electricalrapidity
at
all
times
through
her
vivid
changeful
temper
;
and
here
she
had
been
wounded
and
been
stung
in
the
very
hour
in
which
she
had
subdued
her
national
love
of
mirth
,
and
her
child-like
passion
for
show
,
and
her
impatience
of
all
confinement
,
and
her
hatred
of
all
things
mournful
,
to
the
attainment
of
this
self-negation
!
Moreover
,
there
mingled
with
it
the
fierce
and
intolerant
heat
of
the
passionate
and
scarce-conscious
jealousy
of
an
utterly
untamed
nature
,
and
of
Gallic
blood
,
quick
and
hot
as
the
steaming
springs
of
the
Geyser
.
"
You
have
vexed
her
,
Victor
,
"
said
Léon
Ramon
,
as
she
was
lost
to
sight
through
the
doors
of
the
great
desolate
chamber
,
"
I
hope
not
;
I
do
not
know
how
,
"
answered
Cecil
.
"
It
is
impossible
to
follow
the
windings
of
her
wayward
caprices
.
A
child
—
a
soldier
—
a
dancer
—
a
brigand
—
a
spoilt
beauty
—
a
mischievous
gamin
—
how
is
one
to
treat
such
a
little
fagot
of
opposites
?
"
The
other
smiled
.
"
Ah
!
you
do
not
know
the
Little
One
yet
.
She
is
worth
a
study
.
I
painted
her
years
ago
—
'
La
Vivandière
à
Sept
Ans
.
'
There
was
not
a
picture
in
the
Salon
that
winter
that
was
sought
like
it
.
I
had
travelled
in
Algeria
then
;
I
had
not
entered
the
Army
.
The
first
thing
I
saw
of
Cigarette
was
this
:
She
was
seven
years
old
;
she
had
been
beaten
black
and
blue
;
she
had
had
two
of
her
tiny
teeth
knocked
out
.
The
men
were
furious
,
she
was
a
pet
with
them
;
and
she
would
not
say
who
had
done
it
,
though
she
knew
twenty
swords
would
have
beaten
him
flat
as
a
fritter
if
she
had
given
his
name
.
I
got
her
to
sit
to
me
some
days
after
.
I
pleased
her
with
her
own
picture
.
I
asked
her
to
tell
me
why
she
would
not
say
who
had
ill-treated
her
.
She
put
her
head
on
one
side
like
a
robin
,
and
told
me
,
in
a
whisper
:
'
It
was
one
of
my
comrades
—
because
I
would
not
steal
for
him
.
I
would
not
have
the
army
know
—
it
would
demoralise
them
!
If
a
French
soldier
ever
does
a
cowardly
thing
,
another
French
soldier
must
not
betray
it
.
'
That
was
Cigarette
—
at
seven
years
.
The
esprit
du
corps
was
stronger
than
her
own
wrongs
.
What
do
you
say
to
that
nature
?
"
"
That
it
is
superb
!
—
that
it
might
be
moulded
to
anything
.
The
pity
is
—
"
"
Ah
,
tais-toi
!
"
said
the
artist-trooper
,
half
wearily
,
half
laughingly
.
"
Spare
me
the
old
world-worn
,
threadbare
formulas
.
Because
the
flax
and
the
colza
blossom
for
use
,
and
the
garden-flowers
grow
trained
and
pruned
,
must
there
be
no
bud
that
opens
for
mere
love
of
the
sun
,
and
swings
free
in
the
wind
in
its
fearless
fair
fashion
?
Believe
me
,
dear
Victor
,
it
is
the
lives
which
follow
no
previous
rule
that
do
the
most
good
and
give
the
most
harvest
.
"
"
Surely
.
Only
for
this
child
—
a
woman
—
in
her
future
—
"
"
Her
future
?
Well
,
she
will
die
,
I
dare
say
,
some
bright
day
or
another
,
at
the
head
of
a
regiment
,
with
some
desperate
battle
turned
by
the
valour
of
her
charge
,
and
the
sight
of
the
torn
tricolour
upheld
in
her
little
hands
.
That
is
what
Cigarette
hopes
for
—
why
not
?
There
will
always
be
a
million
of
common-place
women
ready
to
keep
up
the
decorous
traditions
of
their
sex
,
and
sit
in
safety
over
their
needles
by
the
side
of
their
hearths
.
One
little
lioness
here
and
there
in
a
generation
cannot
do
overmuch
harm
.
"
Cecil
was
silent
.
He
would
not
cross
the
words
of
the
wounded
man
by
saying
what
might
bring
a
train
of
less
pleasant
thoughts
—
saying
what
,
in
truth
,
was
in
his
mind
,
that
the
future
which
he
had
meant
for
the
little
Friend
of
the
Flag
was
not
that
of
any
glorious
death
by
combat
,
but
that
of
a
life
(
unless
no
bullet
early
cut
its
silver
cord
in
twain
)
when
youth
should
have
fled
,
and
have
carried
for
ever
with
it
her
numberless
graces
,
and
left
in
its
stead
that
ribaldry-stained
,
drink-defiled
,
hardened
,
battered
,
joyless
,
cruel
,
terrible
thing
which
is
unsightly
and
repugnant
to
even
the
lowest
amongst
men
,
which
is
as
the
lees
of
the
drunk
wine
,
as
the
ashes
of
the
burnt-out
fires
,
as
the
discord
of
the
broken
and
earth-clogged
lyre
.
Cigarette
was
charming
now
—
a
fairy-story
set
into
living
motion
—
a
fantastic
little
firework
out
of
an
extravaganza
,
with
the
impudence
of
a
boy-harlequin
and
the
witching
kittenhood
of
a
girl
's
beauty
.
But
when
this
youth
that
made
it
all
fair
should
have
passed
(
and
youth
passes
soon
when
thus
adrift
on
the
world
)
,
when
there
should
be
left
in
its
stead
only
shamelessness
,
hardihood
,
vice
,
weariness
—
those
who
found
the
prettiest
jest
in
her
now
would
be
the
first
to
cast
aside
,
with
an
oath
,
the
charred
wrecked
rocket-stick
of
a
life
from
which
no
golden
careless
stream
of
many-coloured
fires
of
coquette
capríces
would
rise
and
enchant
them
then
.
"
Who
is
it
that
sent
these
?
"
asked
Léon
Ramon
,
later
on
,
as
his
hands
still
wandered
among
the
flowers
:
for
the
moment
he
was
at
peace
;
the
ice
and
the
hours
of
quietude
had
calmed
him
.
Cecil
told
him
again
.
"
What
does
Cigarette
know
of
her
?
"
he
pursued
.
"
Nothing
,
except
,
I
believe
,
she
knew
that
Madame
Corona
accepted
my
chess-carvings
.
"
"
Ah
!
"
he
said
,
with
a
smile
,
"
I
thought
the
Little
One
was
jealous
,
Victor
.
"
"
Jealous
?
Pshaw
!
Of
whom
?
"
"
Of
any
one
you
admire
—
specially
of
this
grande
dame
.
"
"
Absurd
!
"
said
Cecil
,
with
a
sense
of
annoyance
.
"
Cigarette
is
far
too
bold
a
little
trooper
to
have
any
thoughts
of
those
follies
;
and
as
for
this
grande
dame
,
as
you
call
her
,
I
shall
,
in
every
likelihood
,
never
see
her
again
—
unless
when
the
word
is
given
to
'
Carry
Swords
,
'
or
'
Lances
,
'
at
the
general
salute
,
where
she
reins
her
horse
beside
M
.
le
Maréchal
's
at
a
review
,
as
I
have
seen
her
this
morning
.
"
The
keen
ear
of
the
sick
man
caught
the
inflection
of
an
impatience
,
of
a
mortification
,
in
the
tone
that
the
speaker
himself
was
unconscious
of
.
