Then the French began the assault.  There was a furious fight with swords and bayonets.  Beneath the rust-colored sky the valley was choked with the dead.  The broad meadows had a wild look with their tall, isolated trees and their hedges of poplars which stained them with shade.  To the right and to the left the forests were like the walls of an ancient ampitheater which enclosed the fighting gladiators, while the springs, the fountains and the flowing brooks seemed to sob amid the panic of the country.

Beneath the shed Francoise still sat near Dominique’s body; she had not moved.  Pere Merlier had received a slight wound.  The Prussians were exterminated, but the ruined mill was on fire in a dozen places.  The French rushed into the courtyard, headed by their captain.  It was his first success of the war.  His face beamed with triumph.  He waved his sword, shouting: 

“Victory!  Victory!”

On seeing the wounded miller, who was endeavoring to comfort Francoise, and noticing the body of Dominique, his joyous look changed to one of sadness.  Then he knelt beside the young man and, tearing open his blouse, put his hand to his heart.

“Thank God!” he cried.  “It is yet beating!  Send for the surgeon!”

At the captain’s words Francoise leaped to her feet.

“There is hope!” she cried.  “Oh, tell me there is hope!”

At that moment the surgeon appeared.  He made a hasty examination and said: 

“The young man is severely hurt, but life is not extinct; he can be saved!” By the surgeon’s orders Dominique was transported to a neighboring cottage, where he was placed in bed.  His wounds were dressed; restoratives were administered, and he soon recovered consciousness.  When he opened his eyes he saw Francoise sitting beside him and through the open window caught sight of Pere Merlier talking with the French captain.  He passed his hand over his forehead with a bewildered air and said: 

“They did not kill me after all!”

“No,” replied Francoise.  “The French came, and their surgeon saved you.”

Pere Merlier turned and said through the window: 

“No talking yet, my young ones!”

In due time Dominique was entirely restored, and when peace again blessed the land he wedded his beloved Francoise.

The mill was rebuilt, and Pere Merlier had a new wheel upon which to bestow whatever tenderness was not engrossed by his daughter and her husband.

CAPTAIN BURLE

CHAPTER I

THE SWINDLE

It was nine o’clock.  The little town of Vauchamp, dark and silent, had just retired to bed amid a chilly November rain.  In the Rue des Recollets, one of the narrowest and most deserted streets of the district of Saint-Jean, a single window was still alight on the third floor of an old house, from whose damaged gutters torrents of water were falling into the street.  Mme Burle was sitting up before a meager fire of vine stocks, while her little grandson Charles pored over his lessons by the pale light of a lamp.