"The
answer
,
given
at
length
,
was
tranquil
,
low
,
slowly
and
distinctly
uttered
,
in
a
deliberate
refusal
,
in
a
deliberate
defiance
.
The
dark
and
evil
countenance
above
him
grew
livid
with
fury
.
"
I
can
have
you
thrashed
like
a
dog
for
that
answer
,
and
I
will
.
But
first
listen
here
,
beau
sire
!
I
know
as
well
as
though
you
had
confessed
to
me
.
Your
silence
cannot
shelter
your
great
mistress
's
shame
.
Ah-ha
!
la
Faustine
!
So
Madame
votre
Princesse
is
so
cold
to
her
equals
,
only
to
choose
her
lovers
out
of
my
blackguards
,
and
take
her
midnight
intrigues
like
a
camp
courtesan
!
"
Cecil
's
face
changed
terribly
as
the
vile
words
were
spoken
.
With
the
light
and
rapid
spring
of
a
leopard
,
he
reached
the
side
of
his
commander
,
one
hand
on
the
horse
's
mane
,
the
other
on
the
wrist
of
his
chief
,
that
it
gripped
like
an
iron
vice
.
"
You
lie
!
And
you
know
that
you
lie
.
Breathe
her
name
once
more
,
and
,
by
God
,
as
we
are
both
living
men
,
I
will
have
your
life
for
your
outrage
!
"
And
,
as
he
spoke
,
with
his
left
hand
he
smote
the
lips
that
had
blasphemed
against
her
.
It
was
broken
asunder
at
last
—
all
the
long
and
bitter
patience
,
all
the
calm
and
resolute
endurance
,
all
the
undeviating
serenity
beneath
provocation
,
which
had
never
yielded
through
twelve
long
years
,
but
which
had
borne
with
infamy
and
with
tyranny
in
such
absolute
submission
for
sake
of
those
around
him
,
who
would
revolt
at
his
sign
,
and
be
slaughtered
for
his
cause
.
The
promise
he
had
given
to
endure
all
things
for
their
sakes
—
the
sakes
of
his
soldiery
,
of
his
comrades
—
was
at
last
forgotten
.
All
he
remembered
was
the
villany
that
dared
touch
her
name
,
the
shame
that
through
him
was
breathed
on
her
.
Rank
,
duty
,
bondage
,
consequence
,
all
were
forgotten
in
that
one
instant
of
insult
that
mocked
in
its
odious
lie
at
her
purity
.
He
was
no
longer
the
soldier
bound
in
obedience
to
submit
to
the
indignities
that
his
chief
chose
to
heap
on
him
;
he
was
a
gentleman
who
defended
a
woman
's
honour
,
a
man
who
avenged
a
slur
on
the
life
that
he
loved
.
Châteauroy
wrenched
his
wrist
out
of
the
hold
that
crushed
it
,
and
drew
his
pistol
.
Cecil
knew
that
the
laws
of
active
service
would
hold
him
but
justly
dealt
with
if
the
shot
laid
him
dead
in
that
instant
for
his
act
and
his
words
.
"
You
can
kill
me
—
I
know
it
.
Well
,
use
your
prerogative
;
it
will
be
the
sole
good
you
have
ever
done
to
me
.
"
And
he
stood
erect
,
patient
,
motionless
,
looking
into
his
chief
's
eyes
with
a
calm
disdain
,
with
an
unuttered
challenge
,
that
,
for
the
first
moment
,
wrung
something
of
savage
respect
and
of
sullen
admiration
out
from
the
soul
of
his
great
foe
.
He
did
not
fire
;
it
was
the
only
time
in
which
any
trait
of
abstinence
from
cruelty
had
ever
been
seen
in
him
.
He
signed
to
the
soldiers
of
the
guard
with
one
hand
,
whilst
with
the
other
he
still
covered
with
his
pistol
the
man
whom
martial
law
would
have
allowed
him
to
have
shot
down
,
or
have
cut
down
,
at
his
horse
's
feet
.
"
Arrest
him
,
"
he
said
,
simply
.
Cecil
offered
no
resistance
;
he
let
them
seize
and
disarm
him
without
an
effort
at
the
opposition
which
could
have
been
but
a
futile
,
unavailing
,
trial
of
brute
force
.
