ted, "_Vaterland! Vaterland!_"

They touched glasses with the Saxon soldiers, while the tall student
bent over to take up his glass, and the round, fat brewer cried:

"_Gesundheit! Gesundheit!_"

Scarcely had we made half a dozen steps toward them, when they became
silent.

"Come, come, comrades!" cried Zimmer, "don't disturb yourselves. Go on
reading. We do not object to hear the news."

But they did not seem inclined to profit by our invitation, and the
reader descended from the table, folding up his paper, which he put in
his pocket.

"We are done," said he, "we are done."

"Yes; we are done," repeated the others, looking at each other with a
peculiar expression.

Two or three of the German soldiers rose and left the room, as if to
take the air in the court. And the fat landlord said:

"You do not perhaps know that the large hall is on the Rue de Tilly?"

"Yes; we know it very well," replied Zimmer; "but I like this little
hall better. Here I used to come, long ago, with two old comrades, to
empty a few glasses in honor of Jena and Auerstadt. I know this room
of old."

"Ah! as you please, as you please," returned the landlord. "Do you
wish some March beer?"

"Yes; two glasses and the gazette."

"Very good."

The glasses were handed us, and Zimmer, who observed nothing, tried to
open a conversation with the students; but they excused themselves,
and, one after another, went out. I saw that they hated us, but dared
not show it.

The gazette, which was from France, spoke of an armistice, after two
new victories at Bautzen and Wurtschen. This armistice commenced on
the sixth of June, and a conference was then being held at Prague, in
Bohemia, to arrange on terms of peace. All this naturally gave me
pleasure. I thought of again seeing home. But Zimmer, with his habit
of thinking aloud, filled the hall with his reflections, and
interrupted me at every line.

"An armistice!" he cried. "Do we want an armistice. After having
beaten those Prussians and Russians at Lutzen, Bautzen and Wurtschen,
ought we not to annihilate them? Would they give us an armistice if
they had beaten us? There, Joseph, you see the Emperor's character--he
is too good. It is his only fault. He did the same thing after
Austerlitz, and he had to begin over again. I tell you, he is too
good; and if he were not so, we should have been masters of Europe."

As he spoke, he looked around as if seeking assent; but the