He
guessed
the
truth
—
that
Cecil
had
never
felt
more
restless
under
the
shadow
of
the
Eagles
than
he
had
done
when
he
had
carried
his
lance
up
in
the
salute
as
he
passed
with
his
regiment
the
flagstaff
where
the
aristocracy
of
Algiers
had
been
gathered
about
the
Marshal
and
his
staff
,
and
the
azure
eyes
of
Madame
la
Princesse
had
glanced
carelessly
and
critically
over
the
long
line
of
grey
horses
of
those
Chasseurs
d
'
Afrique
amongst
whom
he
rode
a
bas-officier
.
"
Cigarette
is
right
,
"
said
Ramon
,
with
a
slight
smile
again
.
"
Your
heart
is
with
your
old
Order
.
You
are
'
aristocrat
au
bout
des
ongles
.
'
"
"
Indeed
I
am
not
,
mon
ami
;
I
am
a
mere
trooper
.
"
"
Now
!
Well
,
keep
your
history
as
you
have
always
done
,
if
you
will
.
What
my
friend
was
matters
nothing
;
I
know
well
what
he
is
,
and
how
true
a
friend
.
As
for
Miladi
,
she
will
be
best
out
of
your
path
,
Victor
.
Women
!
God
!
—
they
are
so
fatal
!
"
"
Does
not
our
folly
make
their
fatality
?
"
"
Not
always
;
not
often
.
The
madness
may
be
ours
,
but
they
sow
it
.
Ah
!
do
they
not
know
how
to
rouse
and
enrage
it
;
how
to
fan
,
to
burn
,
to
lull
,
to
pierce
,
to
slake
,
to
inflame
,
to
entice
,
to
sting
?
Heavens
!
so
well
they
know
—
that
their
beauty
must
come
,
one
thinks
,
out
of
hell
itself
!
"
His
great
eyes
gleamed
like
fire
,
his
hollow
chest
panted
for
breath
,
the
sweat
stood
out
on
his
temples
.
Cecil
sought
to
soothe
him
,
but
his
words
rushed
on
with
the
impetuous
course
of
the
passionate
memories
that
arose
in
him
.
"
Do
you
know
what
brought
me
here
?
No
!
As
little
as
I
know
what
brought
you
,
though
we
have
been
close
comrades
all
these
years
.
Well
,
it
was
she
!
I
was
an
artist
.
I
had
no
money
,
I
had
few
friends
;
but
I
had
youth
,
I
had
ambition
,
I
had
,
I
think
,
genius
,
till
she
killed
it
.
I
loved
my
art
with
a
great
love
,
and
I
was
happy
.
Even
in
Paris
one
can
be
so
happy
without
wealth
,
whilst
one
is
young
.
The
mirth
of
the
Barriére
—
the
grotesques
of
the
Halles
—
the
wooden
booths
on
New
Year
's
Day
—
the
bright
midnight
crowds
under
the
gaslights
—
the
bursts
of
music
from
the
gay
cafés
—
the
grey
little
nuns
flitting
through
the
snow
—
the
Mardi
Gras
and
its
old-world
fooleries
—
the
summer
Sundays
under
the
leaves
while
we
laughed
like
children
—
the
silent
dreams
through
the
length
of
the
Louvre
—
dreams
that
went
home
with
us
and
made
our
garret
bright
with
their
visions
?
One
was
happy
in
them
—
happy
,
happy
!
"
His
eyes
were
still
fastened
on
the
blank
white
wall
before
him
while
he
spoke
,
as
though
the
things
that
his
words
sketched
so
faintly
were
painted
in
all
their
vivid
colours
on
the
dull
blank
surface
.
And
so
in
truth
they
were
,
as
remembrance
pictured
all
the
thousand
perished
hours
of
his
youth
.
"
Happy
—
until
she
looked
at
me
,
"
he
pursued
,
while
his
voice
flew
in
feverish
haste
over
the
words
.
"
Why
would
she
not
let
me
be
?
She
had
them
all
in
her
golden
nets
;
nobles
,
and
princes
,
and
poets
,
and
soldiers
,
she
swept
them
in
far
and
wide
.
She
had
her
empire
;
why
must
she
seek
out
a
man
who
had
but
his
art
and
his
youth
,
and
steal
those
?
Women
are
so
insatiate
,
look
you
;
though
they
held
all
the
world
,
they
would
not
rest
if
one
mote
in
the
air
swam
in
sunshine
free
of
them
!
It
was
the
first
year
I
touched
triumph
that
I
saw
her
.
They
began
for
the
first
time
to
speak
of
me
;
it
was
the
little
painting
of
Cigarette
,
as
a
child
of
the
Army
,
that
did
it
.
Ah
,
God
!
I
thought
myself
already
so
famous
!
Well
,
she
sent
for
me
to
take
her
picture
,
and
I
went
.
I
went
and
I
painted
her
as
Cleopatra
—
by
her
wish
.
Ah
!
it
was
a
face
for
Cleopatra
—
the
eyes
that
burn
your
youth
dead
,
the
lips
that
kiss
your
honour
blind
!
A
face
—
my
God
!
how
beautiful
!
She
had
set
herself
to
gain
my
soul
;
and
as
the
picture
grew
,
and
grew
,
and
grew
,
so
my
life
grew
into
hers
till
I
lived
only
by
her
breath
.
Why
did
she
want
my
life
?
She
had
so
many
!
She
had
rich
lives
,
great
lives
,
grand
lives
at
her
bidding
;
and
yet
she
knew
no
rest
till
she
had
leaned
down
from
her
cruel
height
and
had
seized
mine
,
that
had
nothing
on
earth
but
the
joys
of
the
sun
and
the
dew
,
and
the
falling
of
night
,
and
the
dawning
of
day
,
that
are
given
to
the
birds
of
the
fields
.
"
His
chest
heaved
with
the
spasms
that
with
each
throe
seemed
to
tear
his
frame
asunder
;
still
he
conquered
them
,
and
his
words
went
,
on
his
eyes
fastened
on
the
burning
white
glare
of
the
wall
as
though
all
the
beauty
of
this
woman
glowed
afresh
there
to
his
sight
.
"
She
was
great
;
no
matter
her
name
,
she
lives
still
.
She
was
vile
;
ay
,
but
not
in
my
sight
till
too
late
.
Why
is
it
that
men
never
love
so
well
as
where
they
love
their
own
ruin
?
that
the
heart
which
is
pure
never
makes
ours
beat
upon
it
with
the
rapture
sin
gives
?
Through
month
on
month
my
picture
grew
,
and
my
passion
grew
with
it
,
fanned
by
her
hand
.
She
knew
that
never
would
a
man
paint
her
beauty
like
one
who
gave
his
soul
for
the
price
of
success
.
I
had
my
paradise
;
I
was
drunk
;
and
I
painted
as
never
the
colours
of
mortals
painted
a
woman
.
I
think
even
she
was
content
;
even
she
,
who
in
her
superb
arrogance
thought
she
was
matchless
and
deathless
.
Then
came
my
reward
;
when
the
picture
was
done
,
her
fancy
had
changed
!
A
light
scorn
,
a
careless
laugh
,
a
touch
of
her
fan
on
my
cheek
;
could
I
not
understand
?
Was
I
still
such
a
child
?
Must
I
be
broken
more
harshly
in
to
learn
to
give
place
?
That
was
all
!
and
at
last
her
lacquais
pushed
me
back
with
his
wand
from
her
gates
!
What
would
you
?
I
had
not
known
what
a
great
lady
's
illicit
caprices
meant
;
I
was
still
but
a
boy
!
She
had
killed
me
;
she
had
struck
my
genius
dead
;
she
had
made
earth
my
hell
—
what
of
that
?
She
had
her
beauty
eternal
in
the
picture
she
needed
,
and
the
whole
city
rang
with
her
loveliness
as
they
looked
on
my
work
.
I
have
never
painted
again
.
I
came
here
.
What
of
that
?
An
artist
the
less
then
,
the
world
did
not
care
;
a
life
the
less
soon
,
she
will
not
care
either
!