He
dreaded
lest
there
should
be
one
sound
that
should
reach
her
in
that
tent
where
the
triad
of
standards
drooped
in
the
dusky
distance
.
He
had
been
,
moreover
,
too
long
beneath
the
yoke
of
this
despotic
and
irresponsible
authority
to
waste
breath
or
to
waste
dignity
in
vain
contest
with
the
absolute
and
the
immutable
.
He
was
content
with
what
he
had
done
—
content
to
have
met
once
,
not
as
soldier
to
chief
,
but
as
man
to
man
,
the
tyrant
who
held
his
fate
.
For
once
,
beneath
the
spur
of
that
foul
outrage
to
the
dignity
and
the
innocence
of
the
woman
he
had
quitted
,
he
had
allowed
a
passionate
truth
to
force
its
way
through
the
barriers
of
rank
and
the
bonds
of
subservience
.
Insult
to
himself
he
had
borne
as
the
base
prerogative
of
his
superior
,
but
insult
to
her
he
had
avenged
with
the
vengeance
of
equal
to
equal
,
of
the
one
who
loved
,
upon
the
one
who
calumniated
,
her
.
And
as
he
sat
in
the
darkness
of
the
night
with
the
heavy
tramp
of
his
guards
for
ever
on
his
ear
,
there
was
peace
rather
than
rebellion
in
his
heart
—
the
peace
of
one
heart
sick
with
strife
and
with
temptation
,
who
beholds
in
death
a
merciful
ending
to
the
ordeal
of
existence
.
"
I
shall
die
in
her
cause
at
least
,
"
he
thought
.
"
I
could
be
content
if
I
were
only
sure
that
she
would
never
know
.
"
For
this
was
the
chief
dread
which
hung
on
him
,
that
she
should
ever
know
,
and
in
knowing
,
suffer
for
his
sake
.
The
night
rolled
on
,
the
army
around
him
knew
nothing
of
what
had
happened
.
Châteauroy
,
conscious
of
his
own
coarse
guilt
against
the
guest
of
his
Marshal
,
kept
the
matter
untold
and
undiscovered
,
under
the
plea
that
he
desired
not
to
destroy
the
harmony
of
the
general
rejoicing
.
The
one
or
two
field-officers
with
whom
he
took
counsel
agreed
to
the
wisdom
of
letting
the
night
pass
away
undisturbed
.
The
accused
was
the
idol
of
his
own
squadron
:
there
was
no
gauge
what
might
not
be
done
by
troops
heated
with
excitement
and
drunk
with
wine
,
if
they
knew
that
their
favourite
comrade
had
set
the
example
of
insubordination
,
and
would
be
sentenced
to
suffer
for
it
.
Beyond
these
,
and
the
men
employed
in
his
arrest
and
guard
,
none
knew
what
had
chanced
;
not
the
soldiery
beneath
that
vast
sea
of
canvas
,
many
of
whom
would
have
rushed
headlong
to
mutiny
and
to
destruction
at
his
word
;
not
the
woman
who
in
the
solitude
of
her
wakeful
hours
was
haunted
by
the
memory
of
his
love-words
,
and
felt
steal
on
her
the
unacknowledged
sense
that
,
if
his
future
were
left
to
misery
,
happiness
could
never
more
touch
her
own
;
not
the
friend
of
his
early
days
,
laughing
and
drinking
gaily
with
the
officers
of
the
staff
.
None
knew
;
not
even
Cigarette
.
She
sat
alone
,
so
far
away
that
none
sought
her
out
,
beside
the
picket-fire
that
had
long
died
out
,
with
the
little
white
dog
of
Zarâila
curled
on
the
scarlet
folds
of
her
skirt
.
Her
arms
rested
on
her
knees
,
and
her
temples
were
leant
on
her
hands
,
tightly
twisted
amongst
the
dark
silken
curls
of
her
boyish
hair
.
Her
face
had
the
same
dusky
savage
intensity
upon
it
;
and
she
never
once
moved
from
that
rigid
attitude
.
