"Mademoiselle, mademoiselle, open the door, please ... just a small room, only chairs to sit down." But none so deaf as those who won"t hear. Nothing would have roused Mlle. Honorine from her sweet slumbers.
At length we made up our minds to rest outside, on the threshold of the unrelenting house. An accommodating bench very kindly welcomed three of us, Genevieve and Antoinette, wrapped up in their cloaks, stretched on the stony ground of the courtyard. As to myself, I chose for a resting-place a flight of steps. Crouching down in a comfortable corner, with Pierrot nestled in my arms, I covered our bodies with my shawl, and summoned sleep in vain. The stone was very hard. Yet I was comfortable, and had no mind to go away. But we soon remembered we were running away, and that it was high time for us to be off again. "Get up! get up! It is half-past two." We rose reluctantly, yawned, cleared our throats, stretched ourselves. Antoinette was so weary and so ill that we had much trouble to move her. At length we were all up. We cursed the household that had behaved so unkindly to the poor wanderers, and, leaving the inhospitable village, we turned to the right. The road wound its way through the woods. The moon had gone down; it was pitch dark; our hearts quivered with fear; our eyes searched into the shades of night; and we strained our ears like the dogs. The poor beasts disapproved of our nightly expedition, and sniffed at tufts of gra.s.s with great anxiety.
"This black ma.s.s here, lying on the wayside, is it a dead body? No, it is but a log. And there, those white spots, aren"t they faces? No, they are birches. Don"t you hear a noise of steps? No, it is the breaking of a dead branch." We stopped to take a little breath. We were out of the forest; we had reached the top of the hill. Quite bare, it was not really a plateau, for the ground spread itself out in large waves. We walked along, dragging our luggage up and down the road. Genevieve and I carried the heaviest bag, and tried many experiments to make it lighter.
We put it on our shoulders like an urn, on our back like a sack of flour. Like the queen of the turtles, we hung it on a stick, of which each of us took an end. From time to time we stopped a minute to change hands, or to listen to far-away noises. Then a slight quivering broke the stillness. We thought we heard a distant rumbling. Sometimes there were explosions--bridges were being blown up. Day was already breaking.
A pallor whitened the sky towards the east. We reached Urcel, prettily placed among orchards on the slope of a hill. Worn out, we sat on the edge of the pavement like so many swallows on the edge of a gutter. We were in high spirits, we exchanged jokes, and all of a sudden:
"Yvonne, Yvonne, laughter will end in crying...."
Indeed, the poor girl, still half-choked with laughter, was now sobbing bitterly. We gathered round her, and tried to comfort her.
"Get up, get up, the inn will be open in a minute, and we shall have a cup of coffee. Come."
At the first glimmering of the dawn, the shop opened a shutter like a fearful eyelid.
We went in. The landlady, in a dressing-gown, with her black hair loose over her shoulders, dragged herself along, and raised her weeping eyes.
"Oh, Heavens! they are coming here, aren"t they? What an unhappy, poor creature I am! What will become of me? And my daughter, aged fourteen years? What will become of us?"
The woman"s despair amused us, and we tried to comfort her.
"The Prussians will never reach this out-of-the-way place. Perhaps a patrol or two will come, and that is all. All the world is seeking refuge in "the mountains." Everybody knows the Prussians won"t come here."
On leaving Urcel, we plunged into the misty shadows of a valley. But when we got on the other side it was glorious, dazzling. The sun was just rising, and beneath its first beams the country smiled and glistened. The meadows, bathed in dew, sparkled as though decked with gems; the air was mild, nature thrilled with joy, a lark carolled to the sun. Pierrot, drunk with light and s.p.a.ce, danced about like a little faun, and we ourselves, for an insect, for a flower, for a bush covered with bright berries, leapt like goats. Our thoughts were lighter than the soft mists melting in the sun.
War! It is but a myth.
Invasion! an idle tale.
Danger! an illusion.
Weariness, pangs, mental sufferings, all were forgotten. We were young, we were strong; we breathed the fresh air with ecstasy, and the splendour of the hour intensified our love of life. Danger is life. War is victory, and blessed be the hand which bestows on mankind black nights and white mornings, dull cares and consoling joys.
