The millionaire felt himself linked by misfortune to these people, considered until then with indifference.  He was very grateful for the loyalty of this sick and humble man, and the poor woman’s interest in the castle as though it were her own, touched him greatly.  The presence of their daughter brought Chichi to his mind.  He had passed near her without noting the transformation in her, seeing her just the same as when, with her little dog trot, she had accompanied the Master’s daughter on her rounds through the parks and grounds.  Now she was a woman, slender and full grown, with the first feminine graces showing subtly in her fourteen-year-old figure.  Her mother would not let her leave the lodge, fearing the soldiery which was invading every other spot with its overflowing current, filtering into all open places, breaking every obstacle which impeded their course.

Desnoyers broke his despairing silence to admit that he was feeling hungry.  He was ashamed of this bodily want, but the emotions of the day, the executions seen so near, the danger still threatening, had awakened in him a nervous appetite.  The fact that he was so impotent in the midst of his riches and unable to avail himself of anything on his estate but aggravated his necessity.

“Poor Master!” again exclaimed the faithful soul.

And the woman looked with astonishment at the millionaire devouring a bit of bread and a triangle of cheese, the only food that she could find in her humble dwelling.  The certainty that he would not be able to find any other nourishment, no matter how much he might seek it, greatly sharpened his cravings.  To have acquired an enormous fortune only to perish with hunger at the end of his existence! . . .  The good wife, as though guessing his thoughts, sighed, raising her eyes beseechingly to heaven.  Since the early morning hours, the world had completely changed its course.  Ay, this war! . . .

The rest of the afternoon and a part of the night, the proprietor kept receiving news from the Keeper after his visits to the castle.  The General and numerous officers were now occupying the rooms.  Not a single door was locked, all having been opened with blows of the axe or gun.  Many things had completely disappeared; the man did not know exactly how, but they had vanished—­perhaps destroyed, or perhaps carried off by those who were coming and going.  The chief with the banded sleeve was going from room to room examining everything, dictating in German to a soldier who was writing down his orders.  Meanwhile the General and his staff were in the dining room drinking heavily, consulting the maps spread out on the floor, and ordering the Warden to go down into the vaults for the very best wines.