"
Then
,
as
the
words
ended
,
a
great
wave
of
blood
beat
back
his
breath
and
burst
from
the
pent-up
torture
of
his
striving
lungs
,
and
stained
red
the
dark
and
silken
masses
of
his
beard
.
His
comrade
had
seen
the
hemorrhage
many
times
,
yet
now
he
knew
,
as
he
had
never
known
before
,
that
this
was
death
.
As
he
held
him
upward
in
his
arms
,
and
shouted
loud
for
help
,
the
great
luminous
eyes
of
the
French
soldier
looked
up
at
him
through
their
mist
with
the
deep
,
fond
gratitude
that
beams
in
the
eyes
of
a
dog
as
it
drops
down
to
die
,
knowing
one
touch
and
one
voice
to
the
last
.
"
You
do
not
forsake
,
"
he
murmured
,
brokenly
,
while
his
voice
ebbed
faintly
away
as
the
stream
of
his
life
flowed
faster
and
faster
out
.
"
It
is
over
now
,
—
so
best
!
If
only
I
could
have
seen
France
once
more
.
France
—
"
He
stretched
his
arms
outward
as
he
spoke
with
the
vain
longing
of
a
hopeless
love
.
Then
a
deep
sigh
quivered
through
his
lips
;
his
hand
strove
to
close
on
the
hand
of
his
comrade
,
and
his
head
fell
,
resting
on
the
flushed
blossoms
of
the
rosebuds
of
Provence
.
He
was
dead
.
An
hour
later
Cecil
left
the
hospital
,
seeing
and
hearing
nothing
of
the
gay
riot
of
the
town
about
him
,
though
the
folds
of
many-coloured
silk
and
bunting
fluttered
across
the
narrow
Moorish
streets
,
and
the
whole
of
the
populace
was
swarming
through
them
with
the
vivacious
enjoyment
of
Paris
mingling
with
the
stately
picturesque
life
of
Arab
habit
and
custom
.
He
was
well
used
to
pain
of
every
sort
;
his
bread
had
long
been
the
bread
of
bitterness
,
and
the
waters
of
his
draught
been
of
gall
.
Yet
this
stroke
,
though
looked
for
,
fell
heavily
and
cut
far
.
Yonder
,
in
the
dead-room
,
there
lay
a
broken
,
useless
mass
of
flesh
and
bone
that
in
the
sight
of
the
Bureau
Arabe
was
only
a
worn-out
machine
that
had
paid
its
due
toll
to
the
wars
of
the
Second
Empire
,
and
was
now
valueless
;
only
fit
to
be
cast
in
to
rot
,
unmourned
,
in
the
devouring
African
soil
.
But
to
him
that
lifeless
,
useless
mass
was
dear
still
;
was
the
wreck
of
the
bravest
,
tenderest
,
and
best-beloved
friend
that
he
had
found
in
his
adversity
.
In
Léon
Ramon
he
had
found
a
man
whom
he
had
loved
,
and
who
had
loved
him
.
They
had
suffered
much
,
and
much
endured
together
;
their
very
dissimilarities
had
seemed
to
draw
them
nearer
to
each
other
.
The
gentle
impassiveness
of
the
Englishman
had
been
like
rest
to
the
ardent
impetuosity
of
the
French
soldier
;
the
passionate
and
poetic
temperament
of
the
artist-trooper
had
revealed
to
Cecil
a
thousand
views
of
thought
and
of
feeling
which
had
never
before
then
dawned
on
him
.
And
now
that
the
one
lay
dead
,
a
heavy
,
weary
sense
of
loneliness
rested
on
the
other
.
They
died
around
him
every
day
;
the
fearless
,
fiery
blood
of
France
watered
in
ceaseless
streams
the
arid
,
harvestless
fields
of
northern
Africa
;
death
was
so
common
,
that
the
fall
of
a
comrade
was
no
more
noted
by
them
than
the
fall
of
a
loose
stone
that
their
horse
's
foot
shook
down
a
precipice
.
Yet
this
death
was
very
bitter
to
him
;
he
wondered
with
a
dull
sense
of
aching
impatience
why
no
Bedouin
bullet
,
no
Arab
sabre
,
had
ever
found
his
own
life
out
,
and
cut
his
thralls
asunder
.
The
evening
had
just
followed
on
the
glow
of
the
day
—
evening
,
more
lustrous
even
than
ever
,
for
the
houses
were
all
a-glitter
with
endless
lines
of
coloured
lamps
and
strings
of
sparkling
illuminations
,
a
very
sea
of
bright-hued
fire
.
The
noise
,
the
mirth
,
the
sudden
swell
of
music
,
the
pleasure-seeking
crowds
,
all
that
were
about
him
,
served
only
to
make
more
desolate
and
more
oppressive
by
their
contrast
his
memories
of
that
life
,
once
gracious
,
and
gifted
,
and
content
with
the
dower
of
its
youth
,
ruined
by
a
woman
,
and
now
slaughtered
here
,
for
no
avail
and
with
no
honour
,
by
a
lance-thrust
in
a
midnight
skirmish
,
which
had
been
unrecorded
even
in
the
few
lines
of
the
gazette
that
chronicled
the
war-news
of
Algeria
.
Passing
one
of
the
cafés
,
a
favourite
resort
of
the
officers
of
his
own
regiment
,
he
saw
Cigarette
.
A
sheaf
of
blue
,
and
white
,
and
scarlet
lights
flashed
with
tongues
of
golden
flame
over
her
head
,
and
a
great
tricolour
flag
with
the
brass
eagle
above
it
was
hanging
in
the
still
,
hot
air
from
the
balcony
from
which
she
leaned
.
Her
tunic-skirt
was
full
of
bonbons
and
of
crackers
that
she
was
flinging
down
among
the
crowd
whilst
she
sang
,
stopping
every
now
and
then
to
exchange
some
passage
of
gaulois
wit
with
them
that
made
her
hearers
scream
with
laughter
,
whilst
behind
her
was
a
throng
of
young
officers
drinking
champagne
,
eating
ices
,
and
smoking
,
echoing
her
songs
and
her
satires
with
enthusiastic
voices
and
stamps
of
their
spurred
boot-heels
.
As
he
glanced
upward
,
she
looked
literally
in
a
blaze
of
luminance
,
and
the
wild
,
mellow
tones
of
her
voice
ringing
out
in
the
"
Rien
n'est
sacré
pour
un
Sapeur
,
"
sounded
like
a
mockery
of
that
dying-bed
beside
which
they
had
both
so
late
stood
together
.
"
She
has
the
playfulness
of
the
young
leopard
,
and
the
cruelty
,
"
he
thought
;
with
a
sense
of
disgust
,
forgetting
that
she
did
not
know
what
he
knew
,
and
that
if
Cigarette
had
waited
to
laugh
until
death
had
passed
by
she
would
have
never
laughed
all
her
life
through
in
the
battalions
of
Africa
.
She
saw
him
,
as
he
went
beneath
her
balcony
;
and
she
sung
all
the
louder
,
she
flung
her
sweetmeat
missiles
with
the
reckless
force
of
a
Roman
Carnivalist
,
she
launched
bolts
of
tenfold
more
audacious
raillery
at
the
delighted
mob
below
.
Cigarette
was
"
bon
soldat
;
"
when
she
was
wounded
,
she
wound
her
scarf
round
the
nerve
that
ached
,
and
only
laughed
the
gayer
.
And
he
did
her
that
injustice
which
the
best
amongst
us
are
apt
to
do
to
those
whom
we
do
not
feel
interest
enough
in
to
study
with
that
closeness
which
can
alone
give
comprehension
of
the
intricate
and
complex
rebus
,
so
faintly
sketched
,
so
marvellously
involved
,
of
human
nature
.
He
thought
her
a
little
leopard
,
in
her
vivacious
play
and
her
inborn
bloodthirstiness
.
Well
,
the
little
leopard
of
France
played
recklessly
enough
that
evening
.
