above all others, for we saw that night what a 
 woman we had saved, and we learned, also, what 
 that French race was which had risen en masse to 
 convert the world. 
 
 The mole-catcher had taken the candle from the 
 table and we were all in the alcove. I, at the foot 
 of the bed, with Scipio beside me, looked on in si- 
 lence, and saw for the first time that Madame 
 Therese had become so thin that she looked like a 
 man; her long bony face with its straight nose, 
 the shape of her eyes, the sharp chin leaning on 
 her hand ; her lean brown arm was bared nearly to 
 the elbow, escaping from the sleeves of Lisbeth's 
 coarse chemise; a red silk handkerchief tied over 
 her forehead hung down behind her neck. We 
 could not see her beautiful black hair, but only 
 some little locks over her ears, from which hung 
 large gold rings. What particularly attracted my 
 attention was a medal of bronze which hung from 
 her neck, representing a young girl in a cap shaped 
 like a casque. I knew afterward that it was the 
 image of the Republic, but I thought it then the 
 Holy Virgin of the French. As the mole-catcher
 
 I 3 2 MADAME THERESE 
 
 raised the candle, the alcove was lighted up, and 
 Madame Therese seemed to me much taller. Her 
 feet, under the covering, reached the foot of the 
 bed. I had never before noticed these things which 
 impressed me then. She looked at Koffel, who 
 looked anxiously at Uncle Jacob, as if to ask him 
 what he must do. 
 
 " These are reports which are current in the vil- 
 lage," said he with embarrassment; " that Eichter 
 is not to be relied upon." 
 
 " It is all the same, M. Koffel, tell me the news. 
 The doctor allows it. Do you not, doctor? " 
 
 " Certainly," said my uncle, reluctantly, " but 
 we must not believe all we hear." 
 
 " No they exaggerate, I know very well; but 
 it. is better to know the truth than to imagine a 
 thousand things; it is less tormenting." 
 
 Koffel then told us that two days before, the 
 French had attacked Kaiserslautern, and from seven 
 in the morning until night, had fought terribly, 
 trying to enter the intrenchments; the Prussians 
 had destroyed them by thousands; one saw only 
 dead bodies in the ditches on the hill-sides, along 
 the roads and in the Lauter. The French had 
 abandoned everything; their cannon, army- wag- 
 ons, guns and pouches. They were massacred
 
 MADAME THERESE 133 
 
 everywhere, and Brunswick's cavalry, sent in pur- 
 suit, had taken a great number of prisoners. 
 
 Madame Therese, her chin leaning on her hand, 
 her eyes fixed on the opposite wall, and lips com- 
 pressed, said nothing. She listened, and when Kof- 
 fel wished to stop, for it gave him much pain to re- 
 late these things before the poor woman, she 
 looked at him very calmly, and he continued, saying, 
 
 " They say this, or that, but I don't believe it." 
 
 At last he finished, and Madame Therese re- 
 mained silent, lost in thought, for a few minutes. 
 Then my uncle said: 
 
 " All these are only rumors; we know noth- 
 ing positively. You would do wrong to grieve, 
 Madame Therese." 
 
 She raised herself slightly, leaning against the 
 bedstead, and said very simply, 
 
 " Listen, it is clear that we have been repulsed. 
 But do not think, doctor, that that discourages 
 me. No-j this affair, which seems very consider- 
 able to you, is but a little thing to me. I saw this 
 same Brunswick arrive in Champagne, at the head 
 of a hundred thousand veterans, uttering procla- 
 mations in which there was no common-sense, men- 
 acing all France, and then driven back by peasants 
 in wooden shoes, at the point of the bayonet, as far
 
 I 3 4 MADAME THERESE 
 
 as Prussia. My father, a poor school-master, who 
 had become major, my brothers poor laborers, 
 who had become captains through their courage, 
 and I behind, with little Jean in my cart, escorted 
 him, after the defiles of the Argonne and the battle 
 of Valmy. Do not think then that these things 
 alarm me. We are not a hundred thousand men, 
 nor two hundred thousand; we are six million 
 peasants, who mean to eat, ourselves, the bread that 
 we have earned by our hard labor. It is just, and 
 God is with us." 
 
 She said this with animation, extending her long 
 bony arm. The mole-catcher, my uncle and Koffel 
 looked at each other in stupefied amazement. 
 
 " It is not one defeat, nor twenty, nor a hundred 
 which can conquer us," she continued. " When one 
 of us falls, ten others rise. It is not for the King of 
 Prussia, nor the Emperor of Germany, that we 
 march; it is for the abolition of privileges of all 
 kinds, for liberty, for justice, for the rights of man. 
 In order to conquer us it will be necessary to ex- 
 terminate every one of us," added she with a strange 
 smile, " and that is not so easy as they may think. 
 Only it is very unfortunate that so many thousands 
 of good men, on your side, should suffer themselves 
 to be massacred for kings and nobles, who are their
 
 MADAME THERESE 135 
 
 greatest enemies, when simple good sense ought to 
 tell them to join us, to drive away all these oppress- 
 ors of the poor. Yes, this is very unfortunate, and 
 gives me more pain than all the rest." 
 
 She lay down again, and Uncle Jacob remained 
 silent for some moments, astonished at the justice 
 of her words. The mole-catcher and Koffel looked 
 at each other in silence; but it was easy to see 
 that the Frenchwoman's reflections had struck them 
 and that they were thinking : 
 
 "She is right!" 
 
 At last my uncle said: 
 
 " Be calm, Madame Therese, be calm! All will 
 be well. We agree in many things; if it depended 
 upon me, we would soon be at peace." 
 
 " Yes, doctor, I know it, for you are a just man, 
 and we only want justice." 
 
 " Try to forget all that," said Uncle Jacob again. 
 " Nothing is so necessary as quiet, if you wish to 
 get well." 
 
 " I will try, doctor." 
 
 Then we came out of the alcove, and my uncle 
 looking at us dreamily, said : 
 
 " It is almost ten o'clock. We must go to bed 
 it is time." 
 
 He saw Koffel and the mole-catcher out, and
 
 136 MADAME THERESE 
 
 pushed the bolt as usual. I had already gone up- 
 stairs. That night I heard him walking in his 
 room a long time. He paced up and down with 
 the slow measured step of a man who is reflect- 
 ing. At last every sound ceased, and I went to 
 sleep under God's protection.
 
 THE next morning, when I awoke, my little win- 
 dows were covered with snow. It will still falling 
 so that I could not see the opposite house. Out-of- 
 doors the bells of Uncle Jacob's sleigh were tin- 
 kling, and his horse, Eappel, was neighing, but no 
 other sound was heard; the people in the village 
 had all been careful to close their doors. I thought 
 it must be something extraordinary that could call 
 my uncle out in such weather, and after dressing, 
 hurried downstairs to find out what it could be. 
 The door was open; Uncle Jacob, up to his knees 
 in snow, his large otter-skin cap drawn over his 
 ears, and the collar of his overcoat turned up, was 
 hastily arranging a bundle of straw in the sled. 
 
 " Are you going away, uncle? " I said, going to 
 the door. 
 
 " Yes, Fritzel, yes, I'm going away," said he in 
 a joyful tone. " Do you want to go with me? " 
 
 I liked very much to go in the sleigh, but seeing 
 137
 
 I3 8 MADAME THERESE 
 
 the great snow-flakes whirling through the air, and 
 thinking it would be cold, I answered: 
 
 " Another day, uncle; I'd rather stay at home 
 to-day." 
 
 Then he laughed, and came in again, pinching 
 my ear, as he always did when in a good humor. 
 We went into the kitchen where the fire was danc- 
 ing on the hearth, and giving out good heat. Lis- 
 beth was washing dishes before the little window 
 with round panes, which opened on the yard. All 
 was quiet in the kitchen. The great soup tureens 
 seemed to shine more than usual, and on their 
 rounded sides danced fifty little flames, like those 
 on the hearth. 
 
 " Now I'm ready," said my uncle, opening the 
 larder, and putting a crust of bread in his pocket. 
 
 He put under his coat the flask of Tcirsclien- 
 wasser, which he always carried in travelling. 
 Then, as he was about to enter the sitting-room, his 
 hand on the latch, he told the old servant not to 
 forget his directions; to keep up good fires every- 
 where; to leave the door open that she might hear 
 Madame Therese, and to give her all she asked for, 
 except anything to eat, for she must have only 
 broth morning and evening, with vegetables, and 
 not to contradict her in anything. Then he went in,
 
 MADAME THERESE 139 
 
 and I followed, thinking what pleasure I should 
 have when he was gone, running about the village 
 with my friend Scipio, and proudly displaying his 
 talents. 
 
 "Well, Madame Therese," said Uncle Jacob, 
 gayly, " here I am, ready for departure. What fine 
 weather to go sleighing! " 
 
 Madame Therese raised herself on her elbow in 
 the alcove the curtains were drawn aside and 
 looked toward the windows with a melancholy ex- 
 pression. 
 
 " Are you going to see a patient, doctor? " said 
 she. 
 
 " Yes, a poor wood-cutter of Dannboch, three 
 leagues from here, who was run over by his sled. 
 It is a serious injury and will allow of no delay." 
 
 " What a hard business yours is! " said she, sym- 
 pathizingly. " To go out in such weather as this 
 to help an unfortunate man, who will, perhaps, 
 never appreciate your services." 
 
 " Ah, no doubt," said my uncle, filling his large 
 porcelain pipe, " that has often happened, but what 
 would you have? Because a man is poor is no rea- 
 son why we should let him die ; we are all brothers, 
 Madame Therese, and the poor have a right to live 
 as well as the rich."
 
 I 4 o MADAME THERESE 
 
 " Yes, you are right, and yet how many in your 
 place would remain quietly by their fireside, in- 
 stead of risking their lives only for the pleasure of 
 doing good." And raising her eyes expressively, 
 she added : " Doctor, you are a Republican." 
 
 "I, Madame Therese! What do you mean?" 
 cried he, laughing. 
 
 " Yes, a true Eepublican a man who stops at 
 nothing, who disregards all suffering, all privation, 
 to do his duty." 
 
 " Well, if you understand it so, I am happy to 
 deserve that name. But in all parties and all coun- 
 tries in the world, there are such men." 
 
 " Then, M. Jacob, they are Republicans without 
 knowing it." 
 
 My uncle could not help smiling. 
 
 " You have a reply for everything," said he, 
 putting his package of tobacco into the large 
 pocket of his overcoat ; " one cannot argue with 
 you." 
 
 A few minutes' silence followed these words. 
 My uncle struck a light. I had Scipio's head in my 
 arms, and was thinking : " I hold you. You'll fol- 
 low me. We'll come back to dinner, and then we'll 
 go out again." The horse was neighing outside; 
 Madame Therese was watching the great flakes
 
 MADAME THERESE 141 
 
 which fell against the panes, when my uncle, who 
 had lighted his pipe, said: 
 
 " I shall be absent until evening. But Fritzel 
 will keep you company. The time will not seem 
 too long." 
 
 He passed his hand through my hair, and I be- 
 came as red as a lobster, which made Madame 
 Therese smile. 
 
 " Oh, no, doctor," said she, kindly, " it never 
 wearies me to be alone ; we must let Fritzel run out 
 with Scipio; it will do them good. And they 
 would rather breathe the fresh air than be shut up 
 in the room isn't it so, Fritzel? " 
 
 " Oh yes, Madame Therese ! " replied I, giving 
 a great sigh of relief. 
 
 " How ! aren't you ashamed to speak in that man- 
 ner? " cried my uncle. 
 
 " Why not, doctor? Fritzel is like little Jean; 
 he says whatever he thinks, and he is right. Go, 
 Fritzel, run, amuse yourself: your uncle gives you 
 leave." 
 
 How I loved her then, and how sweet her smile 
 appeared to me! Uncle Jacob laughed, took his 
 whip from the corner behind the door, and said : 
 
 " Well, Madame Therese, au revoir and good 
 courage ! "
 
 I 4 2 MADAME THERESE 
 
 " Au revoir, doctor," said she, with feeling, ex- 
 tending her slim hand to him. " Go, and heaven 
 guard you." 
 
 They remained thus for some moments, thought- 
 ful, then my uncle said: 
 
 " I shall be back this evening between six and 
 seven, Madame Therese; have faith, be tranquil, 
 and all will go well." 
 
 Then he went out. He sprang into the sleigh, 
 wrapped his overcoat around his knees, touched 
 Kappel with his whip, saying to me, 
 
 " Behave yourself, Fritzel! " 
 
 The sleigh glided noiselessly away up the street. 
 Some good people who w T ere looking from their 
 windows, said: 
 
 " Dr. Jacob is surely called somewhere to a per- 
 son dangerously ill, otherwise he would not travel 
 in such a snow." 
 
 When my uncle had disappeared round the cor- 
 ner of the street, I closed the door, and went in to 
 eat my soup by the fire. Scipio watched me, his 
 great moustaches upturned, licking his mouth and 
 winking. I let him have my plate to clean, as usual, 
 which he did gravely, not greedily, like the other 
 dogs in the village. We had finished, and were go- 
 ing out, when Lisbeth, who had just done her work,
 
 MADAME THERESE 143 
 
 and was wiping her arms on the towel behind the 
 door, said : 
 
 " What, Fritzel, are you not going to stay at 
 home?" 
 
 " 'No, I'm going to see little Hans Aden." 
 
 " Well, listen. Since you've put on your boots, 
 go to the mole-catcher's to get some honey for the 
 Frenchwoman. The doctor wants her to have a 
 drink with honey in it. Take your cup and go 
 down there. Tell the mole-catcher it's for Uncle 
 Jacob. Here's the money." 
 
 Nothing pleased me more than to have errands 
 to do, especially at the mole-catcher's, who treated 
 me as a reasonable man should. I took the cup, 
 and started with Scipio for his house in Orties 
 Lane, behind the church. Some gossips were be- 
 ginning to sweep their sidewalks. At the inn of 
 the Little Golden Pitcher we could hear the glasses 
 and bottles tinkling. They were singing and 
 laughing and going up and down stairs; which 
 seemed to me extraordinary on Friday. I stopped 
 to see if it were a wedding or a christening, and as 
 I stood on tiptoe, on the other side of the street, 
 looking into the little open entry, I saw, in the 
 kitchen, the mole-catcher's singular profile bend- 
 ing over the fire, his black stump of a pipe in the
 
 144 MADAME THERESE 
 
 corner of his mouth, his brown hand placing a coal 
 on the tobacco. Farther on to the right I saw, too, 
 old Gredel in her cap with floating ribbons. She 
 was arranging plates on a dresser, and her gray cat 
 walked on the edge of it, setting up her back, and 
 holding her tail in the air. 
 
 In a moment the mole-catcher came slowly into 
 the dark entry smoking his pipe. Then I cried : 
 
 " Mole-catcher ! mole-catcher ! " 
 
 He came to the edge of the steps, and said, 
 laughing: 
 
 "Isityou,Fritzel?" 
 
 "Yes, I'm going to your house to get some 
 honey." 
 
 " Well, come up, then, and take a drink. We'll 
 go together at once." And turning toward the 
 kitchen, " Gredel," cried he, " bring a glass for 
 Fritzel." 
 
 I ran up the steps, and we went in, with Scipio 
 at our heels. In the saloon we could see through 
 the gray smoke, along the tables, men in blouses, 
 in jackets, in waistcoats, their caps or felt hats 
 drawn over their ears. Some seated in a row, 
 others astride benches, raising their full glasses joy- 
 fully, and celebrating the great victory of Kaisers- 
 lautern. On all sides we heard them singing the
 
 MADAME THERESE 145 
 
 "Fatherland" Some old women were drink- 
 ing with, their sons, and seemed as merry as the 
 others. 
 
 I followed the mole-catcher toward the windows 
 that overlooked the street. There we found friena 
 Koffel and old Adam Schmitt in the corner, before 
 a bottle of white wine. In the opposite corner were 
 the innkeeper, Joseph Spick, his woollen cap drawn 
 over his ears, like a bully, and M. Kichter in hunt- 
 ing-jacket and great leather gaiters, drinking a bot- 
 tle of green-sealed gleiszeller. They were both 
 purple, up to their ears, and were shouting: 
 
 " To the health of Brunswick! To the health of 
 our glorious army ! " 
 
 " Here! " said the mole-catcher, approaching our 
 table, " make room for a man! " 
 
 And Koffel, turning round, shook my hand while 
 Father Schmitt said: 
 
 " Well and good, well and good, here's a re- 
 inforcement for us! " 
 
 He seated me near him, against the wall, and 
 Scipio came immediately to rub his hand with the 
 end of his nose, with the air of an old acquaintance. 
 
 "Ha! ha! ha!" said the old soldier: "it's you, 
 old fellow you know me! " 
 
 Gredel brought a glass, and the mole-catcher
 
 I4 6 MADAME THERESE 
 
 filled it. At that moment, M. Eichter cried sneer- 
 ingly, from the other end of the table : 
 
 "Ha, Fritzel! how's Dr. Jacob? He doesn't 
 come to celebrate the great battle! It is astonish- 
 ing, astonishing, such a good patriot ! " 
 
 And I, not knowing what to reply, said in a. low 
 tone to Koffel: 
 
 " Uncle has gone in his sleigh to see a poor wood- 
 cutter, who was run over by his sled." 
 
 Then Koffel, turning, cried in a cleer voice 
 
 " While the grandson of Salm-Salm's old ser- 
 vant stretches out his legs under the table, near 
 the stove, and drinks gleiszcller in honor of the 
 Prussians who laugh at him, Dr. Jacob goes 
 through the snow to see a poor wood-cutter on the 
 mountain, who has been run over by his sled. That 
 pays less than lending money on heavy interest, 
 but it shows more heart, nevertheless." 
 
 Koffel had drunk a little too much, and all the 
 men were listening and smiling. Eichter, with a 
 long face and compressed lips, did not answer at 
 first, but after a moment he said 
 
 "What wouldn't we do for the love of the 
 Eights of Man, for the Goddess of Eeason, and 
 the Maximum, above all when a real citoyenne 
 encourages you 1 "
 
 MADAME THERESE 147 
 
 " M. Richter, be silent ! " cried the mole-catcher 
 in a loud voice. " Dr. Jacob is as good a German 
 as you, and that woman, of whom you speak with- 
 out knowing her, is a good woman. Dr. Jacob has 
 only done his duty in saving her life. You ought 
 to be ashamed to excite the men of the village 
 against a poor sick creature who can't defend her- 
 self: it's abominable !" 
 
 " I'll be silent when it suits me," cried Richter in 
 his turn. " You talk very loud one would think 
 that the French had gained the victory! " 
 
 Then the mole-catcher, his face as red as fire, 
 fetruck his fist on the table, making the glasses fall 
 over. He partly rose, but reseated himself, and 
 said: 
 
 " I have a right to rejoice in the victories of old 
 Germany, at least quite as much as you, M. Rich- 
 ter, for I am a" . old German like my father, and my 
 grandfather, and all the mole-catchers known for 
 two hundred years in the village of Anstatt for the 
 raising of bees, and the catching of moles; while 
 the cooks of the Salm-Salms wandered through 
 France with their masters, to turn the spit, and 
 lick the bottom of the pots." 
 