With light hearts we took to our cheerful road. We marched for one hour, and then doubts arose.
"Mother, you have taken the wrong road, I am sure. Chevregny is not so far...."
Yet at a turn of the road we caught sight of Chevregny, nestled in verdure, crouched in a hollow way. We marvelled at the pointed steeple, at the red tiles or blue slates of the roofs. So we prepared to make an entrance into the village worthy of us and it. We sat by the wayside and took small looking-gla.s.ses and powder-puffs out of our leather bags.
Powder is as necessary to women as to soldiers, isn"t it? We did our hair, brushed our dresses, and then went down the village street quite smart. We turned to the right and entered the big farm of Mme. Laroye.
Surprise, exclamations! Arms lifted up to the sky, and then clasped around us in a close embrace! Boundless friendship and endless hospitality were promised us.
"But tell us, dear cousin, who are all these people we see gathered in your domain?"
Mme. Laroye had already given hospitality to twenty-one refugees in her barns and cart-sheds, and had received into the bargain certain solid citizens of Laon, persons whom she honoured with her friendship and best rooms. We did not allow them to move from their quarters.
"If mother is provided for, dear cousin, it is all that we want. Don"t bother about us; we will sleep in the hay-loft; it will be delightful."
When these matters were settled, we refreshed ourselves. How delightful it was after that painful night to take a bath, to loll in an armchair, to sit at table where fresh bread, golden b.u.t.ter, and transparent jam smiled upon us. We found a charm in the smallest pleasures, and thought:
"Now we are quiet, now we are in safety, we shall suffer nothing at the hands of the abhorred invader; we shall not see the shadow of their helmets on our walls; we shall not hear the tramping of their horses on our pavements; the booming of their cannon will not roll over our hearts!"
But what did we hear?
We stood up, speechless with horror.
The street rang with loud cries, and those cries were:
"The Prussians! The Prussians!"
PART II
Frenchman! I saw thy child Who cried alone on the road.
I have comforted him. I have rea.s.sured thy wife.
Thy field lay fallow, I have tilled it.
When Peace reappears again on earth May thou reap the fruits of my labour!
Published in German in the _Lillerzeitung_, translated into French, and reproduced in the _Gazette des Ardennes_.
CHAPTER IV
Placid and heavy on their placid, heavy horses, they slowly advanced along the street. Of giant stature, they came on, revolver in hand, with the self-reliance of brutal strength. Their red-edged caps made their hard-featured faces still harder. It was a sight to strike Nature herself with horror, and, hidden behind the muslin curtains, we sobbed bitterly. The guests, huddled together in the dimly lighted room. Were silently weeping; the women crossed themselves, and watched over their children as if it were old Bogy"s steps they heard. The men tugged nervously at their moustaches, and shook their fists in the empty air.
Our gestures made the poor people uneasy.
"Heavens!" the women groaned, "don"t show your face at the window!"
"Don"t open the curtains!"
"Don"t draw their attention to the house!"
"How frank they are," an old woman whimpered. "How splendid to be frank like that! As to myself, I could not be so." I suppose she meant courageous, but courage was not in question. We thought of nothing; we felt nothing; we were only looking at the men. We were glaring with all our eyes at a sight that crushed our souls. Grief left a huge void in our hearts. The enemy was there, and it was all up with us! I think we had suffered less if we had seen the Germans arrive in a town. A town is always somewhat of a courtesan. It gives a hearty welcome and hospitality to every one; it is daily a prey to strangers of ill repute.
If invasion beats against its walls, if a hostile army crosses its streets--one human flood succeeding so many others--the town scowls at the foe, and then loses all memory of him. But there in a small village, hidden in a fold of the French ground, in a tiny hamlet which a hostile mind never chose for a shelter, the presence of the invaders seems to profane the very gra.s.s; and ever after the poor little place will remain an unhallowed spot, which bloodshed and years will not purify again.
After the hors.e.m.e.n had pa.s.sed, there rolled along cannon and powder-carts, whose rumbling set our teeth on edge.
"Grandmother, look there!" cried out Colette.
On a powder-cart, looking very unhappy, sat the small dog we had met in the meadow.
So the Germans had traversed Morny; they had followed close upon us.