Algiers
was
en
fête
,
and
Cigarette
was
sparkling
over
the
whole
of
the
town
like
a
humming-bird
or
a
firefly
—
here
,
and
there
,
and
everywhere
,
in
a
thousand
places
at
once
,
as
it
seemed
;
staying
long
with
none
,
making
music
and
mirth
with
all
.
Waltzing
like
a
thing
possessed
,
pelting
her
lovers
with
a
tempest
storm
of
dragées
,
standing
on
the
head
of
a
gigantic
Spahis
en
tableau
amidst
a
shower
of
fireworks
,
improvising
slang
songs
worthy
of
Jean
Vadé
and
his
Poissardes
,
and
chorused
by
a
hundred
lusty
lungs
that
yelled
the
burden
in
riotous
glee
as
furiously
as
they
were
accustomed
to
shout
"
En
avant
!
"
in
assault
and
in
charge
,
Cigarette
made
amends
to
herself
at
night
for
her
vain
self-sacrifice
of
the
fête-day
.
She
had
her
wound
;
yes
,
it
throbbed
still
now
and
then
,
and
stung
like
a
bee
in
the
warm
core
of
a
rose
.
But
she
was
young
,
she
was
gay
,
she
was
a
little
philosopher
,
above
all
she
was
French
,
and
in
the
real
French
blood
happiness
runs
so
richly
that
it
will
hardly
be
utterly
chilled
until
the
veins
freeze
in
the
coldness
of
death
.
She
enjoyed
—
enjoyed
all
the
more
fiercely
,
perhaps
,
because
a
certain
desperate
bitterness
mingled
with
the
abandonment
of
her
Queen
Mab-like
revelries
.
Until
now
Cigarette
had
been
as
absolutely
heedless
and
without
a
care
as
any
young
bird
taking
its
first
summer
circles
downward
through
the
intoxication
of
the
sunny
air
.
It
was
not
without
fiery
resistance
and
scornful
revolt
that
the
madcap
Figlia
del
Reggimento
would
be
prevailed
on
to
admit
that
any
shadow
could
have
power
to
rest
on
her
.
She
played
through
more
than
half
the
night
,
the
agile
bounding
graceful
play
of
the
young
leopard
to
which
he
had
likened
her
,
and
with
a
quick
punishment
from
her
velvet-sheathed
talons
if
any
durst
offend
her
.
Then
when
the
dawn
was
nigh
,
leopard-like
,
the
Little
One
sought
her
den
.
She
was
most
commonly
under
canvas
;
but
when
she
was
in
the
town
it
was
at
one
with
the
proud
independence
of
her
nature
that
she
rejected
all
offers
made
her
,
and
would
have
her
own
nook
to
live
in
,
even
though
she
were
not
there
one
hour
out
of
the
twenty-four
.
"
Le
Château
de
Cigarette
"
was
a
standing
jest
of
the
Army
;
for
none
was
ever
allowed
to
follow
her
thither
,
or
to
behold
the
interior
of
her
fortress
,
and
one
over-venturous
Spahi
scaling
the
ramparts
had
been
rewarded
with
so
hot
a
deluge
of
lentiles-soup
from
a
boiling
casserole
poured
on
his
head
from
above
,
that
he
had
beaten
a
hasty
and
ignominious
retreat
,
which
was
more
than
a
whole
tribe
of
the
most
warlike
of
his
countrymen
could
ever
have
made
him
do
.
"
Le
Château
de
Cigarette
"
was
neither
more
nor
less
than
a
couple
of
garrets
,
high
in
the
air
,
in
an
old
Moorish
house
,
in
an
old
Moorish
court
,
decayed
,
silent
,
poverty-struck
,
with
the
wild
pumpkin
thrusting
its
leaves
through
the
broken
fretwork
,
and
the
green
lizard
shooting
over
the
broad
pavements
,
once
brilliant
in
mosaic
,
that
the
robes
of
the
princes
of
Islam
had
swept
,
now
carpeted
deep
with
the
dry
white
drifted
dust
,
and
only
crossed
by
the
tottering
feet
of
aged
Jews
or
the
laden
steps
of
Algerine
women
.
Up
a
long
winding
rickety
stair
Cigarette
approached
her
castle
,
which
was
very
near
the
sky
indeed
.
"
I
like
the
blue
,
"
said
the
châtelaine
,
laconically
,
"
and
the
pigeons
fly
close
by
my
window
.
"
And
through
it
,
too
,
she
might
have
added
,
for
though
no
human
thing
might
invade
her
Château
,
the
pigeons
circling
in
the
sunrise
light
always
knew
well
there
were
rice
and
crumbs
spread
for
them
in
that
eyelet-hole
of
a
casement
.
Cigarette
threaded
her
agile
way
up
the
dark
ladder-like
shaft
,
and
opened
her
door
.
There
was
a
dim
oil-wick
burning
;
the
garret
was
large
,
and
as
clean
as
a
palace
could
be
;
its
occupants
were
various
,
and
all
sound
asleep
except
one
,
who
,
rough
,
and
hard
,
and
small
,
and
three-legged
,
limped
up
to
her
and
rubbed
a
little
bullet
head
against
her
lovingly
.
"
Bouffarick
—
p'tit
Bouffarick
!
"
returned
Cigarette
,
caressingly
,
in
a
whisper
;
and
Bouffarick
,
content
,
limped
back
to
a
nest
of
hay
,
being
a
little
wiry
dog
that
had
lost
a
leg
in
one
of
the
most
famous
battles
of
Oran
,
and
lain
in
its
dead
master
's
breast
through
three
days
and
nights
on
the
field
.
Cigarette
,
shading
the
lamp
with
one
hand
,
glanced
round
on
her
family
.
They
had
all
histories
—
histories
in
the
French
Army
,
which
was
the
only
history
she
considered
of
any
import
to
the
universe
.
There
was
a
raven
perched
high
,
by
name
Vole-qui-Veut
:
he
was
a
noted
character
amongst
the
Zouaves
,
and
had
made
many
a
campaign
riding
on
his
owner
's
bayonet
;
he
loved
a
combat
,
and
was
specially
famed
for
screaming
"
Tue
!
tue
!
tue
!
"
all
over
a
battle-field
;
he
was
very
grey
now
,
and
the
Zouave
's
bones
had
long
bleached
on
the
edge
of
the
desert
.
There
was
a
tame
rat
who
was
a
vieille
moustache
,
and
who
had
lived
many
years
in
a
Lignard
's
pocket
,
and
munched
waifs
and
strays
of
the
military
rations
,
until
the
enormous
crime
being
discovered
that
it
was
taught
to
sit
up
and
dress
its
whiskers
to
the
heinous
air
of
the
Marseillaise
,
the
Lignard
got
the
matraque
,
and
the
rat
was
condemned
to
be
killed
,
had
not
Cigarette
dashed
in
to
the
rescue
and
carried
the
long-tailed
revolutionist
off
in
safety
.
There
was
a
big
white
cat
curled
in
a
ball
,
who
had
been
the
darling
of
a
Tringlo
,
and
had
travelled
all
over
North
Africa
on
the
top
of
his
mule
's
back
,
seven
seasons
through
;
in
the
eighth
the
Tringlo
was
picked
off
by
a
flying
shot
,
and
an
Indigène
was
about
to
skin
the
shrieking
Boule
Blanche
for
the
soup-pot
,
when
a
bullet
broke
his
wrist
,
making
him
drop
the
cat
with
a
yell
of
pain
,
and
the
Friend
of
the
Flag
,
catching
it
up
,
laughed
in
his
face
:
"
A
lead
comfit
instead
of
slaughter-soup
,
my
friend
!
"
There
was
little
Bouffarick
and
three
other
brother-dogs
of
equal
celebrity
,
one
,
in
especial
,
who
had
been
brought
from
Châlons
,
in
defiance
of
the
regulations
,
inside
the
drum
of
his
regiment
,
and
had
been
wounded
a
dozen
times
,
always
seeking
the
hottest
heat
of
the
skirmish
.
