Russian advance if we meant to draw off during the night. Again and

again we charged, and for three hours did wonders. Under cover of the
fighting the baggage and artillery set out. We had a park of artillery

and great stores of powder, of which the Emperor stood in desperate
need; they must reach him at all costs.

"Our resistance deceived the Russians, who thought at first that we
were supported by an army corps; but before very long they learned

their error from their scouts, and knew that they had only a single
regiment of cavalry to deal with and the invalided foot soldiers in

the depot. On finding it out, sir, they made a murderous onslaught on
us towards evening; the action was so hot that a good few of us were

left on the field. We were completely surrounded. I was by Renard's
side in the front rank, and I saw how my friend fought and charged

like a demon; he was thinking of his wife. Thanks to him, we managed
to regain the town, which our invalids had put more or less in a state

of defence, but it was pitiful to see it. We were the last to return--
he and I. A body of Cossacks appeared in our way, and on this we rode

in hot haste. One of the savages was about to run me through with a
lance, when Renard, catching a sight of his manoeuvre, thrust his

horse between us to turn aside the blow; his poor brute--a fine animal
it was, upon my word--received the lance thrust and fell, bringing

down both Renard and the Cossack with him. I killed the Cossack,
seized Renard by the arm, and laid him crosswise before me on my horse

like a sack of wheat.
" 'Good-bye, captain,' Renard said; 'it is all over with me.'

" 'Not yet,' I answered; 'I must have a look at you.' We had reached
the town by that time; I dismounted, and propped him up on a little

straw by the corner of the house. A wound in the head had laid open
the brain, and yet he spoke! . . . Oh! he was a brave man.

" 'We are quits,' he said. 'I have given you my life, and I had taken
Judith from you. Take care of her and of her child, if she has one.

And not only so--you must marry her.'
"I left him then and there sir, like a dog; when the first fury of

anger left me, and I went back again--he was dead. The Cossacks had
set fire to the town, and the thought of Judith then came to my mind.

I went in search of her, took her up behind me in the saddle, and,
thanks to my swift horse, caught up the regiment which was effecting

its retreat. As for the Jew and his family, there was not one of them
left, they had all disappeared like rats; there was no one but Judith

in the house, waiting alone there for Renard. At first, as you can
understand, I told her not a word of all that had happened.

"So it befell that all through the disastrouscampaign of 1813 I had a
woman to look after, to find quarters for her, and to see that she was

comfortable. She scarcely knew, I think, the straits to which we were
reduced. I was always careful to keep her ten leagues ahead of us as

we drew back towards France. Her boy was born while we were fighting
at Hanau. I was wounded in the engagement, and only rejoined Judith at

Strasburg; then I returned to Paris, for, unluckily, I was laid up all
through the campaign in France. If it had not been for that wretched

mishap, I should have entered the Grenadier Guards, and then the
Emperor would have promoted me. As it was, sir, I had three broken

ribs and another man's wife and child to support! My pay, as you can
imagine, was not exactly the wealth of the Indies. Renard's father,

the toothless old shark, would have nothing to say to his daughter-in-
law; and the old father Jew had made off. Judith was fretting herself

to death. She cried one morning while she was dressing my wound.
" 'Judith,' said I, 'your child has nothing in this world----'

" 'Neither have I!' she said.
" 'Pshaw!' I answered, 'we will send for all the necessary papers, I

will marry you; and as for the child, I will look on him as mine----'
I could not say any more.

"Ah, my dear sir, what would not one do for the look by which Judith
thanked me--a look of thanks from dying eyes; I saw clearly that I had

loved, and should love her always, and from that day her child found a
place in my heart. She died, poor woman, while the father and mother

Jews and the papers were on the way. The day before she died, she
found strength enough to rise and dress herself for her wedding, to go

through all the usual performance, and set her name to their pack of
papers; then, when her child had a name and a father, she went back to

her bed again; I kissed her hands and her forehead, and she died.
"That was my wedding. Two days later, when I had bought the few feet

of earth in which the poor girl is laid, I found myself the father of
an orphan child. I put him out to nurse during the campaign of 1815.

Ever since that time, without letting any one know my story, which did
not sound very well, I have looked after the little rogue as if he

were my own child. I don't know what became of his grandfather; he is
wandering about, a ruined man, somewhere or other between Russia and

Persia. The chances are that he may make a fortune some day, for he
seemed to understand the trade in precious stones.

"I sent the child to school. I wanted him to take a good place at the
Ecole Polytechnique and to see him graduate there with credit, so of

late I have had him drilled in mathematics to such good purpose that
the poor little soul has been knocked up by it. He has a delicate

chest. By all I can make out from the doctors in Paris, there would be
some hope for him still if he were allowed to run wild among the

hills, if he was properly cared for, and constantly looked after by
somebody who was willing to undertake the task. So I thought of you,

and I came here to take stock of your ideas and your ways of life.
After what you have told me, I could not possibly cause you pain in

this way, for we are good friends already."
"Commandant," said Benassis after a moment's pause, "bring Judith's

child here to me. It is doubtless God's will to submit me to this
final trial, and I will endure it. I will offer up these sufferings to

God, whose Son died upon the cross. Besides, your story has awakened
tender feelings; does not that auger well for me?"

Genestas took both of Benassis' hands and pressed them warmly, unable
to check the tears that filled his eyes and coursed down his sunburned

face.
"Let us keep silence with regard to all this," he said.

"Yes, commandant. You are not drinking?"
"I am not thirsty," Genestas answered. "I am a perfect fool!"

"Well, when will you bring him to me?"
"Why, to-morrow, if you will let me. He has been at Grenoble these two

days."
"Good! Set out to-morrow morning and come back again. I shall wait for

you in La Fosseuse's cottage, and we will all four of us breakfast
there together."

"Agreed," said Genestas, and the two friends as they went upstairs
bade each other good-night. When they reached the landing that lay

between their rooms, Genestas set down his candle on the window ledge
and turned towards Benassis.

"Tonnerre de Dieu!" he said, with outspoken enthusiasm; "I cannot let
you go without telling you that you are the third among christened men

to make me understand that there is Something up there," and he
pointed to the sky.

The doctor's answer was a smile full of sadness and a cordial grasp of
the hand that Genestas held out to him.

Before daybreak next morning Commandant Genestas was on his way. On
his return, it was noon before he reached the spot on the highroad

between Grenoble and the little town, where the pathway turned that
led to La Fosseuse's cottage. He was seated in one of the light open

cars with four wheels, drawn by one horse, that are in use everywhere
on the roads in these hilly districts. Genestas' companion was a thin,

delicate-looking lad, apparently about twelve years of age, though in
reality he was in his sixteenth year. Before alighting, the officer

looked round about him in several directions in search of a peasant