spite of the rain, they left the window open, and one of them went
to listen from time to time; and at a quarter past six the baron said
he heard a rumbling in the distance. They all rushed down, and presently
the wagon drove up at a gallop with its four horses steaming and
blowing, and splashed with mud to their girths. Five women dismounted,
five handsome girls whom a comrade of the captain, to whom Le Devoir had
presented his card, had selected with care.

They had not required much pressing, as they had got to know the
Prussians in the three months during which they had had to do with them,
and so they resigned themselves to the men as they did to the state of
affairs.

They went at once into the dining-room, which looked still more dismal
in its dilapidated condition when it was lighted up; while the table
covered with choice dishes, the beautiful china and glass, and the
plate, which had been found in the hole in the wall where its owner had
hidden it, gave it the appearance of a bandits' inn, where they were
supping after committing a robbery in the place. The captain was
radiant, and put his arm round the women as if he were familiar with
them; and when the three young men wanted to appropriate one each,
he opposed them authoritatively, reserving to himself the right to
apportion them justly, according to their several ranks, so as not to
offend the higher powers. Therefore, to avoid all discussion, jarring,
and suspicion of partiality, he placed them all in a row according to
height, and addressing the tallest, he said in a voice of command:

"What is your name?" "Pamela," she replied, raising her voice. And then
he said: "Number One, called Pamela, is adjudged to the commandant."
Then, having kissed Blondina, the second, as a sign of proprietorship,
he proffered stout Amanda to Lieutenant Otto; Eva, "the Tomato," to
Sub-lieutenant Fritz, and Rachel, the shortest of them all, a very
young, dark girl, with eyes as black as ink, a Jewess, whose snub
nose proved the rule which allots hooked noses to all her race, to the
youngest officer, frail Count Wilhelm d'Eyrick.

They were all pretty and plump, without any distinctive features, and
all had a similarity of complexion and figure.

The three young men wished to carry off their prizes immediately, under
the pretext that they might wish to freshen their toilets; but the
captain wisely opposed this, for he said they were quite fit to sit down
to dinner, and h