under his nose.

In spite of the rain, they left the window open, and one of them
went to listen from time to time. At a quarter past six the baron

said he heard a rumbling in the distance. They all rushed down,
and soon the wagon drove up at a gallop with its four horses,

splashed up to their backs, steaming and panting. Five women got
out at the bottom of the steps, five handsome girls whom a

comrade of the captain, to whom Le Dervoir had taken his card,
had selected with care.

They had not required much pressing, as they were sure of being
well treated, for they had got to know the Prussians in the three

months during which they had had to do with them. So they
resigned themselves to the men as they did to the state of

affairs. "It is part of our business, so it must be done," they
said as they drove along; no doubt to allay some slight, secret

scruples of conscience.
They went into the dining-room immediately, which looked still

more dismal in its dilapidated state, 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 to the place the look of

a bandits' resort, where they were supping after committing a
robbery. The captain was radiant; he took hold of the women as if

he were familiar with them; appraising them, kissing them,
valuing them for what they were worth as LADIES OF PLEASURE; 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 wound the hierarchy. Therefore, so as to avoid all

discussion, jarring, and suspicion of partiality, he placed them
all in a line according to height, and addressing the tallest, he

said in a voice of command:
"What is your name?"

"Pamela," she replied, raising her voice.
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 confirmed by exception the rule

which allots hooked noses to all her race, to the youngest
officer, frail Count Wilhelm von Eyrick.

They were all pretty and plump, without any distinctive features,
and all were very much alike in look and person, from their daily

dissipation, and the life common to houses of public
accommodation.

The three younger men wished to carry off their women
immediately, under the pretext of finding them brushes and soap;

but the captain wisely opposed this, for he said they were quite
fit to sit down to dinner, and that those who went up would wish

for a change when they came down, and so would disturb the other
couples, and his experience in such matters carried the day.

There were only many kisses; expectant kisses.
Suddenly Rachel choked, and began to cough until the tears came

into her eyes, while smoke came through her nostrils. Under
pretense of kissing her, the count had blown a whiff of tobacco

into her mouth. She did not fly into a rage, and did not say a
word, but she looked at her possessor with latenthatred in her

dark eyes.
They sat down to dinner. The commandant seemed delighted; he made

Pamela sit on his right, and Blondina on his left, and said, as
he unfolded his table napkin: "That was a delightful idea of

yours, captain."
Lieutenants Otto and Fritz, who were as polite as if they had

been with fashionable ladies, rather intimidated their neighbors,
but Baron von Kelweinstein gave the reins to all his vicious

propensities, beamed, made doubtful remarks, and seemed on fire
with his crown of red hair. He paid them compliments in French

from the other side of the Rhine, and sputtered out gallant
remarks, only fit for a low pot-house, from between his two

broken teeth.
They did not understand him, however, and their intelligence did

not seem to be awakened until he uttered nasty words and broad
expressions, which were mangled by his accent. Then all began to

laugh at once, like mad women, and fell against each other,
repeating the words, which the baron then began to say all wrong,

in order that he might have the pleasure of hearing them say
doubtful things. They gave him as much of that stuff as he

wanted, for they were drunk after the first bottle of wine, and,
becoming themselves once more, and opening the door to their

usual habits, they kissed the mustaches on the right and left of
them, pinched their arms, uttered furious cries, drank out of

every glass, and sang French couplets, and bits of German songs,
which they had picked up in their daily intercourse with the

enemy.
Soon the men themselves, intoxicated by that which was displayed

to their sight and touch, grew very amorous, shouted and broke
the plates and dishes, while the soldiers behind them waited on

them stolidly. The commandant was the only one who put any
restraint upon himself.

Mademoiselle Fifi had taken Rachel on to his knees, and, getting
excited, at one moment kissed the little black curls on her neck,

inhaling the pleasant warmth of her body, and all the savor of
her person, through the slight space there was between her dress

and her skin, and at another pinched her furiously through the
material, and made her scream, for he was seized with a species

of ferocity, and tormented by his desire to hurt her. He often
held her close to him, as if to make her part of himself, and put

his lips in a long kiss on the Jewess's rosy mouth, until she
lost her breath; and at last he bit her until a stream of blood

ran down her chin and on to her bodice.
For the second time, she looked him full in the face, and as she

bathed the wound, she said: "You will have to pay for that!"
But he merely laughed a hard laugh, and said: "I will pay."

At dessert, champagne was served, and the commandant rose, and in
the same voice in which he would have drunk to the health of the

Empress Augusta, he drank: "To our ladies!" Then a series of
toasts began, toasts worthy of the lowest soldiers and of

drunkards, mingled with filthy jokes, which were made still more
brutal by their ignorance of the language. They got up, one after

the other, trying to say something witty, forcing themselves to
be funny, and the women, who were so drunk that they almost fell

off their chairs, with vacant looks and clammy tongues, applauded
madly each time.

The captain, who no doubt wished to impart an appearance of
gallantry to the orgy, raised his glass again, and said: "To our

victories over hearts!" Thereupon Lieutenant Otto, who was a
species of bear from the Black Forest, jumped up, inflamed and

saturated with drink, and seized by an access of alcoholic
patriotism, cried: "To our victories over France!"

Drunk as they were, the women were silent, and Rachel turned
round with a shudder, and said: "Look here, I know some

Frenchmen, in whose presence you would not dare to say that." But
the little count, still holding her on his knees, began to laugh,

for the wine had made him very merry, and said: "Ha! ha! ha! I