 Everybody in the room burst out laughing at 
 this speech, and M. Richter, seeing that most of
 
 148 MADAME THERESE 
 
 them were against him, judged it prudent to be 
 moderate, and replied, therefore, in a calm tone: 
 
 " I've never said anything against you nor Dr. 
 Jacob; on the contrary, I know that the doctor's 
 an able man, and an honest man. But that doesn't 
 prevent every good German from rejoicing on such 
 a day. For, listen, it's not an ordinary victory, it's 
 the end of that famous Republic, ' one and indi- 
 visible.' " 
 
 "How! how! " cried old Schmitt, "the end of 
 the Republic? That's a piece of news! " 
 
 " Yes, it won't last six months longer," said 
 Richter with assurance, " for, from Kaiserslautern 
 the French will be driven to Hornbach, from Horn- 
 bach to Sarrebruck, to Metz, and thus to Paris. 
 Once in France we will find crowds of friends to 
 help us; the nobility, the clergy, and the respecta- 
 ble people are all on our side. They only await 
 the coming of our army to rise. And as to this 
 troop of beggars, gathered from right and left, with- 
 out officers and without discipline, what can they 
 do against old soldiers, firm as rocks, advancing in 
 order of battle, under the lead of the old warrior 
 race? Crowds of bunglers without a single gen- 
 eral, without even a real corporal schlaguc! Peas- 
 ants, mendicants, true ' sans culottes? as they call
 
 MADAME THERESE 149 
 
 themselves, I ask you what can they do against 
 Brunswick, Wurmser, and hundreds of other old 
 captains, tried by all the perils of the Seven Years' 
 War? They will be scattered and will perish by 
 thousands like grasshoppers in autumn." 
 
 Everybody in the room seemed to be of Kichter's 
 opinion, and several said: 
 
 " Well and good, he speaks truly. We've 
 thought the same for a long time." 
 
 The mole-catcher and Koffel were silent; but 
 old Adam Schmitt shook his head and smiled. 
 After a moment's silence he laid his pipe on the 
 table, and said: 
 
 " M. Richter, you speak like an almanac; you 
 predict the future in an admirable manner; but 
 it's not all so clear to others as to you. I am will- 
 ing to believe that the old race is born to make 
 generals, since nobles all come into the world cap- 
 tains. But occasionally generals can also come 
 from the race of peasants, and they do not make 
 the worst ones, for they become generals through 
 their own bravery. These Republicans, who seem 
 to you such fools, have sometimes good ideas, for 
 all that; for example, they have a rule that any 
 one can become a field-marshal, if he have the 
 courage and capacity; on this account all the sol-
 
 j S o MADAME THERESE 
 
 diers fight furiously. They hold in their ranks as 
 firmly as if they were nailed, and march forward 
 like cannon balls, for they know that if they dis- 
 tinguish themselves they have a chance of becom- 
 ing captains, colonels, or generals. The Germans 
 fight to give themselves masters; the French fight 
 to get rid of them; which makes a great difference. 
 I watched them from Father Diemer's window, on 
 the first floor, opposite the fountain, during the two 
 charges of the Croats and lancers magnificent 
 charges; well, it astonished me very much, M. 
 Eichter, to see how those Jacobins bore themselves. 
 And their colonel gave me real pleasure, with his 
 great Lorraine peasant's face, and small wild-boar's 
 eyes. He wasn't as well dressed as a Prussian 
 major, but he sat his horse as tranquilly as if they 
 were playing an air on the clarionet for him. They 
 retreated at last, it is true, but they had a division 
 at their backs, and left only the guns and pouches 
 of the dead on the square. Such soldiers, believe 
 me, M. Richter, are men of expedients. The old 
 warrior races are good, but the young grow in their 
 shade, as young oaks under large ones, and when 
 the old decay the young take their place. I do not 
 believe, therefore, that the Republicans run away 
 as you say. They are already famous soldiers, and
 
 MADAME THERESE i 5 x 
 
 if a general or two comes, take care ! And this is 
 not at all impossible, for among twelve or fifteen 
 hundred thousand peasants there's more choice 
 than between ten or twelve thousand nobles. The 
 race is not so fine, perhaps, but it's stronger ! " 
 
 Old Schmitt stopped a moment to take breath, 
 and then, as everybody was listening, added 
 
 " Here am I, for example ; if I had had the 
 happiness of being born in such a country, do you 
 believe that I would have contented myself with 
 being Adam Schmitt, with a pension of a hundred 
 florins, six wounds and fifteen campaigns? No, no, 
 drive that idea out of your head. I should have 
 been captain, colonel or general Schmitt, with a 
 good pension of two thousand dollars, or else my 
 bones would have been resting somewhere, long 
 ago. When courage is a highway to distinction, 
 one has courage, and when it serves only to make 
 one a sergeant and promote the nobles, each one 
 takes care of his skin." 
 
 " And education," cried Eichter, " do you count 
 education nothing? Is a man who don't know how 
 to read worth as much as a Duke of Brunswick who 
 knows everything? " 
 
 Then Koffel, turning, said calmly, 
 
 "You are right, M. Kichter, education makes
 
 152 MADAME THERESE 
 
 half, perhaps three-quarters of a man. This is 
 why these Republicans fight to the death; they 
 wish their sons to receive education as well as the 
 nobles. It is the want of education which causes 
 bad conduct and poverty; poverty causes wicked 
 temptations, and wicked temptations lead to all the 
 vices. The greatest crime of those who govern in 
 this world is refusing education to the poor, so that 
 their noble race may always be above them. It is 
 as if they put out people's eyes when they come 
 into the world, to profit by their labor. God will 
 avenge these sins, M. Richter, for He is just. And 
 if the Republicans shed their blood, as they say, to 
 prevent such abuses, all religious men who believe 
 in immortality ought to approve of them." So 
 Koffel spoke, adding that if his parents had been 
 able to educate him, he might perhaps have done 
 honor to Anstatt, and have been of some use, in- 
 stead of being a poor devil. 
 
 Every one agreed with him, and several said 
 among themselves: 
 
 " What would we have been if we had been ed- 
 ucated? Are we more stupid than other people? 
 "No, heaven gives to all the bright sun and the 
 heavy dew. We had good intentions: we appealed 
 for justice; but they left us in the darkness, in a
 
 MADAME THERESE 153 
 
 spirit of calculation, to keep us down. These men 
 think to elevate themselves by preventing others 
 from rising; it is abominable! " 
 
 And I, remembering how much trouble Uncle 
 Jacob had taken to teach me to read in Buffon, 
 repented that I had not profited more by his les- 
 sons, and was much affected. M. Richter, seeing 
 everybody against him, and not knowing how to 
 reply to Koffel's judicious words, shrugged his 
 shoulders as if to say, " These are fools inflated 
 with pride, creatures who need to be brought to 
 reason." But silence was beginning to prevail, 
 and the mole-catcher had just ordered a second 
 bottle to be brought, when dull growls were heard 
 under the table. We at once saw M. Richter's 
 great red dog walking around Scipio. This dog was 
 called Max; his hair was short, his nose flat, and 
 his ribs protruding; he had yellow eyes, long ears, 
 and tail raised like a sabre. He was large, lean and 
 muscular. M. Richter was accustomed to hunt with 
 him whole days without giving him anything to eat, 
 under pretext that good hunting dogs ought to be 
 hungry to scent the game and follow in its track. 
 He wanted to get behind Scipio, who kept turning 
 round, his head raised, and his lips trembling. 
 Looking toward M. Richter, I saw that he was
 
 154 MADAME THERESE 
 
 slily urging his dog on. Father Schmitt noticed it 
 also, for he said : 
 
 " M. Richter, you are wrong to urge your dog. 
 This spaniel you see is a soldier's dog, full of cun- 
 ning, and knows all the stratagems of war. Yours 
 may be of an old race, but take care this dog's 
 capable of strangling him." 
 
 " Strangle my dog ! " cried Richter. " He could 
 swallow ten like this miserable cur. With a sin- 
 gle bite he could break his back! " 
 
 When I heard this, I wanted to run away with 
 Scipio, for M. Richter was urging his great Max, 
 and all the drinkers turned round, laughing, to see 
 the battle. I was going to cry, but old Schmitt 
 held me by the shoulder, saying in a low voice: 
 
 " Be quiet, be quiet, fear nothing, Fritzel. I 
 tell you our dog understands politics the other 
 is only a great beast that has seen nothing of the 
 world." And turning to Scipio, he said to him 
 again and again, " Attention! attention! " 
 
 Scipio did not stir. He stood back in the cor- 
 ner of the window, his head erect, his eyes shining 
 under his thick curly hair, and in the corner of his 
 trembling moustache we could see one very sharp- 
 pointed white tooth. The big red dog advanced, 
 his head stretched forward, and his hair standing
 
 MADAME THERESE 155 
 
 up on his lean back. They both growled; then 
 Max made a leap to seize Scipio by the throat. 
 Three or four short, terrible cries were heard. 
 Scipio had bent down while the other caught him 
 by the hair, and with one bite he snapped at his 
 paw. Then you should have heard Max's distress- 
 ing cries, and seen him steal off, limping, under the 
 tables; he fled like lightning between the legs of 
 the guests, repeating his sharp cries, which pierced 
 one's ears. M. Richter rose furiously to attack 
 Scipio, but the mole-catcher took his stick from be- 
 hind the door, and said: 
 
 " M. Richter, if your great beast is bitten, whose 
 fault is it? You urged him on to do it. If he is 
 maimed now, it will teach you better." 
 
 And old Schmitt, laughing and crying, called 
 Scipio between his knees, and said, 
 
 " I knew very well that he understood the strata- 
 gems of war! He! he! he! we've brought off the 
 flags and the cannon ! " 
 
 All his audience laughed with him, so that M. 
 Richter angrily kicked his dog into the street so as 
 not to hear his cries. He would have been glad to 
 do the same to Scipio, but everybody was astonished 
 at the dog's courage, and natural good sense. 
 
 "Come," cried the mole-catcher, rising;, "come
 
 I 5 6 MADAME THERESE 
 
 now, Fritzel, it's time I gave you what you wanted. 
 I congratulate you, M. Kichter; you have a fa- 
 mous dog. Gredel, set down two bottles on the 
 slate." 
 
 Schmitt and Koffel also rose, and we all went 
 out together, laughing heartily. Scipio kept near 
 us, knowing that he had nothing good to hope 
 for when we were gone. At the foot of the steps, 
 Schmitt and Koffel turned to the right to go down 
 the main street, and the mole-catcher and I crossed 
 the square, on the left, to Orties Lane. The mole- 
 catcher walked in front, stooping, one shoulder 
 higher than the other, as was his habit, drawing 
 great puffs, one after another, from his pipe, and 
 laughing to himself, doubtless at the remembrance 
 of Richter's discomfiture. We soon arrived at his 
 small door, which was in the basement. As we 
 went down the steps he said to me: 
 
 " Come, Fritzel, come; leave the dog outside, 
 for there's none too much room in the hole." 
 
 He was right in calling his hut a " hole," for it 
 had only two little windows, even with the ground, 
 opening on the street. Inside, all was dark; the 
 large bed and the wooden staircase, the old stools, 
 the table covered with saws, brads and tweezers, the 
 wardrobe adorned with two squashes, the ceiling
 
 THEN YOU OUGHT TO HAVE HEAKD TUB PLAINTIVE CRIES OF MAX.
 
 MADAME THERESE 157 
 
 crossed by poles where old Berbel, the mole-catch- 
 er's mother, hung the hemp which she had spun; 
 traps of all sorts placed on the canopy of the bed, in 
 an alcove gray with dust and cobwebs; hundreds 
 of martens' and weasels' skins hanging from the 
 walls, some turned inside out, others still fresh and 
 stuffed with straw to dry them; all these left you 
 hardly room enough to turn round, and the thought 
 of them recalls the happy time of my youth, for I 
 have seen them a hundred times, summer and win- 
 ter, rain or shine, whether the little windows were 
 open or shut. I always picture the mole-catcher to 
 myself, in that room, seated at the table, showing 
 his traps, his mouth twisted, lips compressed, and 
 old Berbel, yellow-skinned, her horse-hair cap on 
 the back of her head, her little dry hands with long 
 black nails, streaked with large blue veins, spin- 
 ning from morning till night beside the stove. 
 Once in a while she would raise her old wrinkled 
 face, and look at her son with an air of satisfaction. 
 But that day Berbel was not in a good humor, for 
 we had hardly entered before she began to scold 
 the mole-catcher in a sharp voice, declaring that he 
 was passing his life at the tavern, that he thought 
 of nothing but drinking, and did not provide for 
 the future false charges, to which the mole-
 
 158 MADAME THERESE 
 
 catcher did not reply, knowing that he must hear all 
 his mother said without complaining. He quietly 
 opened the closet while old Berbel scolded, and 
 took from the highest shelf a large glazed earthen 
 pot, in which honey as yellow as gold, in combs 
 white as snow, lay in regular layers. He put it on 
 the table, and taking out two fine combs, which he 
 put on a very clean plate, said to me : 
 
 " Here's some beautiful honey for the French 
 lady, Fritzel. Honey in the comb is the best thing 
 in the world for sick people. It is nicer, and then 
 it is so fresh and wholesome! " 
 
 I had already placed the money on the edge of 
 the table, and Berbel was stretching out her hand 
 for it, very willingly, but the mole-catcher gave it 
 back to me. 
 
 " No," said he, "no; I won't be paid for it; put 
 the money in your pocket, Fritzel, and take the 
 plate. Leave your pot here. I'll take it to you this 
 evening, or to-morrow morning." And as the old 
 woman seemed angry, he added : " Tell the French 
 lady, Fritzel, that the mole-catcher makes her a 
 present of th's honey with pleasure do you hear? 
 with all his heart for she's a respectable wom- 
 an. Don't forget to say ' respectable/ do you 
 mind?"
 
 MADAME THERESE 159 
 
 " Yes, mole-catcher, I'll tell her. Good-day, Ber- 
 bel," said I, opening the door. 
 
 She answered by nodding her head abruptly. 
 The avaricious old woman would not say anything 
 on Uncle Jacob's account, but it seemed very hard 
 to her to see the honey going without being paid 
 for. The mole-catcher saw me out, and I turned 
 homeward, well satisfied with what had just hap- 
 pened.
 
 XI 
 
 AT the corner of the church I met little Hans 
 Aden, who was coming back from sliding on the 
 pond. He turned round, his hands in his pock- 
 ets up to his elbows, and called out: 
 "Fritzel! Fritzel! " 
 
 "When I came up, he looked at the honey, and 
 said: 
 
 " Is that for you? " 
 
 " ISo, it's to make a drink for the French lady." 
 " I'd like to be sick in her place," said he, licking 
 his thick lips, expressively. Then he added : " What 
 are you going to do this afternoon? " 
 
 " I don't know I shall go to walk with Scipio." 
 
 He looked at the dog, and stroking his back, said: 
 
 "Listen: if you'd like, we'll go to lay traps 
 
 behind the dunghills of the Postthal; there are 
 
 a good many greenfinches and sparrows along the 
 
 hedges, under the sheds, and in the trees of the 
 
 Postthal." 
 
 1 60
 
 MADAME THERESE 161 
 
 " I'd like it very much," said I. 
 
 " Yes, meet me here on the steps. We'll go 
 together." 
 
 Before we parted, Hans asked me to let him put 
 his finger on the bottom of the plate. I assented, 
 and he found the honey very good. After which, 
 each of us took his own way, and I reached home 
 about half-past eleven. 
 
 " Ah, here you are ! " cried Lisbeth, as I entered 
 the kitchen ; " I thought you were never coming 
 back. Heavens! must you take so much time to 
 do an errand? " 
 
 I told her about my meeting the mole-catcher on 
 the steps of the Little Golden Pitcher, the dispute 
 of Koffel, old Schmitt and the mole-catcher with M. 
 Eichter, the great battle between Max and Scipio, 
 and finally the manner in which the mole-catcher 
 had told me to say that he wanted no money for 
 his honey, and that he offered it with all his heart 
 to the French lady, who was a " respectable " per- 
 son. As the door was open, Madame Therese heard 
 me, and told me to come in. I saw that she was 
 touched, and when I gave her the honey she ac- 
 cepted it. 
 
 " Well, Fritzel, well," said she with tears in her 
 eyes, " I am pleased, much pleased with this present.
 
 162 MADAME THERESE 
 
 The respect of honest men always gives us much 
 pleasure. I will thank the mole-catcher myself, 
 when he comes." 
 
 Then she leaned forward, and put her hand on 
 the head of Scipio, who was standing beside the 
 bed, looking up at her. She smiled, and said: 
 
 " Scipio, you also sustain the good cause, then? " 
 
 The dog, seeing joy sparkle in her eyes, began 
 to bark loudly. He fell back on his hind legs, as if 
 to go through the drill. 
 
 " Yes, yes, I'm better now," said she, " I feel 
 much stronger. Ah! we have suffered so much! " 
 
 Then, sighing, she leaned back on the pillow, 
 and said: 
 
 " Good news only good news, and all will be 
 well! " 
 
 Lisbeth had finished setting the table. She said 
 nothing, and Madame Therese fell into a revery. 
 The clock struck twelve, and a few minutes after 
 the old servant brought in the little tureen of soup 
 for herself and me. She made the sign of the cross, 
 and we ate our dinner. 
 
 Every moment I turned my head to see if Hans 
 Aden was already on the church steps. Madame 
 Therese had lain down again, turning her back to 
 us, and drawing the blanket over her. Doubtless
 
 MADAME THERESE 163 
 
 she had still much uneasiness. I thought only of the 
 dunghills of the Postthal. Already I could see our 
 brick traps, placed around in the snow, the lids 
 raised, supported by two little wooden sticks, and 
 grains of wheat scattered on the edge and in the 
 bottom. I saw the greenfinches flying from tree to 
 tree, and the sparrows in a row on the edges of the 
 roofs, calling, watching, listening, while we, hidden 
 in the shed behind heaps of hay, waited, our hearts 
 throbbing with impatience. Then a sparrow would 
 light on the dunghill, his tail spread out like a fan 
 then another, then all the flock. There they are! 
 There they are! near our traps! They're coming 
 down three of them are hopping about and peck- 
 ing at the grains of wheat. Frouu! they all fly 
 away at once. It's some noise on the farm it's the 
 boy Yen with his great wooden shoes, who's just 
 shouted to one of the horses in the stable, " Come, 
 turn round, Foux ! " What a misfortune ! If the 
 horses were only dead, and Yeri with them ! Well, 
 we must still wait the sparrows have gone far 
 away. Suddenly one of them begins to cry again 
 they are coming back to the roof. Ah! if Yeri 
 will only not shout again if he'll only be quiet 
 if there were only no people on the farm nor in 
 the road ! What anxiety ! At last one comes down
 
 164 MADAME THERESE 
 
 again Hans pulls my jacket we hold our breath 
 we are dumb with hope and fear! All this 1 
 saw beforehand that I could not keep quiet. 
 
 " In heaven's name, what's the matter with 
 you? " said Lisbeth. " You're fidgeting like a soul 
 in torment do keep still." 
 
 I did not hear her, with my nose flattened against 
 the window-pane: I was thinking 
 
 " "Will he come or won't he come? Perhaps he's 
 already down there he may have taken somebody 
 else with him! " 
 
 This idea seemed terrible to me. 
 
 I was going to run out, when at last I saw Hans 
 Aden crossing the Square. He was looking toward 
 our house, watching for me. I was already in the 
 alley, and opened the gate without calling Scipio 
 this time. Then I ran close to the wall, for fear 
 of some errand or other hindrance; so many mis- 
 fortunes do happen to one in this world! It was 
 not till we were far from the house, in Orties Lane, 
 that Hans and I stopped to take breath. 
 
 " Have you some wheat, Hans? " 
 
 "Yes."* 
 
 "And your knife?" 
 
 " Be easy here it is. But, Fritzel, I can't carry 
 everything you must take the bricks, and I'll take 
 the tiles."
 
 MADAME THERESE 165 
 
 "Yes; come on." 
 
 And we crossed the fields back of the village, 
 through snow up to our waists. If the mole- 
 catcher, Koffel, or my uncle, himself, had called 
 us then, we would have run on like thieves, with- 
 out turning our heads. 
 
 We soon came to the old abandoned kiln, for they 
 rarely bake bricks in the winter, and took our load 
 of bricks. Then, re-crossing the meadow, we 
 climbed over the hedges of the Postthal, all covered 
 with frost, just opposite the large square dunghills 
 back of the stables and out-house. We could see 
 the sparrows far above us, sitting in a row on the 
 edges of the roofs. 
 
