law silenced him with a gesture; his hands were trembling
with agitation, his kindly pleasant face was pale and bore an expression
of deep distress.

"Defeat, ah! Heaven preserve us from that! You know that I was born
in this country; my grandfather and grandmother were murdered by the
Cossacks in 1814, and whenever I think of invasion it makes me clench
my fist and grit my teeth; I could go through fire and flood, like
a trooper, in my shirt sleeves! Defeat--no, no! I cannot, I will not
believe it possible."

He became calmer, allowing his arms to fall by his side in
discouragement.

"But my mind is not easy, do you see. I know Alsace; I was born there;
I am just off a business trip through the country, and we civilians
have opportunities of seeing many things that the generals persist in
ignoring, although they have them thrust beneath their very eyes. Ah,
_we_ wanted war with Prussia as badly as anyone; for a long, long time
we have been waiting patiently for a chance to pay off old scores, but
that did not prevent us from being on neighborly terms with the people
in Baden and Bavaria; every one of us, almost, has friends or relatives
across the Rhine. It was our belief that they felt like us and would not
be sorry to humble the intolerable insolence of the Prussians. And now,
after our long period of uncomplaining expectation, for the past two
weeks we have seen things going from bad to worse, and it vexes and
terrifies us. Since the declaration of war the enemy's horse have been
suffered to come among us, terrorizing the villages, reconnoitering
the country, cutting the telegraph wires. Baden and Bavaria are rising;
immense bodies of troops are being concentrated in the Palatinate;
information reaches us from every quarter, from the great fairs and
markets, that our frontier is threatened, and when the citizens, the
mayors of the communes, take the alarm at last and hurry off to tell
your officers what they know, those gentlemen shrug their shoulders and
reply: Those things spring from the imagination of cowards; there is no
enemy near here. And when there is not an hour to lose, days and days
are wasted. What are they waiting for? To give the whole German nation
time to concentrate on the other bank of the river?"

His words were uttered in a low, mournful, voice, as if he were reciting
to himself a story that had long occupied his thoughts.

"Ah! Germany, I know her too well; and the terrible part of the bus