And
there
was
,
besides
these
,
sleeping
serenely
on
a
straw
palliasse
,
a
very
old
man
with
a
snowy
beard
and
a
head
fit
for
Gerome
to
give
to
an
Abraham
.
A
very
old
man
—
one
who
had
been
a
conscript
in
the
bands
of
Young
France
,
and
marched
from
his
Pyrennean
village
to
the
battle
tramp
of
the
Marseillaise
,
and
charged
with
the
Enfans
de
Paris
across
the
plains
of
Gemappes
;
who
had
known
the
passage
of
the
Alps
,
and
lifted
the
long
curls
from
the
dead
brow
of
Désaix
at
Marengo
,
and
seen
in
the
sultry
noonday
dust
of
a
glorious
summer
the
Guard
march
into
Paris
,
while
the
people
laughed
and
wept
with
joy
,
surging
like
the
mighty
sea
around
one
pale
frail
form
,
so
young
by
years
,
so
absolute
by
genius
.
A
very
old
man
;
long
broken
with
poverty
,
with
pain
,
with
bereavement
,
with
extreme
old
age
;
and
,
by
a
long
course
of
cruel
accidents
,
alone
,
here
in
Africa
,
without
one
left
of
the
friends
of
his
youth
,
or
of
the
children
of
his
name
,
and
deprived
even
of
the
charities
due
from
his
country
to
his
services
—
alone
save
for
the
little
Friend
of
the
Flag
,
who
,
for
four
years
,
had
kept
him
on
the
proceeds
of
her
wine
trade
in
this
Moorish
attic
,
tending
him
herself
when
in
the
town
,
taking
heed
that
he
should
want
for
nothing
when
she
was
campaigning
.
"
I
will
have
a
care
of
him
,
"
she
had
said
,
curtly
,
when
she
had
found
him
in
great
misery
and
learned
his
history
from
others
;
and
she
had
had
the
care
accordingly
,
maintaining
him
at
her
own
cost
in
the
Moorish
building
,
and
paying
a
good
Jewess
of
the
quarter
to
tend
him
when
she
was
not
herself
in
Algiers
.
The
old
man
was
almost
dead
,
mentally
,
though
in
bodily
strength
still
well
able
to
know
the
physical
comforts
of
food
,
and
rest
,
and
attendance
;
he
was
in
his
second
childhood
,
in
his
ninetieth
year
,
and
was
unconscious
of
the
debt
he
owed
her
;
even
,
with
a
curious
caprice
of
decrepitude
,
he
disliked
her
,
and
noticed
nothing
except
the
raven
when
it
shrieked
its
"
Tue
!
tue
!
tue
!
"
But
to
Cigarette
he
was
as
sacred
as
a
god
;
had
he
not
fought
beneath
the
glance
,
and
gazed
upon
the
face
,
of
the
First
Consul
?
She
bent
over
him
now
,
saw
that
he
slept
,
busied
herself
noiselessly
in
brewing
a
little
tin
pot
full
of
coffee
and
hot
milk
,
set
it
over
the
lamp
to
keep
it
warm
,
and
placed
it
beside
him
ready
for
his
morning
meal
,
with
a
roll
of
white
wheat
bread
;
then
,
with
a
glance
round
to
see
that
her
other
dependents
wanted
for
nothing
,
went
to
her
own
garret
adjoining
,
and
with
the
lattice
fastened
back
,
that
the
first
rays
of
sunrise
and
the
first
white
flash
of
her
friends
the
pigeons
'
gleaming
wings
might
awaken
her
,
threw
herself
on
her
straw
and
slept
with
all
the
graceful
careless
rest
of
the
childhood
which
though
in
one
sense
she
had
never
known
,
yet
in
another
had
never
forsaken
her
.
She
hid
as
her
lawless
courage
would
not
have
stooped
to
hide
a
sin
,
had
she
chosen
to
commit
one
,
this
compassion
which
she
,
the
young
condottiera
of
Algeria
,
showed
with
so
tender
a
charity
to
the
soldier
of
Bonaparte
.
To
him
,
moreover
,
her
fiery
imperious
voice
was
gentle
as
the
dove
,
her
wayward
dominant
will
was
pliant
as
the
reed
,
her
contemptuous
sceptic
spirit
was
reverent
as
a
child
's
before
an
altar
.
In
her
sight
the
survivor
of
the
Army
of
Italy
was
sacred
;
sacred
the
eyes
which
,
when
full
of
light
,
had
seen
the
sun
glitter
on
the
squadrons
of
the
Hussars
of
Murat
,
the
Dragoons
of
Kellerman
,
the
Cuirassiers
of
Milhaud
;
sacred
the
hands
which
when
nervous
with
youth
,
had
borne
the
standard
of
the
Republic
victorious
against
the
gathered
Teuton
host
in
the
Thermopylæ
of
Champagne
;
sacred
the
ears
which
,
when
quick
to
hear
,
had
heard
the
thunder
of
Arcola
,
of
Lodi
,
of
Rivoli
,
and
above
even
the
tempest
of
war
,
the
clear
still
voice
of
Napoléon
;
sacred
the
lips
which
,
when
their
beard
was
dark
in
the
fulness
of
manhood
,
had
quivered
,
as
with
a
woman
's
weeping
,
at
the
farewell
,
in
the
spring
night
,
in
the
moonlit
Cour
des
Adieux
.
Cigarette
had
a
religion
of
her
own
;
and
followed
it
more
closely
than
most
disciples
follow
other
creeds
.
CHAPTER
X
.
"
MILADI
AUX
BEAUX
YEUX
BLEUS
.
"
Early
that
morning
,
when
the
snowy
cloud
of
pigeons
were
circling
down
to
take
their
daily
alms
from
Cigarette
,
where
her
bright
brown
face
looked
out
from
the
lattice-hole
,
Cecil
,
with
some
of
the
roughriders
of
his
regiment
,
was
sent
far
into
the
interior
to
bring
in
a
string
of
colts
,
bought
of
a
friendly
desert
tribe
,
and
destined
to
be
shipped
to
France
for
the
Imperial
Haras
.
The
mission
took
two
days
;
early
on
the
third
they
returned
with
the
string
of
wild
young
horses
,
whom
it
had
taken
not
a
little
exertion
and
address
to
conduct
successfully
through
the
country
into
Algiers
.
He
was
usually
kept
in
incessant
activity
,
because
those
in
command
over
him
had
quickly
discovered
the
immeasurable
value
of
a
bas-officier
who
was
certain
to
enforce
and
obtain
implicit
obedience
,
and
certain
to
execute
any
command
given
him
with
perfect
address
and
surety
,
yet
who
,
at
the
same
time
,
was
adored
by
his
men
,
and
had
acquired
a
most
singularly
advantageous
influence
over
them
.
But
of
this
he
was
always
glad
:
throughout
his
twelve
years
'
service
under
the
Emperor
's
flag
,
he
had
only
found
those
moments
in
which
he
was
unemployed
intolerable
;
he
would
willingly
have
been
in
saddle
from
dawn
till
midnight
.
Châteauroy
was
himself
present
when
the
colts
were
taken
into
the
stable-yard
;
and
himself
inquired
,
without
the
medium
of
any
third
person
,
the
whole
details
of
the
sale
and
of
the
transit
.
It
was
impossible
,
with
all
his
inclination
,
to
find
any
fault
either
with
the
execution
of
the
errand
or
with
the
brief
respectful
answers
by
which
his
Corporal
replied
to
his
rapid
and
imperious
cross-questionings
.
There
were
a
great
number
of
men
within
hearing
,
many
of
them
the
most
daring
and
rebellious
pratiques
of
the
regiment
;
and
Cecil
would
have
let
the
coarsest
up-braidings
scourge
him
,
rather
than
put
the
temptation
to
mutiny
in
their
way
which
one
insubordinate
or
even
not
strictly
deferential
word
from
him
would
have
given
.