 " I told you so," cried Hans; " listen listen! " 
 
 Then we placed our traps, clearing away the snow 
 from the ground. Hans cut little sticks, placed the 
 tiles very carefully, and then scattered wheat all 
 around. The sparrows watched us from the roofs, 
 lightly turning their heads, without moving a wing. 
 Hans rose, wiping his nose on the back of his sleeve, 
 and looking up, winking, so as to see the sparrows. 
 
 " Come," said he in a low voice, " they're going 
 to come down." 
 
 We went into the shed, full of high hopes, and 
 at that moment all the flock disappeared. We
 
 166 MADAME THERESE 
 
 thought they would come back; but until nearly 
 four o'clock we remained squatted down behind 
 the heaps of hay, without hearing the cry of a single 
 sparrow. They understood what we were doing, 
 and had flown far away to the other end of the vil- 
 
 Imagine our despair! Hans, notwithstanding his 
 good disposition, was terribly angry, and I indulged 
 in the saddest reflections, thinking there was noth- 
 ing more foolish than wanting to catch sparrows 
 in the winter, when they were nothing but skin and 
 bones, and it would take four of them to make a 
 mouthful. 
 
 At last, tired of waiting, and seeing that it was 
 getting dark, we returned to the village through 
 the main street, shivering, with our hands in our 
 pockets, moist noses, and caps drawn over our ears, 
 in a dismal manner. 
 
 It was night when I got home. Lisbeth was pre- 
 paring supper; but as I felt rather ashamed to tell 
 her how the sparrows had fooled us, I opened the 
 door of the sitting-room softly, and sat down quietly 
 behind the stove, instead of running into the kitchen 
 as usual. 
 
 Nothing stirred. Scipio was sleeping under the 
 arm-chair curled up in a heap, and I had been warm-
 
 MADAME THERESE 167 
 
 ing myself for a quarter of an hour, listening to the 
 murmur of the fire. When Madame Therese, whom 
 I thought had been asleep, said in a gentle voice: 
 
 "Is that you, Fritzel?" 
 
 " Yes, Madame Therese," answered I. 
 
 " Are you warming yourself? " 
 
 "Yes; Madame Therese." 
 
 " You were very cold, then? " 
 
 " Oh, yes." 
 
 " What have you been doing this afternoon? " 
 
 " Hans Aden and I've been setting traps for the 
 sparrows." 
 
 " Did you take many? " 
 
 " No, Madame Therese, not many." 
 
 " How many ? " 
 
 It made my heart bleed to tell this kind woman 
 that we had not taken any. 
 
 " Two or three, didn't you, Fritzel ? " asked she. 
 
 " No, Madame Therese." 
 
 " Didn't you take any, then? " 
 
 "No." 
 
 She was silent, and I thought she must feel very 
 sorry. 
 
 " They are very smart birds," she said in a mo- 
 ment. 
 
 "Oh, yes."
 
 168 MADAME THERESE 
 
 " Are your feet wet, Fritzel ? " 
 
 " No, I had on my wooden shoes." 
 
 " Well, well, so much the better. Be comforted; 
 another time you'll be more fortunate." 
 
 While we were talking Lisbeth came in, leaving 
 the kitchen door open. 
 
 "Ah, here you are," said she; "I'd like to 
 know where you spend your days? Always out, 
 always with your Hans Aden or your Frantz Sepel." 
 
 " He's been catching sparrows," said Madame 
 Therese. 
 
 " Sparrows ! if I could only see them once," cried 
 the old servant. " Every winter for three years, he 
 has run after sparrows. Once he caught by chance 
 in the autumn an old featherless jay, who had no 
 strength left to fly, and since then he thinks all the 
 birds of heaven are his." 
 
 Lisbeth laughed. She sat down to the spinning- 
 wheel, and said, as she dipped her finger into the 
 monilloir* 
 
 " Now everything's ready, and when the doctor 
 comes I'll only have to lay the cloth: What was 
 I telling you about a little while ago? " 
 
 " You were speaking of your conscripts, M'lle 
 Lisbeth." 
 
 * Vessel of water, in which women wet their fingers whea 
 
 spinning flax.
 
 MADAME THERESE 169 
 
 " Ah, yes when this wicked war began all the 
 young men of the village went away big Lud- 
 wig, the blacksmith's son, little Christel, Hans 
 Gcerner, and many others they went, some on foot, 
 some on horseback, singing, 'Fatherland! Father- 
 land!' with their comrades who took them to 
 Kirschtal, to Father Fritz's inn, on the road to 
 Kaiserslautern. They sang, indeed, but that did not 
 prevent them from crying bitterly when they saw 
 the steeple of Anstatt for the last time. Little 
 Christel embraced Ludwig at every step, saying, 
 1 When shall we see Anstatt again? ' Ludwig an- 
 swered: ' Ah, alas! we mustn't think of that; the 
 good God will protect us from these Republicans, 
 heaven confound them ! ' They wept together, and 
 the old sergeant, who had come expressly for them, 
 kept saying, ' Forward ! Courage ! We are men ! ' 
 His nose was red from drinking with our conscripts. 
 Tall Hans Goerner, who was going to marry Rosa 
 Mutz the garde champetre's daughter cried, 
 ' One drink more ! one drink more ! This is perhaps 
 the last plate of sour-krout that we shall ever see ! ' ' 
 
 " Poor boy! " said Madame Therese. 
 
 " Yes," answered Lisbeth, " and yet that would 
 be nothing if the girls could be married. But when 
 the boys go away, the girls are left here, to dream
 
 170 MADAME THERESE 
 
 from morning till night, to wear themselves out and 
 die off. They can't marry the old men, sixty year 
 old, widowers, or else hump-backed, lame, or one- 
 eyed. Ah ! Madame Therese, I don't reproach you; 
 but without your Revolution we would have been 
 very happy, we would only think of praising God 
 for his goodness. Such a Republic, which throws 
 everything into disorder, is terrible! " 
 
 As I listened to this speech I noticed that a pleas- 
 ant odor of stuffed veal was filling the room, and 
 Scipio and I at last got up to take a look in the 
 kitchen. We found a good onion soup, a breast of 
 veal, stuffed, and fried potatoes. Running about 
 had made me so hungry that it seemed as if I could 
 swallow the whole at a mouthful. 
 
 Scipio was no less favorably inclined; with his 
 foot on the edge of the hearth he snuffed among 
 the pots, for a dog's nose, as M. de Buffon says, is 
 a very delicate second sight. After taking a good 
 look, I prayed for my uncle's return. 
 
 " Ah, Lisbeth," cried I, re-entering the sitting- 
 room, " if you knew how hungry I am! " 
 
 " So much the better," replied the old woman, 
 who was still talking, " an appetite's a good thing." 
 
 Then she continued her village tattle, to which 
 Madame Therese seemed to listen with pleasure. I
 
 MADAME THERESE 
 
 171 
 
 went backwards and forwards, from the sitting-room 
 to the kitchen, and Scipio followed me; doubtless 
 he felt the same as I did. Outside, the night was 
 growing dark. Occasionally Madame Therese would 
 interrupt the old servant, raising her finger, and say- 
 ing: 
 
 "Listen!" 
 
 Then we would all be quiet a moment. 
 
 "It's nothing," said Lisbeth; "Hans BockeFs 
 cart is passing," or else, " it's mother Dreyfus, who 
 is going to watch at the Bremers'." 
 
 She knew the habits of everybody in Anstatt, and 
 it gave her real happiness to talk to the French lady 
 about them, now that she had seen the image of the 
 Holy Virgin hanging from her neck; for the sud- 
 den friendship sprang from that, as I learned after- 
 ward. 
 
 Seven o'clock struck, then the half hour. At 
 last, not knowing how to pass the time, while wait- 
 ing, I climbed on a chair, and took from a shelf 
 Buffon's Natural History, a thing which I had 
 never done before. Then, with my elbows on the 
 table, in a kind of despair, I began to read French 
 alone. Only a ravenous appetite could have given 
 me such an idea; but every moment I raised my 
 head and listened, looking toward the window with
 
 172 MADAME THERESE 
 
 eyes wide open. I had just finished the account of 
 the sparrow, which possesses twice as much brain as 
 man in proportion to its size, when a sound was 
 heard afar off, the sound of little bells. It was still 
 a hardly perceptible tinkling, lost in the distance, 
 but it approached rapidly, and soon Madame The- 
 rese said: 
 
 " It is the doctor." 
 
 " Yes," said Lisbeth, rising and putting her wheel 
 in the corner by the clock; " this time it's he." 
 
 She ran into the kitchen. I was already in the 
 passage, leaving Buffon on the table, and I opened 
 the outer door, crying, 
 
 "Is it you, uncle?" 
 
 " Yes, Fritzel," replied my uncle's cheerful voice. 
 " I have come. Is all well at home? " 
 
 " Very well, uncle, everybody's well." 
 
 "Good, good!" 
 
 Then Lisbeth went out with the lantern, and 
 I saw Uncle Jacob in the shed unharnessing the 
 horse. He was white, in the midst of the dark- 
 ness, and every hair of his coat and fur cap shone 
 like a star in the light of the lantern. He was in 
 a hurry; Rappel, turning his head toward the stable, 
 seemed as if he could not wait. 
 
 " Good Lord, how cold it is out here ! " said the
 
 MADAME THERESE 173 
 
 old servant, running to help him. " You'll be 
 frozen, doctor. Go in, quick, and warm yourself. 
 I'll finish this by myself." 
 
 But Uncle Jacob was not accustomed to leave 
 the care of his horse to others; and it was not till 
 he saw Rappel before the rack filled with hay, with 
 his feet in the good straw, that he said: 
 
 " Now we'll go in." 
 
 And we went in together. 
 
 " Good news, Madame Therese! " cried he in 
 the doorway. " Good news! I've come from 
 Kaiserslautern ; it is all right down there." 
 
 Madame Therese, seated on her bed, looked at 
 him very pale. And as he shook his cap, and took 
 off his overcoat, she said: 
 
 " How, doctor, do you come from Kaiserslau- 
 tern?" 
 
 " Yes, I went as far as that I wanted to know 
 all the particulars. I've seen everything I've in- 
 formed myself of everything," said he, smiling, 
 " but I won't conceal from you, Madame Therese, 
 that I'm dying of hunger and fatigue." 
 
 He was seated in the arm-chair, drawing off his 
 heavy boots, and watching Lisbeth lay the cloth 
 with eyes as sharp as Scipio's and mine. 
 
 " All I can tell you," said he, rising, " is that
 
 I 7 4 MADAME THERESE 
 
 the battle of Kaiserslautern is not so decisive as they 
 thought, and your regiment was not engaged. Little 
 Jean has run no new dangers." 
 
 " That is enough," said Madame Therese, lying 
 back with an air of happiness and unspeakable emo- 
 tion, " that is enough. You need tell me no more, 
 lest I should be too happy. "Warm yourself, doctor; 
 eat don't hurry. I can wait now." 
 
 Lisbeth brought in soup, and my uncle, sitting 
 down, said again: 
 
 " Yes, that is positive. You can be easy on these 
 two points. I'll tell you the rest presently." 
 
 Then we began to eat, and my uncle, looking at 
 me now and then, smiled, as if to say: 
 
 " I believe you want to keep up with me. What 
 in the devil has given you such an appetite ? " 
 
 Our great hunger was soon appeased. We re- 
 membered poor Scipio, who was watching us stoi- 
 cally, and now it Avas his turn to eat. My uncle took 
 another good drink, then lighted his pipe, and ap- 
 proaching the alcove took Madame Therese's hand, 
 as if to feel her pulse, and said: 
 
 "Here I am!" 
 
 She smiled, and said nothing. 
 
 Then he drew up the arm-chair, opened the cur- 
 tains, placed the candle on the night-table, and be-
 
 MADAME THERESE 175 
 
 gan the history of the battle. I listened, leaning 
 on the back of his chair. Lisbeth remained standing 
 in the sitting-room, in the dark. 
 
 " The Kepublicans arrived before Kaiserslautern 
 on the evening of the 27th," said he; " the Prus- 
 sians had been there for three days. They had 
 fortified the position, by placing cannon on the 
 heights that command the plateau. General Hoche 
 followed them from the line of the Erbach; he 
 had even wished to surround them at Bisingen, 
 and he immediately resolved to attack them the 
 next day. The Prussians had forty thousand men 
 and the French thirty thousand. The next day 
 the attack began on the left; the Republicans, un- 
 der General Ambert, began to scale the heights, 
 at a charge, crying, ' Landau or death ! ' At this 
 moment, Hoche ought to have attacked the centre. 
 But it was covered by woods and heights. It was 
 impossible for him to arrive in time. General Am- 
 bert was obliged to retreat before the Prussian fire; 
 he had all Brunswick's army against him. The day 
 following, November 29th, Hoche attacked the 
 centre ; General Ambert was to turn the right wing, 
 but he lost his way in the mountains, so that Hoche 
 was overpowered in his turn. In spite of this the 
 attack was to recommence the next day, November
 
 1 76 MADAME THERESE 
 
 30th. That day Brunswick made a movement in 
 advance, and the Republicans, fearing their com- 
 munications would be cut off, retreated. This is 
 what I know positively, and from the mouth of a 
 Republican colonel, wounded in the hip, the second 
 day of the battle. Doctor Feuerbach, one of my 
 old university friends, took me to this man. Other- 
 wise, I should have learned nothing reliable, for 
 one can get nothing but boasts out of the Prussians. 
 Everybody in the city is talking of these events, but 
 each in his own manner. Great excitement pre- 
 vails down there. Convoys of the wounded are con- 
 stantly leaving for Mayence; the City Hospital is 
 filled with patients, and the citizens are forced to 
 receive the wounded into their houses until they can 
 be removed." 
 
 The attention with which Madame Therese lis- 
 tened to this recital may be imagined. 
 
 " I see I see," said she, sadly, her head leaning 
 on her hand. " Our troops were not concentrated 
 enough." 
 
 " Truly they were not; that is what everybody 
 at Kaiserslautern says; but that doesn't prevent one 
 from recognizing the courage and even the extra- 
 ordinary boldness of your Republicans. When they 
 cried, ' Landau or death ! ' in the midst of the firing
 
 MADAME THERESE 177 
 
 of guns, and the roaring of cannon, all the city heard 
 them; it was enough to make one shudder. Now 
 they are in retreat, but Brunswick has not dared to 
 pursue them." 
 
 There was a moment's silence, then Madame The- 
 rese asked: 
 
 " And how do you know that our regiment was 
 not engaged, doctor? " 
 
 " From the Republican colonel ; he told me that 
 the first battalion of the second brigade had met 
 with great losses in a village in the mountain, some 
 days before, while reconnoitring near Landau, and 
 that for that reason they were held in reserve. Then 
 I saw that he understood affairs exactly." 
 
 " What is this colonel's name? " 
 
 " Pierre Ronsart; he's a tall dark man, with black 
 hair." 
 
 " I know him well I know him well he 
 was captain in our battalion last year; what! 
 is that poor Ronsart a prisoner? Is his wound 
 dangerous? " 
 
 " No; Feuerbach told me he would recover, but 
 it will take some time," answered my uncle. Then 
 smiling archly, his eyes half closed " Yes, yes 
 that's what the colonel told me. But he told me 
 many other things interesting things extraor-
 
 178 MADAME THERESE 
 
 dinarj things, and which I should never have sus- 
 pected." 
 
 " What were they, doctor? " 
 
 " Something that astonished me very much," said 
 Uncle Jacob, pressing the tobacco into his pipe with 
 the end of his finger, and drawing a great puff, 
 looking up at the ceiling " very much astonished 
 me, and yet not so much no, not so much either, 
 for such ideas had sometimes come into my head." 
 
 " But what is it, Monsieur Jacob? " said Madame 
 Therese, in surprise. 
 
 " He spoke of a certain Citoyenne Therese, a sort 
 of Cornelia, known in all the army of the Moselle, 
 and whom the soldiers call 'The Citoyenne! 7 
 Ha! ha! ha! It seems that the citoyennc doesn't 
 lack a certain courage! " And turning to Lisbeth 
 and me, " Imagine that one day when the leader 
 of their battalion had just been killed in trying 
 to urge on his men, and when a bridge must be 
 crossed which was defended by a battery and two 
 Prussian regiments, and all the oldest Republicans, 
 the most terrible among those courageous men, re- 
 coiled imagine this Citoyenne Therese taking the 
 flag, and marching all alone across the bridge, tell- 
 ing her little brother Jean to beat the charge before 
 her, as before an army; which produced such an
 
 MADAME THERESE 179 
 
 effect upon the Republicans, that they all rushed 
 forward at once, and took the cannons. Do you 
 understand, all of you? It was Colonel Ronsart 
 who told me this." 
 
 And as we looked at Madame Therese, quite 
 stupefied I, especially, my eyes wide open, we 
 saw that she was turning very red. 
 
 " Ah," said my uncle, " we learn something new 
 every day; that was grand! that was fine! Yes, 
 yes, although I am a lover of peace, that moved 
 me very much." 
 
 " But, doctor," replied Madame Therese, at last, 
 " how could you believe " 
 
 " Oh," interrupted Uncle Jacob, extending his 
 hand, " it wasn't the colonel alone who told me that; 
 two other wounded captains who were there, hear- 
 ing that Citoyenne Therese was still living, were 
 greatly rejoiced. The story about her and the flag 
 is known to the lowest soldier. Say yes or no 
 did she do that?" said my uncle, frowning, and 
 looking in Madame Therese's face. 
 
 Then she, drooping her head, began to weep, and 
 said: 
 
 " The commander who had just been killed, was 
 our father we wanted to die, little Jean and I 
 we were desperate."
 
 i8o MADAME THERESE 
 
 As she thought of that, she sobbed. My uncle 
 became very grave, and said: 
 
 " Listen, Madame Therese : I am proud of hav- 
 ing saved the life of such a woman as you. Whether 
 it was because your father had died, or for some 
 other reason, that you acted thus, it was truly grand, 
 noble and courageous. It was even extraordinary, 
 for thousands of other women would only have 
 groaned. They would have become powerless, and 
 done nothing but utter reproaches. But you are 
 a courageous woman, and long after you have per- 
 formed great actions, you weep when others are 
 beginning to forget. You are not only the woman 
 who lifted up the banner from among the dead, but 
 you are also the woman who weeps, and this is why 
 I esteem you. And I say that the roof of this house 
 in which my father and grandfather once lived, is 
 honored by your presence, yes, honored! " 
 
 My uncle spoke gravely, dwelling on the words 
 and placing his pipe on the table, for he was greatly 
 moved. And Madame Therese answered: " Doc- 
 tor, don't speak so, or I shall be obliged to go away. 
 I entreat you not to speak of that again." 
 
 " I have told you what I think," replied Uncle 
 Jacob, rising, " and now I will say no more 
 about it, since that is your wish, but that doesn't
 
 MADAME THERESE 181 
 
 prevent me from honoring, in you, a gentle and 
 noble creature, and being proud of having taken 
 care of you. And the colonel told me also who 
 your father and brothers were; simple, artless men, 
 who went together to defend what they believed 
 to be justice. When so many thousands of proud 
 men think only of their own interests, and, I say it 
 with regret, when they consider themselves nobles, 
 while thinking only of material things, one likes 
 to see that true nobility, that which comes from 
 disinterestedness and heroism, is found among the 
 people. Let them be Republicans or not, what mat- 
 ters it? I think in my soul and conscience, that the 
 true nobles, in the sight of the Lord, are those who 
 do their duty." 
 
 My uncle in his excitement was walking up and 
 down the room, talking to himself. Madame The- 
 rese, having dried her tears, looked at him smilingly, 
 and said: 
 
 " Doctor, you have brought us good news, 
 thanks thanks! Now I'm going to get better." 
 
