elf into an illness--"

"Did she do this, poor girl?"

"Ay, that she did. But, mayhap, you never heard of all this. I can only
say, mon lieutenant, that you'd be safer in a broken square, charged by
a heavy squadron, than among the Fourth, after what you 've done."

I turned indignantly from him without a reply; for while my pride
revolted at answering an accusation from such a quarter, my mind was
harassed by the sad fate of poor Minette, and perplexed how to account
for her sudden departure. My silence at once arrested my companion's
speech, and we walked along the remainder of the way without a word on
either side.

The day was just breaking when the first wagon of the convoy entered the
gates of the convent. It was an enormous mass of building, originally
destined for the reception of about three thousand persons; for, in
addition to the priestly inhabitants, there were two great hospitals and
several schools included within the walls. This, before the battle, had
been tenanted by the staffs of many general officers and the corps of
engineers and sappers, but now was entirely devoted to the wounded of
either army; for Austrians and Russians were everywhere to be met with,
receiving equal care and attention with our own troops.

It was the first time I had witnessed a military hospital after a
battle, and the impression was too fearful to be ever forgotten by me.

The great chambers and spacious rooms of the convent were soon found
inadequate for the numbers who arrived; and already the long corridors
and passages of the building were crowded with beds, between which a
narrow path scarcely permitted one person to pass. Here, promiscuously,
without regard to rank, officers in command lay side by side with the
meanest privates, awaiting the turn of medical aid, as no other order
was observed than the necessities of each case demanded. A black
mark above the bed, indicating that the patient's state was hopeless,
proclaimed that no further attention need be bestowed; while the
same mark, with a white bar across it, implied that it was a case for
operation. In this way the surgeons who arrived at each moment from
different corps of the army discovered, at a glance, where their
services were required, and not a minute's time was lost.

The dreadful operations of surgery--for which, in the events of
every-day life, every provision of delicate secrecy, and every minute
detail which can alleviate dread, are so rigidly