rth the sun
glittered on the steel helmets and armor of the heavy cavalry, just
arriving. And on the Col du Pigeonnier I saw tiny specks move, flags
signalling the arrival of the Vicomte de Bonnemain with the "grosse
cavalerie," the splendid cuirassier regiments destined in a few hours
to join the cuirassiers of Waterloo, riding into that bright Valhalla
where all good soldiers shall hear the last trumpet call,
"Dismount!"

With a lingering glance at the rivers which separated us from German
soil, I turned my horse and galloped away into the hills.

A moist, fern-bordered wood road attracted me; I reasoned that it must
lead, by a short cut, across the hills to the military highway which
passed between Trois-Feuilles and La Trappe. So I took it, and
presently came into four cross-roads unknown to me.

This grassy carrefour was occupied by a flock of turkeys, busily
engaged in catching grasshoppers; their keeper, a prettily shaped
peasant girl, looked up at me as I drew bridle, then quietly resumed
the book she had been reading.

"My child," said I, "if you are as intelligent as you are beautiful,
you will not be tending other people's turkeys this time next year."

"Merci, beau sabreur!" said the turkey-girl, raising her blue eyes.
Then the lashes veiled them; she bent her head a little, turning it so
that the curve of her cheeks gave to her profile that delicate
contour which is so suggestive of innocence when the ears are small
and the neck white.

"My child," said I, "will you kindly direct me, with appropriate
gestures, to the military highway which passes the Chateau de la
Trappe?"

II

THE GOVERNMENT INTERFERES

"There is a short cut across that meadow," said the young girl,
raising a rounded, sun-tinted arm, bare to the shoulder.

"You are very kind," said I, looking at her steadily.

"And, after that, you will come to a thicket of white birches."

"Thank you, mademoiselle."

"And after that," she said, idly following with her blue eyes the
contour of her own lovely arm, "you must turn to the left, and there
you will cross a hill. You can see it from where we stand--"

She glanced at me over her outstretched arm. "You are not listening,"
she said.

I shifted a troubled gaze to the meadow which stretched out all
glittering with moist grasses and tufts of rain-drenched wild
flowers.

The girl's arm slowly fell to her side, she looked up at me again, I
felt her eyes on me for a moment,