She
had
the
Cross
on
her
heart
—
the
idol
of
her
long
desire
,
the
star
to
which
her
longing
eyes
had
looked
up
,
ever
since
her
childhood
,
through
the
reek
of
carnage
and
the
smoke
of
battle
:
and
she
would
have
flung
it
away
like
dross
to
have
had
his
lips
touch
hers
once
with
love
.
"
Que
je
suis
folle
!
"
she
muttered
in
her
throat
,
"
que
je
suis
folle
!
"
And
she
knew
herself
mad
;
for
the
desires
and
the
delights
of
love
die
swiftly
,
but
the
knowledge
of
honour
abides
always
.
Love
would
have
made
her
youth
sweet
with
an
unutterable
gladness
,
to
glide
from
her
and
leave
her
weary
,
dissatisfied
,
forsaken
.
But
that
Cross
,
the
gift
of
her
country
,
the
symbol
of
her
heroism
,
would
be
with
her
always
,
and
light
her
for
ever
with
the
honour
of
which
it
was
the
emblem
;
and
if
her
life
should
last
until
youth
should
pass
away
,
and
age
come
,
and
with
age
death
,
her
hand
would
wander
to
it
on
her
dying
bed
,
and
she
would
smile
as
she
died
to
hear
the
living
watchers
murmur
:
"
That
life
had
glory
—
that
life
was
lived
for
France
.
"
She
knew
this
:
but
she
was
young
;
she
was
a
woman-child
,
she
had
the
ardour
of
voluptuous
youth
in
her
veins
,
she
had
the
desolation
of
abandoned
youth
in
her
heart
.
And
honour
looked
so
cold
beside
love
!
She
rose
impetuously
;
the
night
was
far
spent
,
the
camp
was
very
still
,
the
torches
had
long
died
out
,
and
a
streak
of
dawn
was
visible
in
the
east
.
She
stood
awhile
looking
very
earnestly
across
the
wide
black
city
of
tents
.
"
I
shall
be
best
away
for
a
time
.
I
grow
mad
,
treacherous
,
wicked
here
,
"
she
thought
.
"
I
will
go
and
see
Blanc-Bec
.
"
Blanc-Bec
was
the
old
soldier
of
the
Army
of
Italy
.
In
a
brief
while
she
had
saddled
and
bridled
Etoile-Filante
,
and
ridden
out
of
the
camp
without
warning
or
farewell
to
any
:
she
was
as
free
to
come
and
to
go
as
though
she
were
a
bird
on
the
wing
.
Thus
Cigarette
went
,
knowing
nothing
of
his
fate
.
And
with
the
sunrise
went
also
the
woman
whom
he
loved
—
in
ignorance
.
CHAPTER
XI
.
THE
VENGEANCE
OF
THE
LITTLE
ONE
.
The
warm
transparent
light
of
an
African
autumnal
noon
shone
down
through
the
white
canvas
roof
of
a
great
tent
in
the
heart
of
the
encamped
divisions
at
the
head-quarters
of
the
Army
of
the
South
.
Within
the
tent
there
was
a
densely
packed
throng
—
an
immense
,
close
,
hushed
,
listening
crowd
,
of
which
every
man
wore
the
uniform
of
France
,
and
of
which
the
mute
undeviating
attention
,
forbidden
by
discipline
alike
to
be
broken
by
sound
of
approval
or
of
dissent
,
had
in
it
something
that
was
almost
terrible
,
contrasted
with
the
vivid
eagerness
in
their
eyes
and
the
strained
absorption
of
their
countenances
;
for
they
were
in
court
,
and
that
court
was
the
Conseil
de
Guerre
of
their
own
southern
camp
.
The
prisoner
was
arraigned
on
the
heaviest
charge
that
can
be
laid
against
the
soldier
of
any
army
;
and
yet
,
as
the
many
eyes
of
the
military
crowd
turned
on
him
where
he
stood
surrounded
by
his
guard
,
his
crime
against
his
chief
was
forgotten
,
and
they
only
remembered
—
Zarâila
.
Many
of
those
present
had
seen
him
throughout
that
day
of
blood
,
at
the
head
of
his
decimated
squadron
,
with
the
guidon
held
aloft
above
every
foe
;
to
them
,
that
tall
slender
form
standing
there
,
with
a
calm
weary
dignity
that
had
nothing
of
the
passion
of
the
mutinous
,
or
the
consciousness
of
the
criminal
,
in
its
serene
repose
,
had
shed
upon
it
the
lustre
of
a
heroism
that
made
them
ready
almost
to
weep
like
women
that
the
death
of
a
mutineer
should
be
the
sole
answer
given
by
France
to
the
saviour
of
her
honour
.
