When the singing had ceased the Chaplain went up to the holy table.  In a voice full of feeling he tried to express his gratitude and happiness to all those brave fellows.  I should not imagine him to be a brilliant speaker at the best of times, but on that occasion the worthy man was completely unintelligible.  His happiness was choking him.  He tried in vain to find the words he wanted, used the wrong ones, and only confused himself by trying to get them right.  But nobody had the least desire to laugh when, to conclude his address, he said with a sigh of relief: 

“And now we will tell twenty beads of the rosary; ten for the success of our arms, and the other ten in memory of soldiers who have died on the field of honour.... Hail!  Mary, full of grace....”

I looked round the church once more, and every one’s lips were moving silently accompanying the priest’s words.  Opposite us I saw the artillery captain take a rosary out of his pocket and tell the beads with dreamy eyes; and when the Chaplain came to the sentence “Holy Mary, Mother of God, ...” hundreds of voices burst forth, deep and manly voices, full of fervour which seemed to proclaim their faith in Him Who was present before them on the altar, and also to promise self-sacrifice and devotion to that other sacred thing, their Country.

Then, after the Tantum ergo had been sung with vigour, the priest held up the monstrance, and I saw all those soldiers with one accord kneel down on the stone floor and bow their heads.  The silence was impressive; not a word, not a cough, and not a chair moved.  I had never seen such devotion in any church.  Some spiritual power was brooding over the assemblage and bowing all those heads in token of submission and hope.  Good, brave soldiers of France, how we love and honour you at such moments, and what confidence your chiefs must feel when they lead such men to battle!

* * * * *

We sat at table around the lamp, and good Maman Cheveret had just brought in the steaming soup.  Right away towards the east we heard the dull roll of the cannon.  Good Monsieur Cheveret had just brought up from his cellar a venerable bottle of his best Burgundy, and, at the invitation of the Captain, he sat down to drink a glass with us, smoking his cherry-wood pipe and listening with delight to our merry chat.

Gosset was in his kitchen next door preparing a delicious piece of beef a la mode and at the same time telling the admiring Maman Cheveret about his exploits of the past month.

We heard the men of the first troop cracking their jokes in the yard as they ate their rations and emptied their pannikin of wine under a brilliant moon.

Down in the valley on the banks of the murmuring Vesle, songs and laughter floated up to us from the artillery park.

And the village itself, shining under the starlit sky, seemed bathed in an atmosphere of cheerfulness, courage and confidence.