 " Yes," replied Uncle Jacob, stopping, " you are 
 going to get better and better. But it is time to 
 rest. "We have had much fatigue, and I think we'll 
 all sleep well to-night. Come Fritzel, come Lisbeth, 
 let us go! Good-night, Madame Therese."
 
 182 MADAME THERESE 
 
 " Good-night, doctor." 
 
 He took the candle, and, with head bent down 
 thoughtfully, followed us upstairs.
 
 XII 
 
 THE next day was a day of happiness for Uncle 
 Jacob's house. It was very late when I awoke from 
 my deep sleep ; I had slept twelve hours as if it were 
 but a second, and the first things I saw were my little 
 round window-panes, covered with those silver flow- 
 ers, those transparent nets, and thousand ornaments 
 of frost-work, such as no designer's hand could trace. 
 It is nevertheless but a simple thought of God's, 
 which reminds us of spring in the midst of winter; 
 but it is also the sign of great cold, of the dry, 
 sharp cold which succeeds snow. Then all the riv- 
 ers, and even the springs are frozen. The roads are 
 hard, and the pools covered with that white and 
 brittle ice which cracks under the feet like egg- 
 shells. Seeing this with my nose hardly out of 
 the coverlet, and my cotton cap drawn far down over 
 my ears, I recalled all the past winters, and said to 
 myself: 
 
 " Fritzel, you won't dare to get up; not even to 
 go to breakfast; you won't dare! " 
 183
 
 184 MADAME THERESE 
 
 But a good odor of cream porridge came up from 
 the kitchen, and inspired me with a terrible courage. 
 I had been lying there, thinking, for half an hour, 
 and had just resolved beforehand that I would 
 spring out of bed, take my clothes under my arm, 
 and run down to the kitchen, to dress near the fire, 
 when I heard Uncle Jacob getting up, in his room, 
 next to mine, which led me to think that the great 
 fatigue of the night before had made him as late a 
 sleeper as I. A few minutes afterward he came into 
 my room, laughing and shivering, in his shirt- 
 sleeves. 
 
 " Come, come, Fritzel," cried he, " get up, get 
 up ! courage ! Don't you smell the porridge ? " 
 
 He always did so in the winter when it was very 
 cold, and amused himself with seeing me in a state 
 of great uncertainty. 
 
 " If they could bring the soup here," said I, " I'd 
 smell it much better." 
 
 " Oh, the coward, the coward! He would have 
 the heart to eat in bed! What laziness! " 
 
 Then, to set me a good example, he poured the 
 cold water from my pitcher into the large basin, 
 and washed his face with both hands, saying: 
 
 " This does one good, Fritzel ; it freshens you 
 up, and gives you ideas. Come, get up! Come! "
 
 MADAME THERESE 185 
 
 But I, seeing that he wanted to wash me, sprang 
 from the bed, and with a single bound seized my 
 clothes, and rushed downstairs four steps at a time. 
 My uncle's shouts of laughter filled the house. 
 
 " Ah! you'd make a famous Republican, you! " 
 cried he. " Little Jean would have to beat the 
 charge briskly to give you courage! " 
 
 But once in the kitchen, I could laugh at his 
 raillery. I was dressing near a good fire, and was 
 bathing with tepid water which Lisbeth poured out 
 for me. That seemed to me much better than hav- 
 ing great courage, and I was beginning to contem- 
 plate the soup-tureen with an affectionate eye, when 
 Uncle Jacob came down. He pinched my ear, and 
 said to Lisbeth : 
 
 " Well, well! how's Madame Therese this morn- 
 ing? she has had a good night, I hope? " 
 
 "Go in, doctor," replied the old servant, in a 
 good-natured tone; " go in, sir, somebody wants to 
 speak to you." 
 
 My uncle entered, and I followed, and we were 
 at first very much surprised to see no one in the 
 sitting-room, and the curtains of the alcove drawn. 
 But our astonishment was very much greater, when, 
 turning round, we saw Madame Therese in her can- 
 tiniere's dress the little jacket with brass buttons
 
 i86 MADAME THERESE 
 
 closed to the throat, and the large red scarf around 
 her neck, seated behind the stove. She looked as 
 we had first seen her, only a little paler. Her hat 
 was on the table, and her beautiful black hair, parted 
 in the middle, fell over her shoulders, making her 
 look like a young man. She was smiling at our as- 
 tonishment, and kept her hand on the head of Scipio, 
 who was sitting near her. 
 
 " Good Lord ! " cried my uncle. " How, is it 
 you, Madame Therese! You've got up! " 
 
 Then he added, anxiously, 
 
 " What imprudence! " 
 
 But she, continuing to smile, held her hand out 
 to him gratefully, and looking at him expressively 
 with her large black eyes, answered 
 
 " Fear nothing, doctor; I'm well, very well. 
 Your good news of yesterday restored me to health. 
 See, for yourself! " 
 
 He took her hand in silence, and felt her pulse 
 thoughtfully. Then his brow cleared, and he cried, 
 in a joyous tone: 
 
 " No more fever! Ah now now, all goes well! 
 But still you must be prudent be prudent still." 
 
 And drawing back he laughed like a child, look- 
 ing at his patient, who smiled, also. 
 
 " I see you again as I saw you first, Madame
 
 MADAME THERESE 187 
 
 Therese," he said slowly. " Ah! we've been very 
 fortunate, very fortunate ! " 
 
 " You've saved my life, Monsieur Jacob," said 
 she, her eyes filled with tears. 
 
 But he shook his head and raised his hand 
 
 " No, no, it is He who preserves everything and 
 who animates everything it is He alone who has 
 saved you; for He does not want all the noble and 
 beautiful natures to perish; He wants some to re- 
 main as an example for others. Let us thank Him! " 
 
 Then, with voice and countenance changing, he 
 added: 
 
 " Let us rejoice ! Let us rejoice ! This is what 
 I call a happy day! " 
 
 He ran into the kitchen, and as he did not return 
 immediately, Madame Therese beckoned me to her. 
 She took my head between her hands and kissed 
 me, putting aside my hair. 
 
 "You're a good child, Fritzel," said she. 
 " You're like little Jean! " 
 
 I was very proud to resemble little Jean. 
 
 Then my uncle returned, his eyes twinkling, with 
 an expression of inward satisfaction. 
 
 " To-day," said he, " I shan't stir from the house. 
 It is necessary that a man should rest, occasionally. 
 I'm only going to make a little tour of the village,
 
 i88 MADAME THERESE 
 
 that I may have a clear conscience, and then I shall 
 return and pass the whole day with my family, as 
 I used to do in the good time when grandmother 
 Lehnel was living. It has well been said that it is 
 women who make the home." 
 
 He put on his large cap, and threw his coat over 
 his shoulder, and went out, smiling. 
 
 Madame Therese had become very thoughtful. 
 She rose, drew her chair to a window, and looked 
 out upon the square with the fountain, gravely. I 
 went into the kitchen to breakfast with Scipio. In 
 about half an hour I heard my uncle come in, say- 
 ing, 
 
 "Well! here I am, free until evening, Madame 
 Therese. I've made my tour: everything's in or- 
 der, and I'm not obliged to go out again." 
 
 Scipio was scratching at the door; I opened it, 
 and we went into the sitting-room together. My 
 uncle had just hung his coat on the wall, and was 
 looking at Madame Therese, who was still in the 
 same place, seeming very melancholy. 
 
 " What are you thinking of, Madame Therese? " 
 asked he; " you appear to be sadder than you were 
 a little while ago." 
 
 " I'm thinking, doctor, that in spite of the great- 
 est sufferings, it is pleasant to remain some time
 
 MADAME THERESE HAD BECOME THOUGHTFUL.
 
 MADAME THERESE 189 
 
 longer in this world," said she, in an agitated 
 voice. 
 
 " Some time? " cried Uncle Jacob. " Say, rather, 
 for many years; for, thanks to God, you have a 
 good constitution, and in a few days you will be 
 as strong as ever." 
 
 " Yes, Monsieur Jacob, yes; I believe it. But 
 when a good man, a kind-hearted man, has raised 
 you from among the dead, at the last moment, it 
 is a very great happiness to feel one's self recovered; 
 to say to one's self, l But for him, I should not now 
 be living.' " 
 
 My uncle then understood that she was con- 
 templating the scene of the terrible battle between 
 her battalion, and the Austrian division; that the 
 old fountain, the tottering walls, the gables, the at- 
 tic windows in short, all the small dark square 
 recalled the incidents of the struggle, and that she 
 knew the fate which awaited her, if he had not 
 fortunately arrived when Joseph Spick was going 
 to throw her into the cart. For a moment he was 
 overwhelmed by this discovery. Then he asked: 
 
 " Who told you these things, Madame Therese? " 
 
 " Yesterday, when you were away, Lisbeth told 
 me how much gratitude I owe you." 
 
 " Lisbeth told you that! " cried he, in despair; 
 " yet I had forbidden her."
 
 190 MADAME THERESE 
 
 " Don't reproach her, doctor," said she, " I en- 
 couraged her a little. She likes to talk so much ! " 
 
 She smiled at my uncle, who calmed down imme- 
 diately, and said: 
 
 " Well, well, I ought to have foreseen that let 
 us say no more about it. But listen to me, 
 Madame Therese: you must drive such thoughts 
 from your mind. You must try to look at things 
 cheerfully; it's necessary to the re-establishment 
 of your health. All will be well now, but we must 
 try to assist nature by pleasant thoughts, according 
 to the precepts of the father of medicine, the wise 
 Hippocrates ' A strong soul,' said he, ' saves a 
 weak body! ' The strength of the soul comes from 
 pleasant, not sad thoughts. I wish this fountain 
 was at the other end of the village, but since it's 
 here, and we can't take it away, let us sit by the 
 stove, so as not to see it any more that will be 
 much better." 
 
 " I will gladly," said Madame Therese, rising. 
 She leaned on Uncle Jacob's arm; he seemed very 
 happy to support her. I rolled the arm-chair into 
 its corner, and we took our places around the fire, 
 whose crackling gladdened us. At times, in the 
 distance, we heard a dog bark, and this piercing 
 sound, which extends so far through the silent coun-
 
 MADAME THERESE 
 
 191 
 
 try in very cold weather, awoke Scipio, who got up, 
 and ran toward the door, growling, with bristling 
 moustache, then came back, and stretched himself 
 out near my chair, thinking, no doubt, that a good 
 fire was better than the pleasure of making a noise. 
 Madame Therese, pale, with her long blue-black 
 hair falling over her shoulders, seemed calm and 
 happy. We talked quietly, my uncle smoking his 
 porcelain pipe, with an air of gravity, full of satis- 
 faction. 
 
 " But tell me, Madame Therese," said he, in a 
 few moments, " I thought I cut your jacket, and 
 now it looks as good as new." 
 
 " Lisbeth and I mended it yesterday, Monsieur 
 Jacob." 
 
 " Ah ! good, good ! Then you know how to 
 sew? That idea hadn't occurred to me before. I've 
 always imagined you on a bridge, or somewhere near 
 a river, under fire." 
 
 Madame Therese smiled. 
 
 " I'm the daughter of a poor school-master," said 
 she, " and the first thing one must do in this world, 
 when one is poor, is to learn how to earn a living. 
 My father knew this ; all his children were taught 
 some trade. It is only a year since we left, and not 
 only our family, but all the young men in the town
 
 192 MADAME THERESE 
 
 and surrounding villages, with guns, axes, pitch- 
 forks and scythes whatever we had to go and 
 meet the Prussians. Brunswick's proclamation had 
 roused all the frontier. "VVe learned to drill on the 
 way. Then my father, an educated man, was at 
 once chosen captain, by popular vote, and later, af- 
 ter some encounters, he became commander of the 
 battalion. Until our departure, I had helped him 
 with his classes. I took charge of the young girls, 
 and taught them all that good housekeepers ought 
 to know. Ah, Monsieur Jacob, if any one had told 
 me, then, that I should one day march with soldiers, 
 that I should lead my horse by the bridle in the 
 middle of the night, that I should drive my cart over 
 heaps of dead bodies, and often, during whole hours, 
 see my way only by the light of the firing, I would 
 not have believed it ; for I cared only for simple 
 household duties. I was even very timid ; a look 
 would make me blush in spite of myself. But what 
 can we not do when great duties draw us from ob- 
 scurity, when a country in danger calls her chil- 
 dren ! Then the heart bounds, we are no longer 
 the same, we march, fear is forgotten, and long af- 
 terward, we are astonished at being so changed, and 
 having done so many things that, we would have 
 thought quite impossible ! "
 
 MADAME THERESE 
 
 193 
 
 " Yes, yes," said my uncle, bending his head, 
 "now. I understand you I see things clearly. 
 Ah, it was thus that they rose it was thus 
 that men marched en masse! See what an idea 
 can do! " 
 
 We continued talking in this strain until nearly 
 noon, when Lisbeth came to lay the table, and serve 
 dinner. We watched her going and coming, spread- 
 ing the cloth and placing the dishes, and when she 
 brought the smoking soup, Uncle Jacob said, very 
 
 " Come, Madame Therese," rising, and helping 
 her to walk " come to the table. You are now 
 our good grandmother Lehnel, the guardian of the 
 domestic hearth, as my old Professor Eberhardt, of 
 Heidelberg, used to say." 
 
 She smiled, too, and when we were seated oppo- 
 site each other, it seemed to us the natural order of 
 things, that all must have been so ordained from 
 olden times, and that until to-day one of our family 
 had been wanting, whose presence made us happier. 
 Even Lisbeth, bringing in the boiled meat, vege- 
 tables and roast, stopped each time to contemplate 
 us with an air of profound satisfaction, and Scipio 
 kept beside me as much as by his mistress, making 
 no difference between us. My uncle helped 
 13
 
 i 9 4 MADAME THERESE 
 
 Madame Therese, and as she was still weak, cut her 
 meat for her, saying : 
 
 " One more little piece ! What you need now i? 
 strength ; eat that too, but then we will stop, for 
 everything ought to be done in moderation." 
 
 When we had nearly finished, he went out for a 
 moment, and as I was wondering what he had gone 
 to do, he reappeared with an old bottle with a large 
 red seal, covered with dust. 
 
 " There, Madame Therese," said he, placing it on 
 the table, " that is one of your fellow-countrymen, 
 who comes to wish you good health. We cannot 
 refuse him that satisfaction, for he comes from Bur- 
 gundy, and, they say, has a gay disposition." 
 
 " Is this the way you treat your patients, Mon- 
 sieur Jacob?" asked Madame Therese, with emo- 
 tion. 
 
 " Yes, all I order them whatever will give them 
 pleasure." 
 
 " Well, yours is true science that which comes 
 from the heart, and cures." 
 
 My uncle was going to pour out the wine, but 
 stopping suddenly, he looked at the patient with an 
 air of gravity, and said, expressively : 
 
 " I see that we agree better and better ; and you 
 will finish by becoming converted to the doctrine of 
 peace."
 
 MADAME THERESE 195 
 
 Then lie poured some drops into my glass, and 
 filled his and Madame Therese's to the brim, saying: 
 
 " To your health, Madame Therese ! " 
 
 " To yours and Fritzel's ! " 
 
 And we drank that old wine, the color of onion- 
 skin, which I thought very good. We became very 
 gay. Madame Therese's cheeks took a slight rose- 
 tint, betokening the return of health. She smiled, 
 and said : 
 
 " This wine strengthens me." Then she began 
 to speak of rendering herself useful in the house. 
 " I am already very strong ; I can work, I can mend 
 your old linen ; you must have some, Monsieur 
 Jacob? " 
 
 " Oh, no doubt, no doubt," said my uncle, smil- 
 ing ; " Lisbeth's eyes are not what they were at 
 twenty ; she spends hours in darning one hole. 
 You'll be very useful to me, very useful. But it 
 isn't time for that yet. It's still necessary for you to 
 rest." 
 
 " But," said she, looking at me sweetly, " if I 
 can't work, yet, you'll at least permit me to take 
 your place for Fritzel, sometimes. You haven't 
 time always to give him your good French lessons, 
 and if you will " 
 
 " Ah, that's different ! " cried Uncle Jacob }
 
 196 MADAME THERESE 
 
 " yes, I call that an excellent idea, excellent. Lis- 
 ten, Fritzel : in future you will take your lessons 
 of Madame Therese. You must try to profit by 
 them, for good opportunities of instruction are rare 
 - very rare ! " 
 
 I had become very red, for I was thinking how 
 much time Madame Therese had; but she, guess- 
 ing my thoughts, said, kindly : 
 
 " Don't fear, Fritzel. I'll give you plenty of 
 time for play. We'll read Buff on together, only 
 one hour in the morning, and one at night. Don't 
 be afraid, my child. I won't tire you too much." 
 
 She drew me gently to her, and kissed me. Then 
 the door opened, and the mole-catcher and Koffel 
 entered, gravely, dressed in their Sunday clothes. 
 They had come to take coffee with us. It was easy 
 to see that my uncle, on inviting them, in the morn- 
 ing, had told them of the courage and great fame of 
 Madame Therese in the armies of the Republic, for 
 they were by no means the same as usual. The 
 mole-catcher no longer kept his fur cap on, and Kof- 
 fel had put on a white shirt, the collar of which rose 
 above his ears ; he held himself very straight, his 
 hands in his vest pockets, and his wife must have put 
 on a button to fasten the second suspender of his 
 .breeches, for they no longer hung upon one side, but
 
 MADAME THERESE 197 
 
 were even on both ; moreover, instead of his old 
 clogs full of holes, he wore his best shoes. In short, 
 both had the appearance of grave personages coming 
 from some extraordinary conference, and both 
 bowed very impressively, and said : 
 
 " We salute the company ! " 
 
 " Good, it's you ! " said my uncle ; " come, sit 
 down." Then turning toward the kitchen he cried: 
 
 " Lisbeth, you may bring the coffee." 
 
 At that moment, glancing by chance at the win- 
 dow, he saw old Adam Schmitt passing, and rising 
 immediately, tapped on the pane, saying : 
 
 ^" Here's an old soldier of Frederic, Madame 
 Therese ; you will be happy to make his acquaint- 
 ance. He is a good man." 
 
 Father Schmitt had come to see what Uncle Jacob 
 wanted, and Uncle Jacob, having opened the win- 
 dow, said : 
 
 " Father Adam, will you give us the pleasure of 
 taking coffee with us? I always have that old cog- 
 nac, you know ! " 
 
 "Willingly, doctor," replied Schmitt, "very 
 willingly." 
 
 Then he appeared in the doorway, and making 
 the military salute, said : 
 
 " Best respects ! "
 
 198 MADAME THERESE 
 
 Then the mole-catcher, Koffel, and Schmitt, 
 standing around the table in embarrassment, began 
 to talk to each other in low tones, looking at Madame 
 Therese, as if they had something very important 
 to communicate, while Lisbeth took off the table- 
 cloth, and spread the oil-cloth on, and Madame 
 Therese continued to smile upon me, and pass her 
 hand through my hair, without seeming to notice 
 that they were talking about her. At last, Lisbetli 
 brought the cups and the little decanters of cognac 
 and kirschenwasser on a tray, and this sight made 
 old Schmitt turn round, his eyes twinkling. Lis- 
 beth brought the coffee-pot, and my uncle said : 
 
 " Let us sit down." 
 
 Everybody sat down, and Madame Therese, smil- 
 ing on all these honest men, said : 
 
 " Allow me to help you, gentlemen." 
 
 Immediately, Father Schmitt, again making the 
 salute, answered : 
 
 " Military honors to you ! " 
 
 Koffel and the mole-catcher looked at him admir- 
 ingly, and each thought : " That Father Schmitt 
 has just said a sensible and suitable thing." 
 
 Madame Therese filled the cups, and while they 
 drank in silence, my uncle, placing his hand on 
 Father Schmitt's shoulder, said :
 
 MADAME THERESE 199 
 
 " Madame Therese, I present to you an old soldier 
 of Frederic the Great, a man who, notwithstanding 
 his campaigns and his wounds, his courage and his 
 good conduct, became only a simple sergeant, but 
 whom all the honest men in the village esteem as 
 much as a captain." 
 
