m
under the care of two soldiers, and then he organized the pursuit of the
fugitive, as carefully as if they were about to engage in a skirmish,
feeling quite sure that she would be caught.

The table, which had been cleared immediately, now served as a bed on
which to lay him out, and the four officers stood at the windows, rigid
and sobered, with the stern faces of soldiers on duty, and tried to
pierce through the darkness of the night, amid the steady torrent of
rain. Suddenly, a shot was heard, and then another, a long way off; and
for four hours they heard from time to time near or distant reports and
rallying cries, strange words uttered as a call, in guttural voices.

In the morning they all returned. Two soldiers had been killed, and
three others wounded by their comrades in the ardor of that chase, and
in the confusion of such a nocturnal pursuit, but they had not caught
Rachel.

Then the inhabitants of the district were terrorized, the houses were
turned topsy-turvy, the country was scoured and beaten up, over and over
again, but the Jewess did not seem to have left a single trace of her
passage behind her.

When the general was told of it, he gave orders to hush up the affair,
so as not to set a bad example to the army, but he severely censured
the commandant, who in turned punished his inferiors. The general had
said: "One does not go to war in order to amuse oneself, and to caress
prostitutes." And Graf von Farlsberg, in his exasperation, made up his
mind to have his revenge on the district, but as he required a pretext
for showing severity, he sent for the priest, and ordered him to have
the bell tolled at the funeral of Baron von Eyrick.

Contrary to all expectation, the priest showed himself humble and most
respectful, and when Mademoiselle Fifi's body left the Chateau d'Ville
on its way to the cemetery, carried by soldiers, preceded, surrounded,
and followed by soldiers, who marched with loaded rifles, for the first
time, the bell sounded its funereal knell in a lively manner, as if a
friendly hand were caressing it. At night it sounded again, and the next
day, and every day; it rang as much as any one could desire. Sometimes
even, it would start at night, and sound gently through the darkness,
seized by strange joy, awakened, one could not tell why. All the
peasants in the neighborhood declared that it was bewitched, and nobody,
except the priest and the sacristan would now go near the church towe