hourly expected. Much might depend upon that proclamation; a
word too little or too much and Heaven alone knew what innuendo a German
Commandant might discover in it. Perhaps the _maire_ was also not
indifferent to the question of style; he prided himself on his French;
he had in his youth won a prize at the Lycee for composition, and he
contributed occasional papers to the journal of the Societe de
l'Histoire de France on the antiquities of his _department_. Most
Frenchmen are born purists in style, and the _maire_ lingered over his
words.

"Continuez, Henri," he said with a glance at the clerk. "_Le Maire,
assiste de son adjoint et de ses conseillers municipaux et de delegues
de quartier, sera en permanence a l'hotel de Ville pour assurer_--"
There was a kick at the door and a tall loutish man in the uniform of a
German officer entered, followed by two grey-coated soldiers. The
officer neither bowed nor saluted, but merely glared with an
intimidating frown. The _maire's_ clerk sat in an atrophy of fear,
unable to move a muscle. The officer advanced to the desk, pulled out
his revolver from its leather pouch, and laid it with a lethal gesture
on the _maire's_ desk. The _maire_ examined it curiously. "Ah, yes, M.
le Capitaine, thank you; I will examine it in a moment, but I have seen
better ones--our new service pattern, for example. Ja! Ich verstehe ganz
gut," he continued, answering the officer's reckless French in perfect
German. "Consider yourself under arrest," declaimed the officer, with
increasing violence. "We are in occupation of your town; you will
provide us within the next twenty-four hours with ten thousand kilos of
bread, thirty thousand kilos of hay, forty thousand kilos of oats, five
thousand bottles of wine, one hundred boxes of cigars." ("Mon Dieu! it
is an inventory," said the _maire_ to himself.) "If these are not
forthcoming by twelve noon to-morrow you will be shot," added the
officer in a sudden inspiration of his own.

The _maire_ was facing the officer, who towered above him. "Ah, yes,
Monsieur le Capitaine, you will not take a seat? No? And your
requisition--you have your commandant's written order and signature, no
doubt?" The officer blustered. "No, no, Monsieur le Capitaine, I am the
head of the civil government in this town; I take no orders except from
the head of the military authority. You have doubtless forgotten Hague
Regulation, Article 52; your Government signed it, you will recoll