 Then Madame Therese looked at Father Schmitt, 
 who straightened himself up in his chair with a feel- 
 ing of natural dignity. 
 
 " In the armies of the Republic, monsieur might 
 have become a general," said she. " If France 
 now fights all Europe, it is because she will not allow 
 that honors, fortune, and all the good things of the 
 world, should crown the heads of a few, despite their 
 vices ; and all the poverty and humiliations the 
 heads of others, notwithstanding their merits and 
 virtues. The nation finds this contrary to the law 
 of God, and to change it, we will all die, if it be 
 necessary! " 
 
 At first no one replied. Schmitt looked at this 
 woman earnestly, his large gray eyes wide open. 
 His lips were compressed, and he seemed to reflect. 
 The mole-catcher and Koffel looked at each other ; 
 Madame Therese seemed a little excited, and my 
 uncle remained calm. I had left the table, for 
 Uncle Jacob did not allow me to take coffee, think-
 
 200 MADAME THERESE 
 
 ing it injurious to children, and was standing behind 
 the stove, looking and listening. In a moment 
 Uncle Jacob said to Schmitt : 
 
 " Madame was cantiniere in the second battalion 
 of the first brigade of the army of the Moselle." 
 
 " I know it already, doctor/' answered the old 
 soldier ; " and I also know what she did." 
 
 Then raising his voice, he cried : 
 
 " Yes, madame, if I had had the happiness of 
 serving in the armies of the Republic, I would have 
 become a captain perhaps even a colonel or I 
 would have died." Then placing his hand on his 
 breast " I was ambitious ; not to flatter myself, I 
 wasn't wanting in courage, and if I could have risen 
 I would have been ashamed to remain in an inferior 
 position. The king remarked me on several occa- 
 sions a rare thing for a common soldier and that 
 was an honor. At Rosbach, while the captain be- 
 hind us cried, ' Forward ! ' it was really Adam 
 Schmitt who commanded the company. Ah, well ! 
 all that amounted to nothing ; and now, although 
 I receive a pension from the King of Prussia, I'm 
 forced to say the Republicans are right. That's my 
 opinion." 
 
 Then he emptied his little glass quickly, and 
 winking in an odd manner, added :
 
 ' TO PRESENT YOU MY RESPECTS," SAID OLD SCHMITT.
 
 MADAME THERESE 201 
 
 " And they fight well, I saw that yes they 
 fight well. They have not the regular movements 
 of old soldiers, yet, but they sustain a charge well, 
 and it is by that one knows strong men in the ranks." 
 
 After these words of Father Schmitt's they all 
 began to praise the new ideas. One would have 
 thought that the signal for a general confidence had 
 just been given, and that each wished to reveal 
 thoughts which he had long kept secret. Koffel, 
 who was always complaining of not having received 
 an education, said that all the children ought to go 
 to school at the country's expense ; that as God had 
 not given more heart and mind to the nobles than to 
 other men, each one had a right to the dew and the 
 light of heaven ; thus the good grain would not be 
 choked by tares, nor the culture which would help 
 more useful plants be wasted upon thistles. 
 
 Madame Therese replied that the National Con- 
 vention had voted fifty-four million francs for pub- 
 lic education regretting that they could not do 
 more at the time when all Europe was in arms 
 against them, and they were obliged to sustain four- 
 teen armies in the field. 
 
 Koffel's eyes filled with tears as he heard this, and 
 I shall never forget how he said in a trembling 
 voice
 
 202 MADAME THERESE 
 
 " Well, God bless them, God bless them ! So 
 much the worse for us, but though I should lose 
 everything through them, it is for their success that 
 I will pray." 
 
 The mole-catcher remained silent a long time, but 
 when he once began, there was no stopping him. 
 Not only did he demand education for the children, 
 but he desired the utter overturning of everything. 
 One would not have supposed that so peaceable a 
 man could entertain such ideas. 
 
 " I say it's shameful to sell regiments like droves 
 of cattle ! " cried he, earnestly, stretching out his 
 hand over the table. " I say it's still more shameful 
 to sell the office of judge, for judges, to get their 
 money back, sell justice ; I say that the Repub- 
 licans have done well to abolish the convents, in 
 which idleness and all the vices flourish, and every- 
 body ought to be free to go, to come, to trade, to 
 work, to advance in every walk of life, without any 
 one's opposing them. And, finally, I believe that 
 if the drones won't go, nor work, the good God 
 wants the bees to get rid of them, as we've always 
 seen, and always shall see, until the end of time." 
 
 Old Schmitt, then more at his ease, said his ideas 
 were the same as the mole-catcher's and Koffel's ; 
 and my uncle, who until then had preserved his
 
 MADAME THERESE 203 
 
 calmness, could not help approving these senti- 
 ments, which are the truest, the most natural, and 
 most just. 
 
 " Only," said he, " instead of wanting to do ev- 
 erything in a day, it's much better to work slowly 
 and progressively. We must employ gentle and 
 persuasive means, as Christ did. That would be 
 wiser, and the same results would be obtained." 
 
 Madame Therese smiled, and said : 
 
 " Ah, Monsieur Jacob, no doubt, if everybody 
 was like you. But for how many hundred years 
 has Christ preached kindness, justice, and gentle- 
 ness to men? And yet, do your nobles listen? Do 
 they treat the peasants like brothers? No, no ! It 
 is unfortunate, but war is necessary. In the three 
 years which have just passed, the Republic has done 
 more for the rights of man than was done in the 
 eighteen hundred years before. Believe me, doc- 
 tor, the resignation of good men is a great evil ; it 
 emboldens the bad, and is productive of no good." 
 
 All agreed with Madame Therese, and Uncle 
 Jacob was going to reply, when Clementz, the car- 
 rier, with his large hat covered with oil-cloth, and 
 his red leather bag, opened the door, and handed in 
 the newspaper. 
 
 " "Won't you take some coffee, Clementz? " said 
 my uncle.
 
 204 MADAME THERESE 
 
 " No, Monsieur Jacob, thank you, I'm in a hurry ; 
 all the letters are late. Another time." 
 
 He went out, and we saw him run past the win- 
 dow. My uncle opened the paper, and began to 
 read, gravely, the news of that far-off time. Al- 
 though very young then, I remember it well. It 
 seemed to verify the mole-catcher's predictions, and 
 inspired me with intense interest. The old Zeit- 
 l)latt treated the Republicans as a kind of madmen 
 who had conceived the audacious design of changing 
 the eternal laws of nature. It recalled, at first, the 
 terrible manner in which Jupiter had overwhelmed 
 the Titans who had revolted against his throne ; 
 crushing them under mountains, so that, since then, 
 these unfortunates vomit ashes and flame from the 
 sepulchres of Vesuvius and Etna. Then it spoke of 
 the melting of the bells stolen from the worship of 
 our fathers and transformed into cannon, one of 
 the greatest profanations that could be conceived, 
 since what ought to give life to the soul was now 
 destined to kill the body. It said, also, that the 
 assign a ts were worth nothing, and that soon, when 
 the nobles should again take possession of their 
 chateaux, and the priests of their convents, those 
 valueless papers would be good for nothing but to 
 kindle the kitchen fires. It charitably warned peo-
 
 MADAME THERESE 205 
 
 pie to refuse them, no matter at what cost. After 
 this came the list of executions, and unhappily, it 
 was long ; so the ZcitUatt declared that the Repub- 
 licans had changed the proverb that " wolves do not 
 eat each other." It laughed at the new era, styled 
 Republican, whose months were called vende- 
 miaire, brumaire, frimaire, nivose, pluvidse, etc. 
 These madmen intended to change the courses of the 
 stars, and to pervert the seasons, it said ; put winter 
 into summer, and spring into autumn, so that one 
 would no longer know when seed-time or harvest 
 came; they had no common-sense, and all the peas- 
 ants of France were indignant with them. 
 
 So the Zcitblatt expressed itself. 
 
 Koffel and the mole-catcher glanced at each other 
 gravely, from time to time, during the reading. 
 Madame Therese and Father Schmitt seemed very 
 thoughtful ; no one said anything. My uncle con- 
 tinued to read, stopping a second at each new para- 
 graph, and the old clock went ticking on. 
 
 Toward the last, the questions of the war of La 
 Vendee came up, of the taking of Lyons, the occu- 
 pation of Toulon by the English and Spanish, the 
 invasion of Alsace by Wurmser, and the battle-field 
 of Kaiserslautern, from which these famous Repub- 
 licans had run like hares. The Zeitblatt predicted
 
 2o6 MADAME THERESE 
 
 that the Republic would come to an end the follow- 
 ing spring, and closed by these words of the prophet 
 Jeremiah, which it addressed to the French people : 
 
 " Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and 
 thy backslidings shall reprove thee ; know therefore 
 and see that it is an evil thing and bitter, that thou 
 hast forsaken the Lord thy God." 
 
 Then my uncle folded the paper, and said, 
 
 " What is one to think of all that? Every day 
 they announce to us that the Republic is near its 
 end ; six months ago it was surrounded on all sides, 
 three quarters of its provinces had risen against it. 
 La Vendee, and we, too, had gained great victories. 
 Well, now it has repulsed us nearly everywhere, it 
 stands against all Europe as a great monarchy could 
 not do; we are no longer in the heart of its prov- 
 inces, but only on its frontiers; it advances even 
 to our doors, and yet they say it is going to perish ! 
 If it were not the learned doctor Zacharias who 
 writes these things, I should entertain great doubts 
 of their good faith." 
 
 " Ah, Monsieur Jacob," replied Madame The- 
 rese, " perhaps this doctor sees things as he wishes 
 them. That often happens, and does not prevent 
 people from being sincere. They don't wish to de- 
 ceive, but they deceive themselves."
 
 MADAME THERESE 207 
 
 " As for me," said Father Schmitt, rising, " all 
 I know is that the Republicans fight well, and if the 
 French have three or four hundred thousand like 
 those I've seen, I fear more for ourselves than for 
 them. That's my opinion. As to Jupiter, who 
 puts men under Vesuvius to make them vomit fire, 
 that's a new kind of battery, that I know nothing 
 about, but I'd like very well to see it." 
 
 " And I," said the mole-catcher, " think that 
 Doctor Zacharias doesn't know what he is talking 
 about ; if I edited the paper, I should do other- 
 wise." 
 
 He stopped to take a coal from the furnace, for 
 he felt great need of smoking. Old Schmitt fol- 
 lowed his example, and as night had come, they went 
 out together, Koffel last, pressing Uncle Jacob's 
 hand and bowing to Madame Therese.
 
 xm 
 
 THE next day Madame Therese occupied herself 
 with household duties. She visited the presses, un- 
 folded the table-cloths, towels, and shirts, and even 
 the old yellow linen which had lain piled up there 
 since grandmother Lehnel's time. She put aside 
 what was worth repairing, while Lisbeth placed the 
 large tub full of ashes in the wash-house. The 
 water must boil till midnight to make lye for the 
 great washing. And for several days there was still 
 more work washing, drying, ironing, and mend- 
 ing, and all that. 
 
 Madame Therese had not her equal for needle- 
 work. This woman, whom people had thought 
 only fit to pour out glasses of brandy, and jog along 
 in a cart behind a crowd of sans-culottes, knew more 
 about domestic matters than any gossip in Anstatt. 
 She even showed us the art of embroidering wreaths, 
 and of marking the fine linen with red letters, a 
 thing of which we in the mountains were entirely 
 ignorant until then, which proves what information 
 208
 
 MADAME THERESE 209 
 
 is diffused by great revolutions. Moreover Madame 
 Therese helped Lisbeth in the kitchen, without in- 
 terfering with her, knowing that the old servants 
 cannot bear to have their arrangements disturbed. 
 
 " You see, Madame Therese," the old woman 
 sometimes said, " how people's notions change. At 
 first I couldn't endure you on account of your Re- 
 public, and now, if you were to go away, I believe 
 all the house would go, and that we couldn't live 
 without you." 
 
 " Oh," answered she, smiling, " every one has 
 his own ways. When you did not know me you felt 
 distrustful of me ; anybody in your place would 
 have felt the same." Then she added, sadly, " Nev- 
 ertheless I must go, Lisbeth. My place is not here. 
 Other duties call me elsewhere." 
 
 She was always thinking of her battalion, and 
 when Lisbeth cried out : 
 
 " Pshaw, you must stay with us, you can't leave 
 us now. You know that they think a great deal of 
 you in the village ; the people respect you greatly. 
 Leave your sans-culottes. It isn't the life for an 
 honest person to be struck by balls and other bad 
 weapons, following the soldiers. We won't let you 
 go away." 
 
 She shook her head, and one could easily see that 
 14
 
 210 MADAME THERESE 
 
 some day she would say : " To-day, I am going ! " 
 and that nothing could prevent her. 
 
 On the other hand the discussions on war and 
 peace continued. It was Uncle Jacob who recom- 
 menced them. Every morning he came down to 
 convert Madame Therese, saying that peace ought 
 to reign on earth, that in the beginning peace had 
 been established by God himself, not only among 
 men, but among animals ; all religions teach the 
 doctrine of peace ; all sufferings come from war, 
 pestilence, murder, pillage, incendiarism ; there 
 must be a chief at the head of governments to main- 
 tain order, and consequently nobles to support that 
 chief ; these things had existed in all times; among 
 the Hebrews, the Egyptians, the Assyrians, the 
 Greeks and Romans ; the republic of Rome had 
 understood this; the consuls and dictators were a 
 kind of kings supported by noble senators, who were 
 themselves supported by noble knights, who were 
 above the people. Such was the natural order, and 
 it could not be changed without detriment even to 
 the poorest, for, said he, the poor, in disorder, no 
 longer find means of gaining a living, and per- 
 ish like leaves in autumn, when they fall from the 
 branches which give them sap. He said many more 
 things equally strong ; .but Madame Therese always
 
 MADAME THERESE 211 
 
 found some good reply. She declared that men 
 have equal rights by God's will ; that rank ought to 
 belong to merit, and not to blood ; wise laws, equal 
 for all, establish only equitable differences among 
 citizens, approving the actions of some, and con- 
 demning those of others ; it is shameful and miser- 
 able to grant honors and authority to those who do 
 not merit them ; it is to degrade authority and 
 honor itself, to cause them to be represented by un- 
 worthy persons, and to destroy in all hearts the senti- 
 ment of justice by showing that justice does not ex- 
 ist, since everything depends upon the accident of 
 birth ; to establish such a state of things men must 
 be degraded, for intelligent beings would not suffer 
 it ; such degradation is contrary to God's laws ; that 
 we must contend in every way with those who would 
 bring it about for their own profit, and oppose them 
 by all means in our power, even by war, the most 
 terrible of all, it is true, but the sin of which falls 
 upon the heads of those who provoke it by trying to 
 establish an everlasting iniquity ! 
 
 When my uncle heard these replies he would be- 
 come grave. If he had a journey to take among 
 the mountains, he would mount his horse very 
 thoughtfully, and all day he would seek new and 
 stronger reasons to convince Madame Therese. In
 
 212 MADAME THERESE 
 
 the evening he would return more cheerful, with 
 proofs which he considered invincible, but his belief 
 did not last long ; for this simple woman, instead of 
 talking about the Greeks and Egyptians, saw at once 
 into the depths of things, and destroyed my uncle's 
 historical proofs by good sense. Yet, Uncle Jacob 
 was not angry ; on the contrary, he exclaimed ad- 
 miringly : 
 
 " What a woman you are, Madame Therese ! 
 Without having studied logic, you have a reply for 
 everything. I'd like to see what kind of a face the 
 editor, of the Zeitblatt would make arguing with 
 you. I'm sure you'd embarrass him, in spite of his 
 great learning and even his good cause ; for ours is 
 the good cause, only I defend it poorly." 
 
 Then they would both laugh, and Madame The- 
 rese would say : 
 
 " You defend peace very well. I agree with 
 you ; only let us rid ourselves of those who de- 
 sire war, and in order to get rid of them, let us wage 
 it better than they. You and I will soon be of one 
 opinion, for we are earnest and desire justice. But 
 there are others who must be converted by cannon- 
 shots, since that is the only voice they will hear, and 
 the only reasoning which they understand." 
 
 My uncle would make no answer, and what great
 
 MADAME THERESE 213 
 
 ly astonished me was that he even seemed contented 
 with having been beaten. Next to these great po- 
 litical discussions, that which gave him the most 
 pleasure was to find me, on returning from his visits, 
 taking my French lesson, Madame Therese sitting 
 with her arm around me, and I standing, bending 
 over the book. He would come in softly, so as not 
 to disturb us, and sit behind the stove, stretching 
 out his legs, and listening in a sort of rapture. Some- 
 times he would wait half an hour before taking off 
 his boots and putting on his loose jacket, he was so 
 afraid of distracting my attention ; and when the 
 lesson was finished, he would exclaim : 
 
 " Very well, Fritzel, very well ! You're acquir- 
 ing a taste for that beautiful language that Madame 
 Therese explains to you so well. How fortunate 
 for you to have such a teacher ! You'll realize that 
 after a while." 
 
 Then he would kiss me, much moved. 
 
 What Madame Therese did for me he valued 
 more than if it had been for himself. 
 
 I must say, also, that that excellent woman did 
 not weary me for a single moment during our les- 
 sons ; if she saw my attention lag, she would im- 
 mediately tell me little stories which aroused me; 
 there was especially a certain Republican Gate-
 
 2I 4 MADAME THERESE 
 
 chism, full of noble and touching incidents, the re- 
 membrance of which will never be effaced from my 
 memory. 
 
 Several days passed thus. The mole-catcher and 
 Koffel came every evening as usual. Madame 
 Therese had entirely recovered, and it seemed as if 
 this state of things would continue forever, when an 
 extraordinary occurrence came to disturb our quiet, 
 and to urge Uncle Jacob to the most daring under- 
 takings.
 
 XIV 
 
 morning Uncle Jacob was gravely reading 
 the Kepublican Catechism near the stove. Madame 
 Therese was sewing by the window, and I was 
 watching for a good opportunity of making my es- 
 cape with Scipio. Outside our neighbor Spick was 
 splitting wood. No other sound was heard in the 
 village. My uncle's book seemed to interest him 
 very much. From time to time he would look up, 
 and say, 
 
 " These Eepublicans have good traits ; they take 
 a large view of men their principles elevate the 
 soul. It is really beautiful ! I can understand 
 how the young adopt their doctrines, for all young 
 people who are healthy in body and mind love virt- 
 ue. Those who become decrepit before they are 
 old, from selfishness and bad passions, are just the 
 opposite. What a pity that such men constantly 
 have recourse to violence ! " 
 
 Then Madame Therese would smile, and he would 
 resume his reading. This continued for about half 
 215
 
 216 MADAME THERESE 
 
 an hour, and Lisbeth, after having swept the entry, 
 was going to have her share of gossip at old Koesel's 
 as usual, when suddenly a man on horseback stopped 
 at our door. He wore a large blue cloth cloak, a 
 sheepskin cap, and had a snub-nose and gray beard. 
 My uncle put down his book. We all looked at 
 the stranger from the windows. 
 
 " Somebody has come after you for some sick per- 
 son, doctor," said Madame Therese. 
 
 My uncle did not answer. The man, after fas- 
 tening his horse to the post, entered the house. 
 
 " Are you Doctor Jacob? " asked he, opening the 
 door. 
 
 " I am he, sir." 
 
 " Here is a letter from Doctor Feuerbach of 
 Kaiserslautern." 
 
 " Sit down, sir," said Uncle Jacob. 
 
 The man remained standing. My uncle became 
 very pale on reading the letter. For a moment he 
 seemed troubled, and looked at Madame Therese 
 anxiously. 
 
 " I must take back your answer, if there be any," 
 said the man. 
 
 " Tell Feuerbach that I thank him, that is the 
 only answer." 
 
