a had fallen into a gentle sleep in Moritz's arms, and had been
carried to her bed, the doctor thinking that nothing more beneficial
could have happened to her than this slumber, which would rest the
life-spirits, overstrained as they had been. He considered that in this
manner a threatening illness would be naturally dispelled.

"Now," said the Colonel, "it is time to solve all those riddles and
explain all those miraculous events. Tell us, Moritz, what angel of
Heaven has called you back to life?"

"You know," said Moritz, "all about the murderous and treacherous
attack which was made upon me near S----, though the armistice had been
proclaimed. I was struck by a bullet, and fell from my horse. How long
I lay in that deathlike state I cannot tell. When I first awoke to a
dim consciousness, I was being moved somewhere, travelling. It was dark
night; several voices were whispering near me. They were speaking
French. Thus I knew that I was badly wounded and in the hands of the
enemy. This thought came upon me with all its horror, and I sank again
into a deep fainting fit. After that came a condition which has only
left me the recollection of a few hours of violent headache; but at
last, one morning, I awoke to complete consciousness. I found myself in
a comfortable, almost sumptuous bed, with silk curtains and great
cords and tassels. The room was lofty, and had silken hangings and
richly-gilt tables and chairs, in the old French style. A strange man
was bending over me and looking closely into my face. He hurried to a
bell-rope and pulled at it hard. Presently the doors opened, and two
men came in, the elder of whom had on an old-fashioned embroidered
coat, and the cross of Saint Louis. The younger came to me, felt my
pulse, and said to the elder, in French, 'All danger is over; he is
saved.' The elder gentleman now introduced himself to me as the
Chevalier de T----. The house was his in which I found myself. He said
he had chanced, on a journey, to be passing through the village at the
very moment when the treacherous attack was made upon me, and the
peasants were going to plunder me. He succeeded in rescuing me, had me
put into a conveyance, and brought to his chateau, which was quite
out of the way of the military routes of communication. Here his own
body-surgeon had applied himself to the arduous task of curing me of my
very serious wound in the head. He said, in conclusion, that he loved
my nation, which had show