Thus silenced, the vanquished proprietor hung his head.  What was he going to do? . . .  The Captain now renewed his affability as though he had forgotten what he had just said.  He wished to present him to his companions-at-arms.  His Excellency, Count Meinbourg, the Major General, upon learning that he was a relative of the von Hartrotts, had done him the honor of inviting him to his table.

Invited into his own demesne, he finally reached the dining room, filled with men in mustard color and high boots.  Instinctively, he made an inventory of the room.  All in good order, nothing broken—­walls, draperies and furniture still intact; but an appraising glance within the sideboard again caused a clutch at his heart.  Two entire table services of silver, and another of old porcelain had disappeared without leaving the most insignificant of their pieces.  He was obliged to respond gravely to the presentations which his nephew was making, and take the hand which the Count was extending with aristocratic languor.  The adversary began considering him with benevolence, on learning that he was a millionaire from a distant land where riches were acquired very rapidly.

Soon he was seated as a stranger at his own table, eating from the same dishes that his family were accustomed to use, served by men with shaved heads, wearing coarse, striped aprons over their uniforms.  That which he was eating was his, the wine was from his vaults; all that adorned the room he had bought:  the trees whose boughs were waving outside the window also belonged to him. . . .  And yet he felt as though he were in this place for the first time, with all the discomfort and diffidence of a total stranger.  He ate because he was hungry, but the food and wines seemed to have come from another planet.

He continued looking with consternation at those occupying the places of his wife, children and the Lacours. . . .

They were speaking in German among themselves, but those having a limited knowledge of French frequently availed themselves of that language in order that their guest might understand them.  Those who could only mumble a few words, repeated them to an accompaniment of amiable smiles.  All were displaying an amicable desire to propitiate the owner of the castle.

“You are going to lunch with the barbarians,” said the Count, offering him a seat at his side.  “Aren’t you afraid that we may eat you alive?”

The Germans burst into roars of laughter at the wit of His Excellency.  They all took great pains to demonstrate by word and manner that barbarity was wrongly attributed to them by their enemies.