 Then without adding anything he went out bare-
 
 MADAME THERESE 217 
 
 headed with the messenger, whom we saw go down 
 the street, leading his horse toward the inn of the 
 Little Golden Pitcher. Doubtless he was going to 
 refresh himself before returning. We saw my un- 
 cle pass the window to go into the shed. Then Ma- 
 dame Therese seemed disturbed. 
 
 " Fritzel," said she, " go take your uncle his 
 cap." 
 
 I went out at once, and found him walking up 
 and down with long strides before the barn. He 
 was still holding the letter, not thinking of putting 
 it in his pocket. Spick was looking at him strange- 
 ly from his doorway, leaning on his axe. Two or 
 three of the neighbors, also, were looking from their 
 windows. It was very cold out-of-doors, and I went 
 in again. Madame Therese had laid down her 
 work and was sitting pensively with her elbow on 
 the window-sill. I sat down behind the stove, hav- 
 ing no desire to go out again. I remembered all 
 these things during my childhood ; but what hap- 
 pened afterward, for a long time seemed like a 
 dream, for I could not understand it. And it is only 
 since I have grown older, that, thinking it over, I 
 have understood it. I remember that my uncle 
 came in a few minutes afterward, saying that men 
 were scoundrels, creatures who sought only to in-
 
 2i8 MADAME THERESE 
 
 jure each other ; that he sat down by the little win- 
 dow not far from the door, and began to read his 
 friend Feuerbach's letter ; while Madame Therese 
 stood listening to him erect and calm, in her little 
 jacket with its double row of buttons, her hair twist- 
 ed at the back of her head. 
 
 All this I see, and Scipio, too, in the middle of the 
 room, with upturned head and curled up tail. But 
 as the letter was written in Saxon German, all that I 
 could understand of it was that Uncle Jacob had 
 been denounced as a Jacobin, at whose house the 
 rabble of the country assembled to celebrate the 
 Revolution, that Madame Therese was also de- 
 nounced as a dangerous woman, regretted by the 
 Republicans on account of her extraordinary cour- 
 age, and that a Prussian officer, accompanied by a 
 sufficient escort, was coming for her the next day, 
 and would send her to Mayence with the other pris- 
 oners. I remember that Feuerbach advised my 
 uncle to be very prudent, because the Prussians, 
 since their victory at Kaiserslautern, were masters of 
 the country, and they were arresting all dangerous 
 men and sending them to Poland, two hundred 
 leagues from there, into the marshes, as an example 
 to others. 
 
 What seemed most astonishing to me was the
 
 MADAME THERESE 
 
 219 
 
 manner in which Uncle Jacob, the calm man, the 
 great lover of peace, became indignant at his old 
 comrade's advice. Our little sitting-room, usually 
 so peaceful, was that day the scene of a terrible 
 storm, and I doubt whether it had ever seen the like, 
 since the house was built. My uncle accused Feuer- 
 bach of being a self-seeker, ready to bow to the ar- 
 rogance of the Prussians, who treated the Palatinate 
 and the Hundsruck like a conquered country. He 
 declared that laws existed in Mayence, in Treves 
 and Spire, as well as in France ; Madame Therese 
 had been left for dead by the Austrians ; they had 
 no right to reclaim persons and things which they 
 had abandoned ; she was free ; he would suffer no 
 one to lay his hand on her ; he would protest against 
 it ; the lawyer Pf effel of Heidelberg was his friend ; 
 he would write, he would defend himself ; he would 
 move heaven and earth ; they should see if Jacob 
 Wagner would allow himself to be treated in that 
 manner; they would be astonished at what a 
 peaceable man was capable of doing for right and 
 justice. 
 
 As he talked he walked up and down with dis- 
 ordered hair ; he quoted at random in Latin all the 
 old laws that he could recall. He also spoke of cer- 
 tain sentences on the rights of man which he had
 
 220 
 
 MADAME THERESE 
 
 just read, and from time to time he stopped, bent his 
 knee, put his foot down with force, and cried : 
 
 " I stand on the basis of law on the brazen 
 foundations of our ancient charters. Let the Prus- 
 sians come let them come ! This woman is mine 
 I rescued her and saved her life. The thing 
 abandoned, ' res derelicta est res puWica, res vul- 
 gata.' " 
 
 I do not know where he had learned all this ; per- 
 haps at the University of Heidelberg, hearing his 
 companions argue among themselves. But at that 
 time all these old studies passed through his mind 
 and he seemed to be replying to a dozen persons who 
 were attacking him at once. 
 
 Madame Therese remained calm, her long, thin 
 face very thoughtful. Xo doubt my uncle's quota- 
 tions astonished her, but seeing things clearly, as 
 usual, she understood her true position. It was 
 only at the end of a long half -hour, when my uncle 
 opened his secretary and seated himself to write to 
 the lawyer Pfeffel, that she placed her hand gently 
 on his shoulder, and said with emotion : 
 
 " Don't write, Monsieur Jacob, it is useless. Be- 
 fore your letter arrives I shall be far away." 
 
 My uncle looked at her, turning very pale. 
 
 " You want to go away, then? " he asked with 
 trembling lips.
 
 MADAME THERESE 221 
 
 " I am a prisoner," said she, " I know that ; my 
 only hope was that the Republicans, returning to the 
 attack, would deliver me as they marched upon 
 Landau ;. but since it is otherwise, I must go." 
 
 " You want, to go away ! " repeated he, despair- 
 ingly. 
 
 " Yes, doctor, I want to go, to spare you great an- 
 noyance ; you are too good, too generous to under- 
 stand the strict laws of war ; you see only justice I 
 But in time of war, justice is nothing, force is every- 
 thing. The Prussians are conquerors, they will 
 come and take me away because those are their or- 
 ders. Soldiers know only their orders ; law, life, 
 honor, man's reason, are nothing ; their orders are 
 above all." 
 
 My uncle sank back in his arm-chair, his large 
 eyes filled with tears, not knowing what to reply ; 
 but he took Madame Therese's hand, and pressed it 
 with great emotion, then rising with agitated face, 
 he began to walk up and down, again invoking the 
 execration of future ages upon the oppressors of 
 mankind, cursing Richter and all scoundrels like 
 him, and declaring in a voice of thunder that the 
 Republicans were right in defending themselves ; 
 their cause was just ; he saw it now ; and all the 
 old laws, the old rubbish of ordinances, rules and
 
 222 MADAME THERESE 
 
 charters of all sorts had never benefited any but the 
 nobles and monks, to the injury of the poor. His 
 face was swollen, he staggered, he could no longer 
 speak plainly, but stammered. He said that every- 
 thing ought to be wholly abolished ; courage and 
 virtue only ought to triumph, and finally, in an ex- 
 traordinary kind of enthusiasm, his arm extended 
 toward Madame Therese, and his face red even to 
 his neck, he proposed to take her in his sleigh to the 
 mountain, to the house of a woodcutter one of his 
 friends where she would be safe. He seized her 
 hands, and said : 
 
 " Let us go let us go there you will be well 
 cared for in old Ganglof's house. He is entirely 
 devoted to me I saved his life, and his son's 
 they will conceal you the Prussians will not go 
 look for you in the passes of the Lauterfelz ! " 
 
 But Madame Therese refused, saying that if the 
 Prussians should not find her at Anstatt, they would 
 arrest him in her place; and she would rather risk 
 perishing of fatigue and cold on the highway, than 
 expose to such a misfortune, a man who had rescued 
 her from among the dead. She said this very firm- 
 ly, but my uncle would give no weight to such rea- 
 sons. I remember that what troubled him most 
 was the thought of seeing Madame Therese going
 
 MADAME THERESE 223 
 
 away with barbarous men, savages from the depths 
 of Pomerania ; he could not endure this idea, and 
 cried : 
 
 " You are weak you are still an invalid ! These 
 Prussians respect nothing they are a race full of 
 boasting and brutality. You don't know how they 
 treat their prisoners. I have seen it myself it is a 
 disgrace to my country I would have concealed 
 this, but I must acknowledge it now, it is frightful !" 
 
 " Xo doubt, Monsieur Jacob," replied she ; " I 
 know that from the old prisoners of our battalion. 
 We shall march two by two, or four by four, sad, 
 sometimes without bread, often hurried and brutally 
 treated by the escort. But your peasants are good 
 they are honest men they have pity and the 
 French are gay, doctor, the journey will be the 
 only hardship ; and moreover I shall find ten, 
 twenty of my comrades to carry my little bundle ; 
 the French respect women. I see it beforehand," 
 said she, smiling sadly : " one of us will march be- 
 fore, singing an old air of Auvergne to mark the 
 step, or else a more joyous Provengal song, to bright- 
 en your dark skies. We shall not be so unhappy as 
 you think, Monsieur Jacob." 
 
 She spoke gently, her voice trembling a little, and 
 as she was speaking I could see her with her little
 
 224 MADAME THERESE 
 
 bundle in the file of prisoners, and my heart sank. 
 Oh, then I knew how much we loved her, how it 
 would pain us to see her go away. Suddenly I burst 
 into tears, and my uncle sitting opposite the secre- 
 tary, his face in his hands, remained silent, but great 
 tears flowed slowly down his cheeks. Madame The- 
 rese, seeing this, could not help weeping. She 
 took me tenderly in her arms, and kissed me warmly, 
 saying : 
 
 " Don't cry, Fritzel; don't cry so. You'll think 
 of me sometimes won't you? I shall never forget 
 
 you." 
 
 Scipio alone remained calm, walking around the 
 stove, and understanding nothing of our trouble. 
 It was not until nearly ten o'clock, when we heard 
 Lisbeth lighting the kitchen fire, that we became 
 somewhat calm. 
 
 Then my uncle, blowing his nose forcibly, said : 
 " Madame Therese, you must go, since you really 
 wish to, but it is impossible for me to allow the Prus- 
 sians to come here and take you away like a thief, 
 and lead you through the whole village. If one of 
 those brutes should speak a cruel or insolent word to 
 you, I should forget myself, for my patience would 
 be at an end ; I feel it, I should be capable of pro- 
 ceeding to great extremities. Let me take you to
 
 MADAME THERESE 225 
 
 Kaiserslautern myself, before those people come. 
 We will leave early in the morning, between four 
 and five o'clock, in my sleigh ; we will take the by- 
 roads, and will get down there by noon at the latest. 
 Do you consent ? " 
 
 " Oh, Monsieur Jacob, how could I refuse this 
 last proof of your affection? " said she, much moved. 
 " I accept it with gratitude." 
 
 " We will do so, then," said he gravely. " And 
 now let us dry our tears, and drive away these bitter 
 thoughts as much as possible, so as not to sadden the 
 last moments that we shall spend together." 
 
 He kissed me, putting back the hair from my 
 forehead, and said: 
 
 " Fritzel, you're a good child; you have an ex- 
 cellent heart. Remember that your Uncle Jacob 
 has been satisfied with you this day. It is good 
 to say to ourselves that we have given satisfaction 
 to those who love us I "
 
 XV 
 
 FROM that moment quiet returned to our house. 
 Every one thought of Madame Therese's departure, 
 of the great void that would be left in our home, 
 of the sadness which would for weeks and months 
 succeed the pleasant evenings that we had passed 
 together, of the sorrow of the mole-catcher, Koffel, 
 and old Schmitt, on learning the bad news; the 
 more we thought of it, the more causes for grief 
 and loneliness we discovered. What seemed to me 
 the most bitter, was parting from my friend Scipio. 
 I dared not say it, but when I considered that he 
 was going away, that I could no longer walk with 
 him in the village, in the midst of universal admira- 
 tion, nor have the happiness of making him drill 
 that I should be as I was before he came, walking 
 alone, my hands in my pockets, and my cotton cap 
 drawn over my ears, without honor, and without 
 glory such a disaster seemed to me the height of 
 misery. And what caused the bitter cup to over- 
 flow, was that Scipio had just placed himself before 
 226
 
 MADAME THERESE 227 
 
 me, looking at me from under his frowsy eyebrows, 
 as sorrowfully as if he understood that we were 
 going to be separated forever. Oh, when I think 
 of these things even now, I am surprised that my 
 thick, fair curls did not turn quite gray, in the 
 midst of such distracting thoughts, I could not 
 even cry, my sorrow was so great. I remained with 
 head upturned, my lips trembling, and my hands 
 clasped around one knee. 
 
 My uncle was walking up and down with long 
 strides, and occasionally he coughed a little, and 
 then quickened his steps. 
 
 Madame Therese, always active, despite her sad- 
 ness, and her red eyes, had opened the chest of old 
 linen, and was cutting from thick cloth a kind of 
 bag with double straps, in which to put her things 
 for the journey. We could hear the crunching of 
 her scissors on the table. She arranged the pieces 
 with her usual skill. At last, when all was ready, 
 she drew from her pocket a needle and thread, sat 
 down, put on her thimble, and after that we could 
 see her hand coming and going like lightning. 
 This was all done in the greatest silence. We heard 
 only my uncle's heavy step on the floor, and the 
 measured ticking of our old clock, which neither 
 our joys nor our sorrows could hasten or delay one
 
 828 MADAME THERESE 
 
 second. Thus goes life; time as it passes does not 
 ask, " Are you sad? Are you gay? Do you weep? 
 Do you laugh? Is it spring, autumn, or winter? " 
 It goes on, goes on, always; and those millions of 
 atoms that whirl about in a ray of sunlight, and 
 whose life begins and ends from one " tic-tac " to 
 another, are of as much account to it, as the exist- 
 ence of an old man of a hundred years. Alas! we 
 are but trifles. 
 
 Lisbeth having come in toward noon to lay the 
 cloth, my uncle stopped his walk, and said: 
 
 " You must cook a little ham for to-morrow 
 morning. Madame Therese is going away." 
 
 And as the old woman looked at him in amaze- 
 ment 
 
 " The Prussians claim her as their prisoner," 
 said he, in a hoarse voice; "they have force on 
 their side; they must be obeyed." 
 
 Then Lisbeth put her plates on the table, and 
 looking from one to the other, settled her cap as 
 if this news had disarranged it, and said: 
 
 "Madame Therese going away? that isn't pos- 
 sible I'll never believe that ! " 
 
 " It's necessary, my poor Lisbeth," replied Ma- 
 dame Therese, sadly; "it's necessary; I'm a pris- 
 oner they are coming to look for me."
 
 MADAME THERESE 229 
 
 " The Prussians? " 
 
 " Yes, the Prussians." 
 
 Then the old woman, choking with anger, said: 
 
 " I always thought the Prussians were no great 
 things a heap of scoundrels real ruffians ! Com- 
 ing to attack an honest woman! If men had two 
 farthings' worth of heart, would they suffer it? " 
 
 "And what would you do?" asked Uncle Ja- 
 cob, his face lighting up, for the old servant's in- 
 dignation secretly pleased him. 
 
 "I? I'd load my cavalry pistol," cried Lisbeth, 
 " and call to them through the window, ' Leave, 
 ruffians! don't come in here, or beware! ' And 
 the first one who should pass through the door, I'd 
 stretch out, stiff. Oh, the wretches! " 
 
 " Yes, yes," said my uncle, " that's the treatment 
 such men ought to receive. But we're not the 
 strongest." 
 
 Then he resumed his walk, and Lisbeth, trem- 
 bling all over, arranged the dishes. We ate our 
 dinner very silently. When we had finished, my 
 uncle went to get a bottle of old Burgundy from the 
 cellar, and came back, saying sadly, 
 
 " Let us rejoice our hearts a little, and fortify 
 ourselves against these great sorrows which over- 
 whelm us. Before your departure let this old wine
 
 230 MADAME THERESE 
 
 which has strengthened you, Madame Therese, and 
 gladdened us all with a day of happiness, sparkle 
 again in our midst like a ray of sunlight, and scatter 
 for a few moments the clouds that surround us." 
 
 As he said this, in a firm voice, we for the first 
 time recovered our courage a little. But when, a 
 few minutes after, he told Lisbeth to get a glass 
 to drink with Madame Therese, and the poor old 
 woman burst into tears, with her face in her apron, 
 our firmness vanished, and we all cried together in 
 great distress. 
 
 " Yes, yes," said Uncle Jacob, " we have been 
 very happy together such is the life of man joy- 
 ful moments pass quickly, and sorrow lasts long. 
 He who looks down upon us from above knows, 
 nevertheless, that we do not deserve to suffer thus; 
 that wicked men have made us miserable; but He 
 knows, also, that power, true power is in His hand, 
 and that He can make us happy whenever He 
 wishes. This is why He permits these iniquities 
 He will reward us. Then let us be calm and trust 
 in Him. To the health of Madame Therese ! " 
 
 And we all drank, the tears running down our 
 cheeks. Lisbeth, hearing the power of God men- 
 tioned, was somewhat quieted, for she was pious, 
 and thought that things ought to be as they are,
 
 I'VE ALWAYS THOUGHT THESE PRUSSIANS DIDN'T AMOUNT TO MUCH,

 
 MADAME THERESE 231 
 
 for the greatest good of all in the life eternal, but 
 she did not the less continue to curse the Prussians, 
 and all who were like them, from the bottom of 
 her soul. 
 
 After dinner my uncle charged her particularly 
 not to tell of what was going to happen in the vil- 
 lage, for if she did, Richter, and all the bad men in 
 Anstatt, would be there the next day to see Madame 
 Therese depart, and to rejoice in our humiliation. 
 She understood him very well, and promised to be 
 discreet. Then my uncle went to see the mole- 
 catcher. All that afternoon I did not leave the 
 house. Madame Therese continued her prepara- 
 tions for departure. Lisbeth helped her, and 
 wanted to crowd into her bag a quantity of useless 
 things, saying that all would be needed on the way 
 one is glad to find what one has put in a corner; 
 that having gone to Pirmasens one day she missed 
 her comb and braided ribbons very much. 
 
 Madame Therese smiled. 
 
 " No, Lisbeth," said she, " remember that I'm 
 not going to travel in a carriage, and that I have 
 to carry everything on my back. Three good 
 chemises, three handkerchiefs, two pairs of shoes, 
 and a few pairs of stockings are enough. At every 
 halting-place we stop an hour or two at the spring,
 
 232 MADAME THERESE 
 
 and do our washing. You don't know what a sol- 
 dier's washing is? How many times I have done it! 
 We French like to be neat, and we are so, with our 
 little bundle." 
 
 She seemed cheerful, and it was only when she 
 occasionally addressed some friendly words to 
 Scipio that her voice became very sad. I did not 
 know why, but I knew later, when Uncle Jacob 
 returned. The day wore on. At four o'clock 
 night began to fall. All was now ready; the bag 
 containing Madame Therese's things hung on the 
 wall. She sat down by the stove, taking me on her 
 lap in silence. Lisbeth went into the kitchen to 
 prepare supper, and after that not a word was 
 spoken. The poor woman was doubtless thinking 
 of the future which awaited her on her way to 
 Mayence, in the midst of her companions in mis- 
 fortune. She said nothing, and I felt her sweet 
 breath on my cheek. 
 
 Half an hour afterward, when it was quite dark, 
 my uncle opened the door, and asked: 
 
 " Are you there, Madame Therese? " 
 
 " Yes, doctor." 
 
 " Good, good ! I've been to see my patients 
 I've told Koffel, the mole-catcher, and old Schmitt. 
 All's right they'll be here this evening to receive 
 your adieux."
 
 MADAME THERESE 233 
 
 His voice was firm. He went into the kitchen to 
 get a light, and returning, seemed much pleased to 
 see us together. 
 
 " Fritzel behaves well," said he. " Now he is 
 going to lose your good lessons; but I hope he will 
 practise reading French alone, and remember al- 
 ways that a man is worthy only in proportion to his 
 knowledge. I rely upon that." 
 
 Then Madame Therese made him examine her 
 little bag in detail. She smiled, and my uncle 
 said: 
 
 " What happy dispositions the French have. In 
 the midst of the greatest misfortunes they preserve 
 a store of natural gayety; their sorrow never lasts 
 many days. That is what I call a gift from God, 
 the finest, the most desirable of all." 
 
