s teeth. There are two old trees there:
one is dead; the other is wounded at its base, and is clothed with
verdure in April. Since 1815 it has taken to growing through the
staircase.

A massacre took place in the chapel. The interior, which has recovered
its calm, is singular. The mass has not been said there since the
carnage. Nevertheless, the altar has been left there--an altar of
unpolished wood, placed against a background of roughhewn stone. Four
whitewashed walls, a door opposite the altar, two small arched windows;
over the door a large wooden crucifix, below the crucifix a square
air-hole stopped up with a bundle of hay; on the ground, in one corner,
an old window-frame with the glass all broken to pieces--such is the
chapel. Near the altar there is nailed up a wooden statue of Saint Anne,
of the fifteenth century; the head of the infant Jesus has been carried
off by a large ball. The French, who were masters of the chapel for a
moment, and were then dislodged, set fire to it. The flames filled this
building; it was a perfect furnace; the door was burned, the floor was
burned, the wooden Christ was not burned. The fire preyed upon his
feet, of which only the blackened stumps are now to be seen; then it
stopped,--a miracle, according to the assertion of the people of the
neighborhood. The infant Jesus, decapitated, was less fortunate than the
Christ.

The walls are covered with inscriptions. Near the feet of Christ this
name is to be read: Henquinez. Then these others: Conde de Rio Maior
Marques y Marquesa de Almagro (Habana). There are French names with
exclamation points,--a sign of wrath. The wall was freshly whitewashed
in 1849. The nations insulted each other there.

It was at the door of this chapel that the corpse was picked up which
held an axe in its hand; this corpse was Sub-Lieutenant Legros.

On emerging from the chapel, a well is visible on the left. There are
two in this courtyard. One inquires, Why is there no bucket and pulley
to this? It is because water is no longer drawn there. Why is water not
drawn there? Because it is full of skeletons.

The last person who drew water from the well was named Guillaume van
Kylsom. He was a peasant who lived at Hougomont, and was gardener there.
On the 18th of June, 1815, his family fled and concealed themselves in
the woods.

The forest surrounding the Abbey of Villiers sheltered these unfortunate
people who had been scattered abroad, for many days an