to the blaze, tore down the canopy over the bed and flung it over me,
stolidly ignoring my protests. Then he clumped out with his muddy
boots and shut the door behind him.

For a long while I lay there, full in the heat of the fire, half
dozing, then sleeping, then suddenly alert, only to look about me to
see the Countess with eyes closed, motionless in her arm-chair, only
to hear the muffled thunder of the guns in the dark.

Once again, having slept, I roused, listening. The crackle of the
flames was all I heard; the cannon were silent. A few moments later a
clock in the hallway struck nine times. At the same instant a deadened
cannon-shot echoed the clamor of the clock. It was the last shot of
the battle. And when the dull reverberations had died away Alsace was
a lost province, MacMahon's army was in full retreat, leaving on the
three battle-fields of Woerth, Reichshoffen, and Froeschweiler sixteen
thousand dead, wounded, and missing soldiers of France.

All night long I heard cavalry traversing Morsbronn in an unbroken
column, the steady trample of their horses never ceasing for an
instant. At moments, from the outskirts of the village, the sinister
sound of cheering came from the vanguard of the German Sixth Corps,
just arriving to learn of the awful disaster to France. Too late to
take any part in the battle, these tired soldiers stood cheering by
regiments as the cavalry rode past in pursuit of the shattered army,
and their cheering swelled to a terrific roar toward morning, when the
Prince Royal of Prussia appeared with his staff, and the soldiers in
Morsbronn rushed out into the street bellowing, "Hoch soll er leben!
Er soll leben--Hoch!"

About seven o'clock that morning a gaunt, leather-faced Prussian
officer, immaculate in his sombre uniform, entered the room without
knocking. The young Countess turned in the depths of her chair; he
bowed to her slightly, unfolded a printed sheet of paper which bore
the arms of Prussia, hesitated, then said, looking directly at me:

"Morsbronn is now German territory and will continue to be governed
by military law, proclaimed under the state of siege, until the
country is properly pacified.

"Honest inhabitants will not be disturbed. Citizens are invited to
return to their homes and peacefully continue their legitimate
avocations, subject to and under the guarantee of the Prussian
military government.

"Monsieur, I have the honor to hand you a copy of regulations. I