 But on that day, the remembrance of which 
 will never be effaced from my memory, because it 
 was the first time I had witnessed the unhappi- 
 ness of those I loved, in all that day, what touched 
 me most, was this: a little while after supper, 
 Madame Therese, sitting quietly behind the stove, 
 Scipio's head on. her knees, looking dreamily be- 
 fore her, said suddenly: 
 
 " Doctor, I owe you much and yet I must ask 
 one more favor of you."
 
 234 
 
 MADAME THERESE 
 
 " What is it, Madame Therese? " 
 
 " It is that you will take care of my poor Scipio 
 take care of him, in remembrance of me. Let 
 him be Fritzel's companion, as he has been mine, 
 that he may not have to endure the new trials of a 
 prisoner's life." 
 
 When she said that, I felt my heart swell, and 
 I trembled all over with delight and tenderness. I 
 was sitting on my little low chair before the fire. 
 I drew my Scipio to me, and plunged my two coarse 
 red hands into his thick hair; a flood of tears rushed 
 down my face. It seemed to me that I had lost all 
 the blessings of heaven and earth, and they had just 
 been restored to me. 
 
 My uncle looked at me in surprise. He must 
 have understood what I had suffered at the thought 
 of being separated from Scipio, for instead of 
 speaking to Madame Therese of the sacrifice which 
 she was making, he said, simply: 
 
 " I accept, Madame Therese, I accept for Frit- 
 zel, that he may remember how much you loved 
 him; that he may always recollect that in your 
 greatest sorrow you left him, as a mark of your af- 
 fection, a good faithful creature, not only your 
 own companion, but little Jean's, your brother's, 
 also. Let him never forget it, and love you too."
 
 MADAME THERESE 235 
 
 Then turning to me: 
 
 " Fritzel, don't you thank Madame Therese? " 
 
 I got up, and not being able to say a word, from 
 isobbing, threw myself into that excellent woman's 
 arms, where I remained, my arm on her shoulder, 
 looking through great tears at Scipio, who was at 
 our feet, and touching him with my finger-ends, 
 with an unspeakable joy. It was some time before 
 I could be quieted. Madame Therese kissed me, 
 saying: 
 
 " This child has a good heart. He becomes at- 
 tached to one easily that is good! " which in- 
 creased my tears. She smoothed the hair from my 
 forehead, and seemed moved. 
 
 After supper, Koffel, the mole-catcher, and old 
 Schmitt came in, their caps under their arms. 
 They expressed to Madame Therese their grief at 
 parting from her, and their indignation against 
 that scoundrel, Kichter, to whom everybody at- 
 tributed the denunciation, for he alone was capable 
 of such an act. They sat around the stove. Ma- 
 dame Therese was touched with the sorrow of these 
 honest people, but nevertheless her firmness and de- 
 cision did not desert her. 
 
 "Listen, my friends," said she: "if the world 
 were strewn with roses, and if we found every-
 
 236 MADAME THERESE 
 
 where only noble men to celebrate justice and right, 
 what merit would there be in advocating these prin- 
 ciples? Really, it would not be worth the trouble of 
 living. We happen to live in times in which great 
 things are done, when liberty is fought for. We 
 shall at least be remembered, and our existence will 
 not have been useless; all our poverty, all our suf- 
 ferings, all the blood which we have shed will form 
 a sublime spectacle for future generations; wicked 
 men will quake when they think that they might 
 have encountered and been swept away by us, and 
 all great souls will regret not having been alive to 
 share our labors. These are the teachings of events. 
 Do not pity me then. I am proud and happy to 
 suffer for France, who represents liberty, right, and 
 justice, in the world. You believe us beaten? 
 That is a mistake. We retreated one step yester- 
 day; we will take twenty steps forward to-morrow. 
 And if France one day is so unfortunate as no longer 
 to represent the great cause that we defend, other 
 people will take our places, and carry on our work, 
 for justice and freedom are immortal, and all the 
 despots in the world will never succeed in destroy- 
 ing them. As for me, I may go to Mayence, and 
 perhaps to Prussia, escorted by Brunswick's sol- 
 diers; but remember what I say to you: the Re-
 
 MADAME THERESE 237 
 
 publicans have made only their first day's march, 
 and I am sure that before the close of next year 
 they will come to deliver me." 
 
 Thus spoke this proud woman, smiling, with 
 flashing eyes. We could easily see that suffering 
 was nothing to her, and each one thought, " If 
 these are the Republican women, what must the 
 men be?" 
 
 Koffel grew pale with pleasure, as he listened 
 to her. The mole-catcher winked at my uncle, and 
 said, very low: 
 
 "I've known all that a long time; it's written 
 in my book. These things must happen it's writ- 
 ten! " 
 
 Old Schmftt, having asked permission to light 
 his pipe, H#lv great puffs, one after another, and 
 murmure'J between his teeth: 
 
 " HOT? unfortunate that I'm not twenty years 
 old! I would join those people! That's what I'd 
 do. What could prevent me from becoming a gen- 
 eral, like any other man ? How unfortunate ! " 
 
 At nine o'clock my uncle said : 
 
 " It's late. We must leave before day. I think 
 we had better take a little rest." 
 
 And everybody rose with emotion. They kissed 
 like old friends, promising never to forget each
 
 238 MADAME THERESE 
 
 other. Koff el and Schmitt went out first; the mole- 
 catcher and my uncle stopped a moment in the 
 doorway, talking in low tones. The moonlight was 
 superb, the earth was all white, the sky of a dark- 
 blue, crowded with stars. Madame Therese, Scipio, 
 and I went out together to see this magnificent 
 sight, which makes one feel the littleness and van- 
 ity of human beings, and overwhelms the mind 
 with its illimitable grandeur. 
 
 Then the mole-catcher went away, pressing my 
 uncle's hand again. We saw him as if it were 
 broad daylight, walking down the deserted street. 
 At last he disappeared at the corner of Orties Lane, 
 and as it was very cold, we all went in to say "good- 
 night. 
 
 My uncle kissed me at the door of my chamber, 
 and said in a strange voice, pressing me to his 
 heart 
 
 " Fritzel work work and behave well, dear 
 child!" 
 
 He went into his room, much agitated. 
 
 For my part, I could only think of the happiness 
 of taking care of Scipio. Once in my room, I put 
 him on the bed, at my feet, between the warm 
 feather bed and the bedstead. He lay quiet, with 
 his head between his paws. I could feel his sides
 
 MADAME THERESE 239 
 
 dilate gently at every breath, and I would not have 
 changed places with the Emperor of Germany. I 
 could not sleep until after ten o'clock, for thinking 
 of my happiness. My uncle was moving about in 
 his room. I heard him open his secretary and after- 
 ward make a fire in his chamber stove for the first 
 time that winter, and I thought he intended to sit 
 up. At last I slept soundly.
 
 XVI 
 
 THE church-clock was striking nine when I was 
 awakened by a clattering of hoofs before our house; 
 horses were stamping on the hard ground, and 1 
 heard people talking at our door. It immediately 
 occurred to me that the Prussians had come to take 
 Madame Therese, and I hoped with all my heart 
 that Uncle Jacob had not slept as long as I had. 
 Two minutes afterward I went downstairs, and 
 found at the entrance five or six hussars wrapped 
 in their cloaks, great scabbards hanging below their 
 stirrups, and swords in their hands. The officer, a 
 small, thin, fair man, with hollow cheeks, promi- 
 nent cheek-bones, and thick reddish moustaches, 
 was seated on a great black horse, and Lisbeth, 
 broom in hand, was replying to his questions with a 
 frightened air. Farther off, was a group of people, 
 open-mouthed, pressing eagerly forward to listen. 
 Among the foremost, I noticed the mole-catcher, 
 his hands in his pockets, and M. Richter, who was 
 smiling, half-closing his eyes, and showing his 
 240
 
 MADAME THERESE 241 
 
 teeth like a happy old fox. He had come, no doubt, 
 t enjoy my uncle's confusion. 
 
 " So your master and the prisoner went away to- 
 gether this morning? " said the officer. 
 
 " Yes, monsieur le commandant," answered Lis- 
 beth. 
 
 " At what hour? " 
 
 " Between five and six, monsieur le command- 
 ant; it was still dark. I fastened the lantern to the 
 pole of the sleigh." 
 
 " You had heard we were coming, then? " said 
 the officer, giving her a piercing glance. 
 
 Lisbeth looked at the mole-catcher, who came 
 out from the circle, and answered, for her, with- 
 out hesitation: 
 
 " I beg your pardon, sir, I saw Dr. Jacob last 
 evening he's one of my friends. This poor wom- 
 an knows nothing about it. The doctor has been 
 tired of the Frenchwoman for a long time, he 
 wanted to get rid of her, and when he saw that she 
 could bear the journey he profited by the first mo- 
 ment." 
 
 " But why did we not meet them on the way? " 
 cried the Prussian, scanning the mole-catcher from 
 head to foot. 
 
 " You must have taken the valley road: the doc- 
 (6
 
 242 MADAME THERESE 
 
 tor went, perhaps, by the way of Waldeck and the 
 mountain. There's more than one road to Kaisers- 
 lautern." 
 
 The officer, without replying, sprang from his 
 horse, entered our room, pushed open the kitchen 
 door, and pretended to look round; then he came 
 out and said, as he mounted his horse 
 
 " Come, our work is done; the rest doesn't con- 
 cern us." 
 
 He rode toward the Little Golden Pitcher; his 
 men followed, and the crowd dispersed, talking over 
 these wonderful occurrences. Richter seemed con- 
 fused and angry, and Spick looked at us askance. 
 They went up the steps of the inn together, and 
 Scipio, who was on our steps, ran out, barking at 
 them with all his might. 
 
 The hussars refreshed themselves at the Little 
 Golden Pitcher, then we saw them pass our house 
 again on the road to Kaiserslautern, and after that 
 we heard no more of them. 
 
 Lisbeth and I thought my uncle would return 
 at night, but when that day passed, and the next, 
 and the next, without our even receiving a letter, 
 our anxiety may be imagined. Scipio went up and 
 down the house, and thrust his nose, from morning 
 till evening, in at the bottom of the door, calling
 
 MADAME THERESE 243 
 
 Madame Therese, snuffing, and crying in a lament- 
 able way. His sorrow infected us. A thousand 
 thoughts of misfortune came into our minds. The 
 mole-catcher came to see us every evening, and 
 said: 
 
 " There's nothing to be frightened about. The 
 doctor wanted to protect Madame Therese; he 
 couldn't let her go with the prisoners, that would 
 be contrary to good sense; he has asked an audi- 
 ence of Field Marshal Brunswick to try to induce 
 him to allow her to enter the hospital of Kaisers- 
 lautern. All these steps take time, be calm; he'll 
 come back." 
 
 These words would reassure us a little, for the 
 mole-catcher seemed very calm. He smoked his 
 pipe by the stove, with outstretched legs, and 
 dreamy face. 
 
 Unfortunately the forest-guard, Rcedig, who 
 lived in the wood on the road from Pirmasens, 
 where the French then were, had just brought a 
 report to the mayoralty of Anstatt, and having 
 stopped a few minutes at Spick's inn, he said Uncle 
 Jacob had passed his house three days before, about 
 eight o'clock in the morning, and he and Madame 
 Therese had even stopped a moment to warm them- 
 selves and drink a glass of wine. He said my uncle
 
 244 MADAME THERESE 
 
 seemed in very good spirits, and had two long cav- 
 alry pistols in his overcoat pockets. 
 
 Then the report spread that Uncle Jacob, in- 
 stead of going to Kaiserslautern, had conducted the 
 prisoner to the Republicans, and that caused great 
 scandal. Richter and Spick declared, everywhere, 
 that he deserved to be shot; that it was an abom- 
 ination, and his property must be confiscated. The 
 mole-catcher and Koffel answered that the doctor 
 had no doubt lost his way on account of the great 
 snow; that he had taken the mountain road to the 
 left instead of turning to the right; but everybody 
 knew very well that Uncle Jacob was more familiar 
 with the country than any smuggler, and the indig- 
 nation increased daily. I could no longer go out 
 without hearing my companions say that Uncle Ja- 
 cob was a Jacobin; and I had to fight in his de- 
 fence, and despite Scipio's assistance, I came home 
 more than once with a bloody nose. 
 
 Lisbeth was in despair, especially at the threats 
 of confiscation. 
 
 " What a misfortune ! " said she, clasping her 
 hands; "what a misfortune to be forced, at my 
 age, to take my bundle and leave a house where 
 half of my life has been passed ! " 
 
 It was very sad. The mole-catcher alone pre- 
 served his tranquillity.
 
 MADAME THERESE 245 
 
 " You are crazy to fret so," said he; "I tell you 
 Dr. Jacob is well, and that they will confiscate 
 nothing. Keep yourself quiet, eat well, sleep well, 
 and I'll answer for the rest." 
 
 He winked mischievously, and always ended by 
 saying: 
 
 " My book relates these things. Now they are 
 being accomplished, and all will be well." 
 
 Notwithstanding these assurances things went 
 from bad to worse, and the rabble of the village, 
 excited by the scoundrel Richter, were beginning 
 to shout under our windows, when one fine morn- 
 ing, order was suddenly restored. Toward evening 
 the mole-catcher arrived, with a very joyous face, 
 and took his usual place, saying to Lisbeth, who 
 was spinning: 
 
 " "Well, they don't shout any more, they no lon- 
 ger wish to confiscate; they keep very quiet, ha! 
 ha! ha!" 
 
 He said no more, but in the night we heard 
 many carriages passing, and men marching in 
 crowds through the main street. It was worse than 
 the arrival of the Republicans, for no one stopped 
 they went on and on always! I could not sleep, 
 for Scipio growled every minute. At daybreak, I 
 looked out of the window, and saw half a score
 
 246 MADAME THERESE 
 
 more of large wagons, full of wounded men, jelling 
 along in the distance. It was the Prussians. Then 
 came two or three cannon, then a hundred hussars, 
 cuirassiers, dragoons, pell-mell, in great disorder; 
 then dismounted horsemen, carrying their cloak- 
 bags on their shoulders, and covered with mud. 
 They all seemed tired; but they did not stop, nor 
 go into any of the houses, but marched as if the 
 devil were at their heels. 
 
 The people, standing at their doors, watched 
 them sullenly. Looking toward the Birkenwald, 
 we could see the files of ambulances, wagons, cav- 
 alry and infantry, stretching beyond the forest. 
 It was Field Marshal Brunswick's army in retreat 
 after the battle of Froeschwiller as we learned 
 later. It had passed through the village in a single 
 night; that was from the 28th to the 29th of De- 
 cember, if I remember rightly; it was early in the 
 next day that the mole-catcher and Koffel arrived 
 in high spirits; they had a letter from Uncle Ja- 
 cob; and the mole-catcher, showing it to us, said: 
 
 " Ha ! ha ! ha ! this is good this is good ! the 
 reign of justice and equality is beginning! Listen 
 awhile! " 
 
 He sat down by the table, spreading out his el- 
 bows. I stood near him, and read over his shoulder,
 
 .BATTLE OF FBOESCITWILLEB.
 
 MADAME THERESE 247 
 
 Lisbeth was behind me, very pale, and Koffel, lean- 
 ing against the cupboard, smiling and stroking his 
 chin. They had already read the letter two or three 
 times, and the mole-catcher knew it nearly by heart. 
 He read what follows, stopping sometimes to look 
 at us with enthusiasm : 
 
 WISSEMBOUBG, 8th NivosE, 2nd YBAB | 
 OF THE FRENCH REPUBLIC. j 
 
 " To the Citizens Mole-catcher, and Koffel ; to the Citoyenne 
 Lisbeth ; to the little Citizen Fritz el, greeting and frater- 
 nity ! 
 
 " Citoyenne Therese and I wish you joy, peace, and 
 prosperity. 
 
 " You will know by this that we are writing- these 
 lines at Wissembourg- in the midst of the triumphs of 
 war. We drove the Prussians from Froeschwiller, and 
 fell like a thunderbolt on the Austrians at Geisberg. 
 Thus pride and presumption are receiving their reward. 
 When people will not listen to g-ood reasons, we must 
 give them better ones; but it is terrible to go to such 
 extremities; yes, it is terrible! 
 
 " My dear friends, for a long time I groaned inwardly 
 at the blindness of those who rule the dynasties of old 
 Germany. I deplored their unjust spirit, their eg-otism. 
 I asked myself if it were not my duty as an honest man 
 to break away from these arrogant creatures, and adopt 
 the principles of justice, equality, and fraternity, pro- 
 claimed by the French Revolution. This threw me into 
 great trouble, for a man clings to the ideas that he has
 
 248 MADAME THERESE 
 
 received from his ancestors, and such internal changes 
 are not made without great suffering. Still I hesitated, 
 but when the Prussians, contrary to the laws of nations, 
 claimed the unfortunate prisoner whom I had saved, I 
 could bear it no longer. I immediately resolved to take 
 her to Pirmasens, instead of Kaiserslautern which I 
 have done with the help of God. At three o'clock in the 
 afternoon we came in sight of the outposts, and as 
 Madame Therese looked out, she heard the drum, and 
 cried: ' These are the French! Doctor, you have de- 
 ceived me! ' She threw herself into my arms, and burst 
 into tears, and I, too, began to weep I was so much 
 moved ! 
 
 " All along the route from Trois-Maisons to the square 
 of the Temple-Neuf, the soldiers shouted, ' Here's Cito- 
 yenne Therese! ' They followed us, and when we got out 
 of the sleigh, several embraced me with true feeling. 
 Others pressed my hands in fact they overwhelmed me 
 with honors. 
 
 " I will not tell you, my dear friends, of the meeting 
 between Madame Therese and little Jean; such scenes 
 cannot be described! All the veterans of the battalion, 
 even Colonel Duchene, who is not soft-hearted, turned 
 their heads to conceal their tears. It was such a sight as 
 I had never seen in my life. Little Jean is a good boy; 
 he resembles my dear little Fritzel very much, so I love 
 him dearly. 
 
 " That day extraordinary events occurred at Pirma- 
 sens. The Republicans were encamped around the city. 
 General Hoche announced that they were going into win- 
 ter quarters, and ordered them to build barracks. But
 
 MADAME THERESE 249 
 
 the soldiers refused ; they wanted to lodge in the houses. 
 Then the general declared that those who refused this 
 service, should not march to battle. I was present at this 
 proclamation, which was read to the companies, and saw 
 General Hoche forced to pardon the men, in front of the 
 prince's palace, for they were in the greatest despair. 
 
 " The general having learned that a physician from 
 Anstatt had brought Citoyenne Therese back to the first 
 battalion of the second brigade, I received an order about 
 eight o'clock to go to the Orangery. Then I found the 
 general standing near a deal table, dressed like a simple 
 captain, with two other citizens, whom I was told, were 
 members of the convention, Lacoste and Baudot, two 
 large, lank men, wljo looked at me askance. The gen- 
 eral is a dark man, with golden-brown eyes, and hair 
 parted in the middle. He came forward and looked at 
 me a few seconds. I, remembering that this young man 
 commanded the army of the Moselle, felt troubled; but 
 suddenly he extended his hand to me, and said, ' Doctor 
 Wagner, I thank you for what you have done for Madame 
 Therese; you are a good-hearted man.' 
 
 " Then he led me to the table on which a map was 
 spread out, and made various inquiries about the coun- 
 try, so intelligently, that one would have thought he 
 knew more about it than I. I naturally replied, the 
 others listening in silence. Finally he said: 'Doctor 
 Wagner, I cannot propose to you to serve in the armies 
 of the Republic; your nationality prevents that; but 
 the first battalion of the second brigade has just lost its 
 chief surgeon; the service of our ambulances is now in- 
 complete; we have only young men to care for the
 
 250 MADAME THERESE 
 
 wounded I confide this post of honor to you humanity 
 knows no country! Here is your commission.' He wrote 
 some words at the end of the table, and then took my 
 hand again, saying: ' Doctor, believe that I esteem you! ' 
 Then I went away. 
 
