“She looked at the officer with an expression of amazement that he should doubt her word.

“’Come, I will show you; I will prove to you that what I say is the truth.’

“‘It is well,’ answered the Prussian officer, now reassured.  ’We will pass on.  It is good that you have not lied to us, child,’ he said.  ’It were better if all the French were so truthful, but, alas, they are not.  Forward!’

“The Prussians departed, Jeanne watching them from the door.  ’No, there are no French soldiers here,’ she chuckled.  ’Perhaps there may be just outside the village.  And if so, alas for the Prussians!’

“A short distance beyond the village stood a large farmhouse in a vast yard, the latter being surrounded by a high stone wall.  Within were trees and shade, so the place looking very attractive to the tired Prussians.  Their commander ordered a halt and, opening the gate that led to the grounds, he ordered his men in for a rest.  They tied their horses to trees and threw themselves down on the grass in great content.

“The place seemed deserted, but that some one was about was evidenced when the gate through which they had entered was quietly closed and locked by no less a person than the little Jeanne herself.  She had followed the Prussians at a distance, hoping to be able to give a signal to her friends if they might still be in the farmhouse, but, finding a better opportunity for serving them, had locked the lancers within the enclosure.  Having done this, she ran as fast as her nimble feet would carry her for her own home.

“The tired lancers lay down to sleep while their commander strolled up to the house and beat on the door with the hilt of his saber.  To his amazement the door was suddenly jerked open and a French dragoon dragged him in by the collar.  The commander was a prisoner.

“A detachment of French soldiers were secreted in the house, where they had been waiting for some days for this very opportunity, knowing that the Prussians were headed that way.  Yet, though the German commander had been deceived, little Jeanne had not told him an untruth.  She knew the French soldiers had been at the farmhouse three days before, for she had taken food to them, but she did not know of her own knowledge that they still were there.  If she did not tell the officer the whole truth it was because he had not asked her, and for the sake of her beloved France she would not volunteer information that would aid the Germans.

“‘Betrayed!’ raged the Prussian when he saw how neatly he had been tricked.  He groaned when a volley rang out from the house and several of his lancers fell.

“His men made a frantic rush for their horses; then, when they discovered that the gate was locked and that they were caught, they threw up their hands and surrendered to the foe that they had not yet seen.

“The French made everyone of the lancers a prisoner.  Several had been wounded, but none was killed.