Hence
the
inspection
passed
off
peaceably
;
as
the
Marquis
turned
on
his
heel
,
however
,
he
paused
a
moment
.
"
Victor
!
"
"
Mon
Commandant
?
"
"
I
have
not
forgotten
your
insolence
with
those
ivory
toys
.
But
Madame
la
Princesse
herself
has
deigned
to
solicit
that
it
shall
be
passed
over
un-punished
.
She
cannot
,
of
course
,
yield
to
your
impertinent
request
to
remain
also
unpaid
for
them
.
I
charged
myself
with
the
fulfilment
of
her
wishes
.
You
deserve
the
matraque
,
but
since
Miladi
herself
is
lenient
enough
to
pardon
you
,
you
are
to
take
this
instead
.
Hold
your
hand
,
sir
!
"
Cecil
put
out
his
hand
;
he
expected
to
receive
a
heavy
blow
from
his
commander
's
sabre
,
that
possibly
might
break
the
wrist
.
These
little
trifles
were
common
in
Africa
.
Instead
,
a
rouleau
of
Napoléons
was
laid
on
his
open
palm
.
Châteauroy
knew
the
gold
would
sting
more
than
the
blow
.
For
the
moment
Cecil
had
but
one
impulse
—
to
dash
the
pieces
in
the
giver
's
face
.
In
time
to
restrain
the
impulse
,
he
caught
sight
of
the
wild
eager
hatred
gleaming
in
the
eyes
of
Rake
,
of
Petit
Picpon
,
of
a
score
of
others
who
loved
him
and
cursed
their
Colonel
,
and
would
at
one
signal
from
him
have
sheathed
their
sword
in
the
mighty
frame
of
the
Marquis
,
though
they
should
have
been
fired
down
the
next
moment
themselves
for
the
murder
.
The
warning
of
Cigarette
came
to
his
memory
;
his
hand
clasped
on
the
gold
;
he
gave
the
salute
calmly
as
Châteauroy
swung
himself
away
.
The
troopers
looked
at
him
with
longing
questioning
eyes
;
they
knew
enough
of
him
by
now
to
know
the
bitterness
such
gold
,
so
given
,
had
for
him
.
Any
other
,
even
a
corporal
,
would
have
been
challenged
with
a
storm
of
raillery
,
a
volley
of
congratulation
,
and
would
have
had
shouted
or
hissed
after
him
opprobrious
accusations
of
"
faisant
suisse
"
if
he
had
not
forthwith
treated
his
comrades
royally
from
such
largesse
.
With
Bel-à-faire-peur
they
held
their
peace
;
they
kept
the
silence
which
they
saw
that
he
wished
to
keep
,
as
,
his
hour
of
liberty
being
come
,
he
went
slowly
out
of
the
great
court
with
the
handful
of
Napoléons
thrust
in
the
folds
of
his
sash
.
Rather
unconsciously
than
by
premeditation
his
steps
turned
through
the
streets
that
led
to
his
old
familiar
haunt
,
the
As
de
Pique
,
and
dropping
down
on
a
bench
under
the
awning
,
he
asked
for
a
draught
of
water
.
It
was
brought
him
at
once
,
the
hostess
,
a
quick
brown
little
woman
from
Paris
,
whom
the
lovers
of
Eugène
Sue
called
Rigolette
,
adding
of
her
own
accord
a
lump
of
ice
and
a
slice
or
two
of
lemon
,
for
which
she
vivaciously
refused
payment
,
though
generosity
was
by
no
means
her
cardinal
virtue
.
"
Bel-à-faire-peur
"
awakened
general
interest
through
Algiers
;
he
brought
so
fiery
and
so
daring
a
reputation
with
him
from
the
wars
and
raids
of
the
interior
,
yet
he
was
so
calm
,
so
grave
,
so
gentle
,
so
listless
;
it
was
known
that
he
had
made
himself
the
terror
of
Kabyle
and
Bedouin
,
yet
here
in
the
city
he
thanked
the
negro
boy
who
took
him
a
glass
of
lemonade
at
an
estaminet
,
and
sharply
rebuked
one
of
his
men
for
knocking
down
an
old
colon
with
a
burden
of
gourds
and
of
melons
;
such
a
Roumi
as
this
the
good
people
of
the
Franco-African
capital
held
as
a
perfect
gift
of
the
gods
,
and
not
understanding
one
whit
,
nevertheless
fully
appreciated
.
He
did
not
look
at
the
newspapers
she
offered
him
;
but
sat
gazing
out
from
the
tawny
awning
,
like
the
sail
of
a
Neapolitan
felucca
,
down
the
chequered
shadows
and
the
many-coloured
masses
of
the
little
crooked
,
rembling
,
semi-barbaric
alley
.
He
was
thinking
of
the
Napoléons
in
his
sash
and
of
the
promise
he
had
pledged
to
Cigarette
.
That
he
would
keep
it
he
was
resolved
.
The
few
impressive
vivid
words
of
the
young
vivandière
had
painted
before
him
like
a
picture
the
horrors
of
mutiny
and
its
hopelessness
;
rather
than
that
,
through
him
,
these
should
befall
the
men
who
had
become
his
brethren-in-arms
,
he
felt
ready
to
let
the
Black
Hawk
do
his
worst
on
his
own
life
.
Yet
a
weariness
,
a
bitterness
,
he
had
never
known
in
the
excitement
of
active
service
came
on
him
,
brought
by
this
sting
of
insult
from
the
fair
hand
of
an
aristocrate
.
There
was
absolutely
no
hope
possible
in
his
future
.
The
uttermost
that
could
ever
come
to
him
would
be
a
grade
something
higher
in
the
army
that
now
enrolled
him
;
the
gift
of
the
cross
,
or
a
post
in
the
bureau
.
Algerine
warfare
was
not
like
the
campaigns
of
the
armies
of
Italy
or
the
Rhine
,
and
there
was
no
Napoléon
here
to
discern
with
unerring
omniscience
a
leader
's
genius
under
the
képi
of
a
common
trooper
.
Though
he
should
show
the
qualities
of
a
Massena
or
a
Kléber
,
the
chances
were
a
million
to
one
that
he
would
never
get
even
so
much
as
a
lieutenancy
;
and
the
raids
on
the
decimated
tribes
,
the
obscure
skirmishes
of
the
interior
,
though
terrible
in
slaughter
and
venturesome
enough
,
were
not
the
fields
on
which
great
military
successes
were
won
and
great
military
honours
acquired
.
The
French
fought
for
a
barren
strip
of
brown
plateau
that
,
gained
,
would
be
of
little
use
or
profit
to
them
;
he
thought
that
he
did
much
the
same
,
that
his
future
was
much
like
those
arid
sand-plains
,
those
thirsty
verdureless
stretches
of
burnt
earth
—
very
little
worth
the
reaching
.
The
heavy
folds
of
a
Bedouin
's
haick
brushing
the
papers
off
the
bench
,
broke
the
thread
of
his
musings
.
As
he
stooped
for
them
,
he
saw
that
one
was
an
English
journal
some
weeks
old
.
His
own
name
caught
his
eye
—
the
named
buried
so
utterly
,
whose
utterance
in
the
Sheik
's
tent
had
struck
him
like
a
dagger
's
thrust
.
The
flickering
light
and
darkness
,
as
the
awning
waved
to
and
fro
,
made
the
lines
move
dizzily
upwards
and
downwards
as
he
read
—
read
the
short
paragraph
touching
the
fortunes
of
the
race
that
had
disowned
him
:
"
The
Royallieu
Succession
.
—
We
regret
to
learn
that
the
Right
Hon.
Viscount
Royallieu
,
who
so
lately
succeeded
to
the
family
title
on
his
father
's
death
,
has
expired
at
Mentone
,
whither
his
health
had
induced
him
to
go
some
months
previous
.
The
late
Lord
was
unmarried
.
His
next
brother
was
,
it
will
be
remembered
,
many
years
ago
,
killed
on
a
southern
railway
.