 "Madame Therese awaited me outside; you can con- 
 ceive her joy, when she heard that I was to have charge 
 of the ambulance department of the battalion. 
 
 " We expected to remain at Pirmasens until spring, 
 and the barracks were being built, when on the next 
 night but one, about ten o'clock, we suddenly received 
 orders to march, without putting out the fires, without 
 making any noise, without beating the drums or sound- 
 ing the trumpet. All Pirmasens was asleep. I had two 
 horses, riding one, and leading the other, and was in the 
 midst of officers near Colonel Duchene. 
 
 " We left, some on horseback, others on foot, cannon, 
 wagons, ambulances in our midst, flanked by the cavalry, 
 with no moon or anything to guide us. Only from time 
 to time a horseman would cry at the turning of the road 
 * This way! this way! ' Toward eleven the moon came 
 out; we were in the midst of the mountains; all the 
 peaks were white with snow. The foot soldiers, with 
 their guns on their shoulders, ran to warm themselves. 
 Two or three times I was obliged to dismount, I was so 
 benumbed. Madame Therese, in her cart, covered with 
 gray cloth, handed me the bottle, and the captains were 
 always on hand to receive it after me; more than one 
 soldier, also, had his turn. 
 
 " But we went on, on, without stopping, so that about 
 six o'clock, when the pale sun began to brighten the sky,
 
 MADAME THERESE 251 
 
 we had reached Lembach, under the great wooded de- 
 clivity of Steinfelz, three quarters of a league from 
 Woerth. Then was heard on all sides, the command, 
 ' Halt! halt! ' Those in the rear were constantly com- 
 ing; at half-past six all the army was reunited in a val- 
 ley, and set to work to make soup. 
 
 " General Hoche, whom I saw pass with his two tall 
 members of the Convention, was laughing; he seemed in. 
 a good humor. He went into the last house in the vil- 
 lage. The people were as astonished to see us at that 
 hour, as those in Anstatt were at the arrival of the Re- 
 publicans. The houses here 'are so small and miserable, 
 that it was necessary to take two tables out of doors, and 
 the general held his council with the officers in the open 
 air, while the troops cooked the provisions they had 
 brought. This halt lasted only long enough for us to 
 eat, and buckle on our knapsacks again. Then we re- 
 sumed our march in better order. At eight o'clock, ou 
 coming out of the valley of Reichshofen, we saw the 
 Prussians intrenched on the heights of Froeschwiller 
 and Woerth. They were more than twenty thousand 
 strong, and their redoubts rose one above the other. 
 
 "All our army understood that we had marched so 
 quickly in order to surprise the Prussians alone, for the 
 Austrians were four or five leagues from there, on the 
 line of the Hotter. But I cannot conceal from you, my 
 dear friends, that this sight gave me, at first, a terrible 
 shock. The more I saw, the more impossible it seemed 
 to me that we should gain the battle. In the first place, 
 they were more numerous than we; then they had dug 
 ditches intrenched with palisades, and behind them one
 
 252 MADAME THERESE 
 
 could easily see the gomners, who were leaning over 
 their cannon and watching us, while files of innumerable 
 bayonets stretched clear up the side of the hill. 
 
 " The French, with their careless natures, saw noth- 
 ing- of this, and even seemed very joyous. The report 
 was spread that General Hoche had just promised six 
 hundred francs for every piece taken from the enemy; 
 they were laughing, putting their hats on one side, 
 looking at the cannons, and shouting ' Going! Gone! ' 
 It made one shiver to see such indifference, and hear 
 these pleasantries. The rest of us, the ambulances, the 
 vehicles of all sorts, the empty wagons for transporting 
 the wounded, remained in the rear; and to tell the truth, 
 that gave me real pleasure. Madame Therese was thirty 
 or forty steps in advance of me; I placed myself near 
 her with my two aids, one of whom had been an apothe- 
 cary boy at Landrecies, and the other a dentist; they 
 made themselves surgeons. But they already have much 
 experience, and with a little leisure and pains, these 
 young men will perhaps become something. Madame 
 Therese then kissed little Jean, who was running to join 
 the battalion. The whole valley, right and left, was 
 filled with cavalry in good order. General Hoche, on his 
 arrival, at once placed two batteries on the hills of 
 Reichshofen, and the infantry halted in the middle of 
 the valley. There was another consultation, then all the 
 infantry ranged themselves in three columns; one 
 passed on the left into the gorge of Reebach, the other 
 two marched on the intrenchments, with bayonets fixed. 
 General Hoche, with some officers, stationed himself on 
 a little elevation to the left of the valley.
 
 MADAME THERESE 253 
 
 " What followed, my dear friends, seems to me like a 
 dream. At the moment when the columns reached the 
 foot of the hill, a horrible crash, a kind of frightful tear- 
 ing- sound was heard; everything was covered with 
 smoke; the Prussians had just discharged their can- 
 non. A second afterward, as the smoke cleared away a 
 little, we saw the French higher up the slope; they were 
 slackening their speed, numbers of wounded were left 
 behind, some stretched on their faces, others seated, and 
 trying to rise. 
 
 " The Prussians fired the second time; then was 
 heard the terrible cry of the Eepublicans, ' To the bayo- 
 net! ' And all the mountain sparkled like firebrands 
 when one stirs them up with his foot. We saw no more, 
 because the wind blew the smoke toward us, nor could 
 we hear a word at four feet distance, so loud was the 
 firing men and cannon thundering and roaring to- 
 gether. 
 
 " Our cavalry horses on the hills neighed, and tried to 
 rush into the fight. These animals are truly savage; 
 they love danger; it was with great difficulty that they 
 could be restrained. Occasionally there was an opening 
 in the smoke, and we could see the Eepublicans climb- 
 ing the palisades like ants upon an ant-hill; some with 
 the butt-end of their guns trying to break down the in- 
 trenchments, others seeking a passage; the colonels on 
 horseback, their swords upraised, urged on their men, 
 and on the other side the Prussians thrust forward their 
 bayonets, and fired their guns into the heap of bodies, 
 or raised their great cannon-rammers like clubs to beat 
 down the men. It was frightful! A moment after, an*
 
 254 MADAME THERESE 
 
 other gust of wind covered everything with smoke, and 
 none could know how the struggle would end. 
 
 " General Hoche sent his officers, one after another, to 
 take new orders; they rushed through the smoke like 
 the wind; one would have thought them shadows. But 
 the battle continued, and the Republicans were begin- 
 ning to recoil, when the general himself came down at 
 full gallop. Ten minutes afterward the song of the 
 Marseillaise rose above all the tumult, and those who had 
 retreated, returned to the charge. The second attack 
 began more furiously than the first. The cannon alone 
 still thundered, and struck down files of men. All the 
 Republicans advanced en masse, Hoche in their midst. 
 Our batteries, too, fired on the Prussians. It is impos- 
 sible to describe what happened when the French were 
 once near the palisades. If Father Adam Schmitt had 
 been with us he would have seen what may be called a 
 terrible battle. The Prussians showed themselves sol- 
 diers of the great Frederick ; bayonets against bayonets, 
 sometimes one party, sometimes the other was driven 
 back, or rushed forward. 
 
 " But what decided the victory for the Republicans, 
 was the arrival of their third column on the heights, on 
 the left of the intrenchments. It had turned the Ree- 
 bach, and came out from the forest double quick. Then 
 the Prussians were obliged to give up the struggle; at- 
 tacked on both sides they retreated, leaving eighteen 
 pieces of cannon, twenty-four wagons, and their in- 
 trenchments filled with the dead and wounded. They 
 went toward Wcerth, and our hussars, beside themselves 
 with impatience, started at last, bending forward on
 
 MADAME THERESE 255 
 
 their saddles. We learned that night that they had 
 taken twelve hundred prisoners, and six pieces of can- 
 non. 
 
 " This, my dear friends, was the battle of Woerth and 
 Froeschwiller, the news of which must have reached you 
 already. It will ever remain present to my mind. Since 
 that, I have seen nothing new. But what work we have 
 had! We have had to amputate, to extract balls; our 
 ambulances are loaded with the wounded. It is very 
 sad. 
 
 " Nevertheless, the day after the battle, the army 
 moved forward. Four days afterward we were told that 
 the members Lacoste and Baudot, being convinced that 
 the rivalry between Hoche and Pichegru was injurious 
 to the interests of the Republic, had given the command 
 entirely to Hoche, and that he, finding himself at the 
 head of the armies of the Rhine and Moselle, without 
 losing a moment, had profited by it to attack Wurmser 
 on the road to Wissembourg, and that we had com- 
 pletely routed him at Geisberg, so that now the Prus- 
 sians are retreating to Mayence, the Austrians to Gemer- 
 sheim, and the territory of the Republic is relieved of all 
 its enemies. 
 
 " As for me, I am now at Wissembourg overwhelmed 
 with work; Madame Therese and little Jean, and the 
 remnant of the first battalion, occupy the place, and the 
 army is on the march to Landau, the happy deliverance 
 of which will be the admiration of future ages. Soon, 
 soon, dear friends, we will follow the army, we will pass 
 through Anstatt, crowned with the palms of victory. 
 We shall again press you to our hearts, and celebrate
 
 256 MADAME THERESE 
 
 with you the triumph of justice and liberty. Oh dear 
 liberty! rekindle in our souls the sacred fire which 
 formerly burned in the breasts of so many heroes. Cre- 
 ate among 1 us generations which may resemble them, 
 that the heart of every citizen may leap at thy voice. 
 Inspire the wise who plan; lead the courageous to heroic 
 actions; animate the soldiers with a sublime enthusi- 
 asm; may despots who divide nations for the sake of op- 
 pressing them, disappear from the world, and may the 
 sacred bond of brotherhood reunite all the peoples of 
 the earth in one family! 
 
 " With these wishes, and these hopes, the good Madame 
 Therese, little Jean and I, embrace you with all our 
 hearts. JACOB WAGNER. 
 
 " P. S. Little Jean begs his friend Fritzel to take good 
 care of Scipio." 
 
 Uncle Jacob's letter filled ns all with joy, and 
 after that you may imagine with what impatience 
 we awaited the arrival of the first battalion. This 
 epoch of my life, when I think of it, seems to me 
 like a fete; every day we learned something new; 
 after the occupation of Wissembourg came the 
 raising of the siege of Landau, then the capture of 
 Lauterbourg, then that of Kaiserslautern, and the 
 occupation of Spire, where the French collected 
 great spoils, which Hoche caused to be carried to 
 Landau to indemnify the inhabitants for their
 
 MADAME THERESE 257 
 
 The people of the village now held us in respect 
 as much as they had formerly abused us. It was 
 even a question with them whether they should not 
 piit Koffel in the town council, and appoint the 
 mole-catcher burgomaster no one knew why, for 
 nobody had such an idea until then. But the re- 
 port was spread that we were going to become 
 Frenchmen again; we had been French fifteen 
 hundred years before, and it was abominable that 
 we had so long allowed ourselves to be held in 
 slavery. Kichter had taken flight, knowing very 
 well what he might expect, and Spick no longer left 
 his house. Every day the people on the main street 
 looked toward the mountain to watch for the true 
 defenders of their country. Unfortunately the 
 greater part of the army had taken the road from 
 Wissembourg to Mayence, leaving Anstatt on their 
 left in the mountains. We saw stragglers pass who 
 were taking the short road through the Burgerwald. 
 "We were much troubled, and were beginning to 
 think that our battalion would never come, when 
 one day the mole-catcher rushed in, breathless, cry- 
 ing: 
 
 " Here they are ! Here they are ! " 
 
 He was returning from the fields with his spade 
 on his shoulder, and had seen a troop of soldiers 
 17
 
 258 MADAME THERESE 
 
 in the distance. The whole village had already 
 heard the news, and came into the street. I, be- 
 side myself with enthusiasm, ran to meet the bat- 
 talion, with Hans Aden and Frantz Sepel, whom 1 
 met on the road. The sun was shining, the snow 
 was melting, the mud splashed round us like grape- 
 shot, but we did not mind it, and ran for half an 
 hour without stopping. Half the village, men, 
 women, and children, followed us, shouting: 
 " They're coming! They're coming! " 
 People's ideas changed in a singular manner, 
 everybody was then a friend to the Republic. Once 
 on the side of the Birkenwald, Hans, Frantz, and I 
 at last saw our battalion marching up the declivity, 
 their knapsacks on their backs, their guns on their 
 shoulders, the officers behind their companies. 
 Farther off the wagons were defiling over the great 
 bridge. They all came on, whistling, talking, as 
 soldiers do on the march. One stopped to light his 
 pipe, another gave a shrug of his shoulder to raise 
 his knapsack. We could hear gay voices and shouts 
 ^ laughter, for the French when they march al- 
 ways tell stories and make funny speeches, to keep 
 up their spirits. 
 
 In this crowd my eyes sought only Uncle Jacob 
 and Madame Therese. It was some time before 1
 
 MADAME THERESE 259 
 
 discovered them, in the rear of the battalion. My 
 uncle was riding Rappel. I hardly recognized him 
 at first, for he wore a large Republican hat, a coat 
 with red lapels, and a great sword in an iron scab- 
 bard. This costume changed him wonderfully, and 
 made him seem much taller; but I knew him, not- 
 withstanding, and Madame Therese also, in her cart 
 covered with cloth, in the same hat and cravat in 
 which I first saw her. She had rosy cheeks and 
 sparkling eyes. My uncle rode near her, and they 
 were talking together. I recognized little Jean, 
 also, whom I had seen only once. He was march- 
 ing; a large belt adorned with drum-sticks crossed 
 his breast, his arms were covered with lace, and his 
 sword dangled behind. And the Colonel, Sergeant 
 Lafleche, and the captain to whom I had shown the 
 way into our garret, and all the soldiers, yes, 
 nearly all, I recognized; they seemed to me to be 
 one great family. It gave me pleasure to see the 
 flag covered with oil-cloth, too. I ran through the 
 crowd. Hans Aden and Frantz Sepel had already 
 found comrades, but I ran on, and as I came near 
 the cart, was going to say, " Uncle ! Uncle ! " when 
 Madame Therese, happening to bend forward, ex 
 claimed, joyfully: 
 " Here's Scipio I"
 
 a6o MADAME THERESE 
 
 And at that moment, Scipio, whom I had for- 
 gotten and left at home, sprang into the cart, all 
 bewildered and muddy. Little Jean immediately 
 cried: 
 
 "Scipio!" 
 
 And the good dog, after passing his great mous- 
 tache two or three times over Madame Therese's 
 face, sprang to the ground and began to leap about 
 Jean, barking, uttering cries, and acting as if he 
 were wild with delight. All the battalion called : 
 
 "Here, Scipio! Scipio!" 
 
 My uncle had just seen me, and held out hig 
 arms to me from his horse. I seized his leg; he 
 raised and kissed me. I saw that he was weeping, 
 and that made me cry. He held me toward Ma- 
 dame Therese, who took me in her cart, saying: 
 
 " Good-day, Fritzel." 
 
 She seemed very happy, and kissed me with 
 tears in her eyes. 
 
 Very soon the mole-catcher and Koffel came up 
 and grasped my uncle's hand; then other people 
 from the village, mixing, pell-mell, with the sol- 
 diers, who gave the men their knapsacks and guns 
 to carry in triumph, and cried to the women 
 
 " Hey, good mother with your pretty daughterl 
 this way this wayl "
 
 AT LA3T I SAW UNCLE; HB WAS MOUNTED ON BAPPEL.
 
 MADAME THERESE 2 6i 
 
 There was great confusion; everybody frater- 
 nized, and in the midst of all, little Jean and I 
 knew not which was the happiest. 
 
 " Kiss little Jean," cried Uncle Jacob. 
 
 " Kiss Fritzel," said Madame Therese. 
 
 And we embraced, looking at each other in be- 
 wildered delight. 
 
 " II me plait," cried little Jean, " il a I'air bon 
 enfant." 
 
 " Tot, tu me plais aussi" said I, very proud of 
 speaking French. 
 
 And we walked along arm-in-arm, while Uncle 
 Jacob and Madame Therese looked at each other 
 and smiled. 
 
 The Colonel, also, gave me his hand, saying: 
 
 "Ha! Dr. Wagner, here's your defender. 
 You're quite well, my brave fellow 2 " 
 
 " Yes, Colonel." 
 
 " So much the better! " 
 
 In this manner we reached the first houses of 
 the village. Then we stopped a few minutes to get 
 in order. Little Jean hung his drum over his 
 shoulder, and as the commander cried "Forward I 
 March ! " the drums sounded. 
 
 "We marched down the main street in regular 
 order, delighted at making so imposing an entrance.
 
 262 MADAME THERESE 
 
 All the old men and women who could not get out, 
 were at their windows, and pointed to Uncle Jacob, 
 who advanced with a dignified air behind the Col- 
 onel, between his two assistants. I noticed Father 
 Schmitt particularly, standing at his door; he 
 straightened up his tall, bent figure, and watched 
 us filing past, with sparkling eyes. 
 
 At the square with the fountain the Colonel 
 cried : 
 
 " Haiti " 
 
 They stacked their guns, and all dispersed, right 
 and left. Each citizen wished to have a soldier; all 
 wanted to rejoice in the triumph of the Republic, 
 " one and indivisible." But these Frenchmen, with 
 their cheerful faces, preferred to follow the pretty 
 girls. The Colonel went with us. Old Lisbeth was 
 already at the door, her hands raised to heaven, and 
 cried: 
 
 "Ah Madame Therese! ah monsieur le doc- 
 teur!" 
 
 There were fresh cries of joy, fresh embraces. 
 
 Then we went in, and the feast of ham, chit- 
 terlings, and broiled meat, with white wine and 
 old Burgundy to drink, began; Koffel, the mole- 
 catcher, the Colonel, little Jean and I, I leave 
 you to imagine the table, the appetites, the satis- 
 faction!
 
 MADAME THERESE 263 
 
 All that day the first battalion remained with 
 us; then they were obliged to pursue their march, 
 for their winter quarters were at Hacmatt, two 
 short leagues from Anstatt. My uncle stayed in 
 tho village. He laid aside his great sword and large 
 hat; but from that time until spring not a day 
 passed that he did not go to Hacmatt; he thought 
 of nothing but Hacmatt. 
 
 Madame Therese came to see us occasionally 
 with little Jean. We laughed, we were happy and 
 we loved each other! 
 
 What more shall I say? In the spring, when 
 the lark began to sing, we heard one day that the 
 first battalion was going to leave for La Vendee. 
 Then my uncle, very pale, ran to the stable, and 
 mounted Rappel; he rode off at full speed, bare- 
 headed, having forgotten to put on his cap. 
 
 What passed at Hacmatt ? I know nothing about 
 it. But what I am sure of is that the next day my 
 uncle returned, as proud as a king, with Madame 
 Therese and little Jean; that there was a great 
 feast at our house, kisses and rejoicing. 
 
 Eight days afterward Colonel Duchene arrived 
 with all the captains of the battalion. That day 
 there were still greater rejoicings. Madame 
 Therese and Uncle Jacob went to the mayoralty,
 
 64 MADAME THERESE 
 
 followed by a long procession of joyous guests. The 
 mole-catcher, who had been chosen burgomaster 
 by popular vote, awaited us in his tri-colored scarf. 
 He entered my uncle's and Madame Therese's 
 names in a thick register, to everybody's satisfac- 
 tion. And from that time little Jean had a father, 
 and I had a good mother, whose memory I cannot 
 recall without shedding tears. 
 
 There are many more things I should like to tell 
 you but this is enough for one time. If the good 
 God permits, we will one day continue this story, 
 which ends, like all others, with white hairs, 
 and the last adieus of those whom we love best in 
 the world.
 
 A 000033763 4