The
title
,
therefore
,
now
falls
to
the
third
and
only
remaining
son
,
the
Hon.
Berkeley
Cecil
,
who
,
having
lately
inherited
considerable
properties
from
a
distant
relative
,
will
,
we
believe
,
revive
all
the
old
glories
of
this
Peerage
,
which
have
,
from
a
variety
of
causes
,
lost
somewhat
of
their
ancient
brilliancy
.
"
Cecil
sat
quite
still
,
as
he
had
looking
down
on
the
record
of
his
father
's
death
,
when
Cigarette
had
rellied
him
with
her
gay
challenge
among
the
Moresco
ruins
.
His
face
flushed
hotly
under
the
warm
golden
hue
of
the
desert
bronze
,
then
lost
all
its
colour
as
suddenly
,
till
it
was
as
pale
as
any
of
the
ivory
he
carved
.
The
letteres
of
the
paper
reeled
and
wavered
and
grew
misty
before
his
eyes
;
he
lost
all
sense
of
the
noisy
changing
polyglot
crowd
thronging
past
him
;
he
,
a
common
soldier
in
the
Algerian
Cavalry
,
knew
that
,
by
every
law
of
birthright
,
he
was
now
a
Peer
of
England
.
His
first
thought
was
for
the
dead
man
.
True
,
there
had
been
little
amity
,
little
intimacy
,
between
them
;
a
negligent
friendliness
whenever
they
had
met
had
been
all
that
they
had
ever
reached
.
But
in
their
childhood
they
had
been
carelessly
kind
to
one
another
,
and
the
memory
of
the
boy
who
had
once
played
beside
him
down
the
old
galleries
and
under
the
old
forests
,
of
the
man
who
had
now
died
yonder
where
the
southern
seaboard
lay
across
the
warm
blue
Mediterranean
,
was
alone
on
him
for
the
moment
.
His
thoughts
had
gone
back
,
with
a
pang
,
almost
ere
he
had
read
the
opening
lines
,
to
autumn
mornings
in
his
youngest
years
when
the
leaves
had
been
flushed
with
their
earliest
red
,
and
the
brown
still
pools
had
been
alive
with
water-birds
,
and
the
dogs
had
dropped
down
charging
among
the
flags
and
rushes
,
and
his
brother
's
boyish
face
had
laughed
on
him
from
the
wilderness
of
willows
,
and
his
brother
's
boyish
hands
had
taught
him
to
handle
his
first
cartridge
,
and
to
fire
his
first
shot
.
The
many
years
of
indifference
and
estrangement
were
forgotten
,
the
few
years
of
childhood
's
confidence
and
comradeship
alone
remembered
,
as
he
saw
the
words
that
brought
him
in
his
exile
the
story
of
his
brethren
's
fate
and
of
his
race
's
fortunes
.
His
head
sank
,
his
face
was
still
colourless
,
he
sat
motionless
with
the
printed
sheet
in
his
hand
.
Once
his
eyes
flashed
,
his
breath
came
fast
and
uneven
;
he
rose
with
a
sudden
impulse
,
with
a
proud
bold
instinct
of
birth
and
freedom
.
Let
him
stand
here
in
what
grade
he
would
,
with
the
badge
of
a
Corporal
of
the
Army
of
Africa
on
his
arm
,
this
inheritance
that
had
come
to
him
was
his
;
he
bore
the
name
and
the
title
of
his
house
as
surely
as
any
had
ever
borne
it
since
the
first
of
the
Norman
owners
of
Royallieu
had
followed
the
Bastard
's
banner
.
The
vagabond
throngs
,
Moorish
,
Frank
,
negro
,
colon
,
paused
as
they
pushed
their
way
over
the
uneven
road
,
and
stared
at
him
vacantly
where
he
stood
.
There
was
something
in
his
attitude
,
in
his
look
,
which
swept
over
them
seeing
none
of
them
,
in
the
eager
lifting
of
his
head
,
in
the
excited
fire
in
his
eyes
,
that
arrested
all
,
from
the
dullest
muleteer
plodding
on
with
his
string
of
patient
beasts
,
to
the
most
volatile
French
girl
laughing
on
her
way
with
a
group
of
fantassins
.
He
did
not
note
them
,
hear
them
,
think
of
them
;
the
whole
of
the
Algerine
scene
had
faded
out
as
if
it
had
no
place
before
him
;
he
had
forgot
that
he
was
a
cavalry
soldier
of
the
Empire
;
he
saw
nothing
but
the
green
wealth
of
the
old
home
woods
far
away
in
England
;
he
remembered
nothing
save
that
he
,
and
he
alone
,
was
the
rightful
Lord
of
Royallieu
.
"
Tiens
,
es-tu
fou
,
mon
brave
?
Bois
de
m'avoine
,
34
Bel-à-faire-peur
!
"
The
coarse
good-humoured
challenge
,
as
the
hand
of
a
broad-chested
black-visaged
veteran
of
Chasseurs
fell
on
his
shoulder
,
and
the
wooden
rim
of
a
little
wine-cup
was
thrust
towards
him
with
the
proffered
drink
,
startled
him
and
recalled
him
to
the
consciousness
of
where
he
was
.
He
stared
one
moment
absently
in
the
trooper
's
amazed
face
,
then
shook
him
off
with
a
suddenness
that
tossed
back
the
cup
to
the
ground
,
and
,
holding
the
journal
clenched
close
in
his
grasp
,
went
swiftly
through
the
masses
of
the
people
out
and
away
,
he
little
noted
where
,
till
he
had
forced
his
road
beyond
the
gates
,
beyond
the
town
,
beyond
all
reach
of
its
dust
and
its
babble
and
its
discord
,
and
was
alone
in
the
further
outskirts
,
where
to
the
north
the
calm
sunlit
bay
slept
peacefully
with
a
few
scattered
ships
riding
at
anchor
,
and
southward
the
luxuriance
of
the
Sahel
stretched
to
meet
the
wide
and
cheerless
plateaux
,
dotted
with
the
conical
houses
of
hair
,
and
desolate
as
though
the
locust-swarm
had
just
alighted
there
to
lay
them
waste
.
Reaching
the
heights
he
stood
still
involuntarily
,
and
looked
down
once
more
on
the
words
that
told
him
of
his
birthright
;
in
the
blinding
intense
light
of
the
African
day
they
seemed
to
stand
out
as
though
carved
in
stone
,
and
as
he
read
them
once
more
a
great
darkness
passed
over
his
face
;
—
this
heritage
was
his
,
and
he
could
never
take
it
up
;
this
thing
had
come
to
him
,
and
he
must
never
claim
it
.
He
was
Viscount
Royallieu
as
surely
as
any
of
his
fathers
had
been
so
before
him
,
and
he
was
dead
for
ever
in
the
world
's
belief
;
he
must
live
,
and
grow
old
,
and
perish
by
shot
or
steel
,
by
sickness
or
by
age
,
with
his
name
and
his
rights
buried
,
and
his
years
passed
as
a
private
soldier
of
France
.
The
momentary
glow
which
had
come
to
him
with
the
sudden
resurrection
of
hope
and
of
pride
faded
utterly
as
he
slowly
read
and
re-read
the
lines
of
the
journal
on
the
broken
terraces
of
the
hill-side
,
where
the
great
fig-trees
spread
their
fantastic
shadows
,
and
through
a
rocky
channel
a
russet
stream
of
shallow
waters
threaded
its
downward
path
under
the
reeds
,
and
no
living
thing
was
near
him
save
some
quiet
browsing
herds
far
off
,
and
their
Arab
shepherd-lad
that
an
artist
might
have
sketched
as
Ishmael
.
What
his
future
might
have
been
rose
before
his
thoughts
;
what
it
must
be
rose
also
,
bitterly
,
blackly
,
drearily
in
contrast
.
A
noble
without
even
a
name
;
a
chief
of
his
race
without
even
the
power
to
claim
kinship
with
that
race
;
owner
by
law
of
three
thousand
broad
English
acres
,
yet
an
exile
without
freedom
to
set
foot
on
his
native
land
;
by
heritage
one
amongst
the
aristocracy
of
England
,
by
circumstance
,
now
and
for
ever
,
till
an
Arab
bullet
should
cut
in
twain
his
thread
of
life
,
a
soldier
of
the
African
legions
,
bound
to
obey
the
commonest
and
coarsest
boor
that
had
risen
to
a
rank
above
him
:
this
was
what
he
knew
himself
to
be
,
and
knew
that
he
must
continue
to
be
without
one
appeal
against
it
,
without
once
stretching
out
his
hand
towards
his
right
of
birth
and
station
.
There
was
a
passionate
revolt
,
a
bitter
heart-sickness
on
him
;
all
the
old
freedom
and
peace
and
luxury
and
pleasure
of
the
life
he
had
left
so
long
allured
him
with
a
terrible
temptation
;
the
honours
of
the
rank
that
he
should
now
have
filled
were
not
what
he
remembered
;
what
he
longed
for
with
an
agonised
desire
was
to
stand
once
more
stainless
among
his
equals
,
to
reach
once
more
the
liberty
of
unchallenged
unfettered
life
,
to
return
once
more
to
those
who
held
him
but
as
a
dishonoured
memory
,
as
one
whom
violent
death
had
well
snatched
from
the
shame
of
a
criminal
career
.
"
But
who
would
believe
me
now
?
"
he
thought
.
"
Besides
,
this
makes
no
difference
.
If
three
words
spoken
would
reinstate
me
,
I
could
not
speak
them
at
that
cost
.
The
beginning
perhaps
was
folly
,
but
for
sheer
justice
sake
there
is
no
drawing
back
now
.
Let
him
enjoy
it
;
God
knows
I
do
not
grudge
him
it
.
"
Yet
though
it
was
true
to
the
very
core
that
no
envy
and
no
evil
lay
in
his
heart
against
the
younger
brother
to
whose
lot
had
fallen
all
good
gifts
of
men
and
fate
,
there
was
almost
unbearable
anguish
on
him
in
this
hour
in
which
he
learned
the
inheritance
that
had
come
to
him
,
and
remembered
that
he
could
never
take
again
even
so
much
of
it
as
lay
in
the
name
of
his
fathers
.
When
he
had
given
his
memory
up
to
slander
and
oblivion
and
the
shadow
of
a
great
shame
,
when
he
had
let
his
life
die
out
from
the
world
that
had
known
him
,
and
buried
it
beneath
the
rough
,
weather-stained
,
blood-soaked
cloth
of
a
private
soldier
's
uniform
,
he
had
not
counted
the
cost
then
nor
foreseen
the
cost
hereafter
.
It
had
fallen
on
him
very
heavily
now
.
Where
he
stood
under
some
sheltered
columns
of
a
long-ruined
mosque
whose
shafts
were
bound
together
by
a
thousand
withes
and
wreaths
of
the
rich
fantastic
Sahel
foliage
,
an
exceeding
weariness
of
longing
was
upon
him
—
longing
for
all
that
he
had
forfeited
,
for
all
that
was
his
own
,
yet
never
could
be
claimed
as
his
.
The
day
was
intensely
still
;
there
was
not
a
sound
except
when
here
and
there
the
movement
of
a
lizard
under
the
dry
grasses
gave
a
low
crackling
rustle
.
He
wondered
almost
which
was
the
dream
and
which
the
truth
;
that
old
life
that
he
had
once
led
,
and
that
looked
now
so
far
away
and
so
unreal
,
or
this
which
had
been
about
him
for
so
many
years
in
the
camps
and
the
bivouacs
,
the
barracks
and
the
battlefields
.
He
wondered
almost
which
he
himself
was
—
an
English
Peer
on
whom
the
title
of
his
line
had
fallen
,
or
a
Corporal
of
Chasseurs
who
must
take
his
chief
's
insults
as
patiently
as
a
cur
takes
the
blows
of
its
master
;
that
he
was
both
,
seemed
to
him
,
as
he
stood
there
with
the
glisten
of
the
sea
before
and
the
swelling
slopes
of
the
hill-side
above
,
a
vague
distorted
nightmare
.
Hours
might
have
passed
,
or
only
moments
,
he
could
not
have
told
;
his
eyes
looked
blankly
out
at
the
sun-glow
,
his
hand
instinctively
clenched
on
the
journal
whose
stray
lines
had
told
him
in
an
Algerine
trattoria
that
he
had
inherited
what
he
never
could
enjoy
.
"
Are
they
content
,
I
wonder
?
"
he
thought
,
gazing
down
that
fiery
blaze
of
shadowless
light
;
"
do
they
ever
remember
?
"
He
thought
of
those
for
whose
sakes
he
had
become
what
he
was
.
The
distant
mellow
ringing
notes
of
a
trumpetcall
floated
to
his
ear
from
the
town
at
his
feet
;
it
was
sounding
the
"
rentrée
en
caserne
.
"
Old
instinct
,
long
habit
,
made
him
start
and
shake
his
harness
together
and
listen
.
The
trumpet-blast
winding
cheerily
from
afar
off
recalled
him
to
the
truth
,
summoned
him
sharply
back
from
vain
regrets
to
the
facts
of
daily
life
.
It
woke
him
as
it
wakes
a
sleeping
charger
;
it
roused
him
as
it
rouses
a
wounded
trooper
.
He
stood
hearkening
to
the
familiar
music
till
it
had
died
away
,
spirited
,
yet
still
lingering
;
full
of
fire
,
yet
fading
softly
down
the
wind
.
He
listened
till
the
last
echo
ceased
;
then
he
tore
the
paper
that
he
held
in
strips
,
and
let
it
float
away
,
drifting
down
the
yellow
current
of
the
reedy
river-channel
;
and
he
half
drew
from
its
scabbard
the
sabre
whose
blade
had
been
notched
and
dinted
and
stained
in
many
midnight
skirmishes
and
many
headlong
charges
under
the
desert
suns
,
and
looked
at
it
as
though
a
friend
's
eye
gazed
at
him
in
the
gleam
of
the
trusty
steel
.
And
his
soldier-like
philosophy
,
his
campaigner
's
carelessness
,
his
habitual
easy
negligence
that
had
sometimes
been
weak
as
water
and
sometimes
heroic
as
martyrdom
,
came
back
to
him
with
a
deeper
shadow
on
it
,
that
was
grave
with
a
calm
,
resolute
,
silent
courage
.
"
So
best
after
all
,
perhaps
,
"
he
said
,
half
aloud
,
in
the
solitude
of
the
ruined
and
abandoned
mosque
.
"
He
cannot
well
come
to
shipwreck
with
such
a
fair
wind
and
such
a
smooth
sea
.
And
I
—
I
am
just
as
well
here
.
To
ride
with
the
Chasseurs
is
more
exciting
than
to
ride
with
the
Pytchley
;
and
the
rules
of
the
Chambrée
are
scarce
more
tedious
than
the
rules
of
a
Court
.
Nature
turned
me
out
for
a
soldier
,
though
Fashion
spoiled
me
for
one
.
I
can
make
a
good
campaigner
—
I
should
never
make
anything
else
.
"
And
he
let
his
sword
drop
back
again
into
the
scabbard
,
and
quarrelled
no
more
with
fate
.
His
hand
touched
the
thirty
gold
pieces
in
his
sash
.
He
started
,
as
the
recollection
of
the
forgotten
insult
came
back
on
him
.
He
stood
awhile
in
thought
;
then
he
took
his
resolve
.
A
half-hour
of
quick
movement
,
for
he
had
become
used
to
the
heat
as
an
Arab
,
and
heeded
it
as
little
,
brought
him
before
the
entrance-gates
of
the
Villa
Aïoussa
.
A
native
of
Soudan
,
in
a
rich
dress
,
who
had
the
office
of
porter
,
asked
him
politely
his
errand
.
Every