He
preserved
entire
reticence
in
court
.
The
instant
the
acte
d
'
accusation
had
been
read
to
him
,
he
had
seen
that
his
chief
would
not
dare
to
couple
with
it
the
proud
pure
name
he
had
dared
to
outrage
;
his
most
bitter
anxiety
was
thus
at
an
end
.
For
all
the
rest
,
he
was
tranquil
.
No
case
could
be
clearer
,
briefer
,
less
complex
,
more
entirely
incapable
of
defence
.
The
soldiers
of
the
guard
gave
evidence
as
to
the
violence
and
fury
of
the
assault
.
The
sentinel
bore
witness
to
having
heard
the
refusal
to
reply
;
a
moment
after
he
had
seen
the
attack
made
,
and
the
blow
given
.
The
accuser
merely
stated
that
,
meeting
his
sous-officier
out
of
the
bounds
of
the
cavalry
camp
,
he
had
asked
him
where
he
had
been
,
and
why
he
was
there
,
and
,
on
his
commanding
an
answer
,
had
been
assaulted
in
the
manner
described
,
with
violence
sufficient
to
have
cost
his
life
had
not
the
guard
been
so
near
at
hand
.
When
questioned
as
to
what
motive
he
could
assign
for
the
act
,
he
replied
that
he
considered
his
corporal
had
always
incited
evil
feeling
and
mutinous
conduct
in
the
squadrons
,
and
had
,
he
believed
,
that
day
attributed
to
himself
his
failure
to
receive
the
Cross
.
The
statement
passed
without
contradiction
by
the
prisoner
,
who
,
to
the
interrogations
and
entreaties
of
his
legal
défenseur
,
only
replied
that
the
facts
were
stated
accurately
as
they
occurred
,
and
that
his
reasons
for
the
deed
he
declined
to
assert
.
When
once
more
questioned
as
to
his
country
and
his
past
by
the
president
,
he
briefly
declined
to
give
answer
.
When
asked
if
the
names
by
which
he
was
enrolled
were
his
own
,
he
replied
that
they
were
two
of
his
baptismal
names
,
which
had
served
his
purpose
on
entering
the
army
.
When
asked
if
he
accepted
as
true
the
charge
of
exciting
sedition
among
the
troops
,
he
replied
that
it
was
so
little
true
that
over
and
over
again
the
men
would
have
mutinied
if
he
had
given
them
a
sign
,
and
that
he
had
continually
induced
them
to
submit
to
discipline
sheerly
by
force
of
his
own
example
.
When
interrogated
as
to
the
cause
of
the
language
he
had
used
to
his
commanding
officer
,
he
said
briefly
that
the
language
deserved
the
strongest
censure
as
from
a
soldier
to
his
colonel
,
but
that
it
was
justified
as
he
had
used
it
,
which
was
as
man
to
man
,
though
he
was
aware
the
plea
availed
nothing
in
military
law
,
and
was
impermissible
for
the
safety
of
the
service
.
When
it
was
inquired
of
him
if
he
had
not
repeatedly
inveighed
against
his
commanding
officer
for
severity
,
he
briefly
denied
it
;
no
man
had
ever
heard
him
say
a
syllable
that
could
have
been
construed
into
complaint
;
at
the
same
time
he
observed
that
all
the
squadrons
knew
perfectly
well
that
personal
enmity
and
oppression
had
been
shown
him
by
his
chief
throughout
the
whole
time
of
his
association
with
the
regiment
.
When
pressed
as
to
the
cause
that
he
assigned
for
this
,
he
gave
,
in
a
few
comprehensive
outlines
,
the
story
of
the
capture
and
the
deliverance
of
the
Emir
's
bride
.
This
was
all
that
could
be
elicited
from
him
;
and
even
this
was
answered
only
out
of
deference
to
the
authority
of
the
court
,
and
from
his
unwillingness
to
set
a
bad
example
before
the
men
with
whom
he
had
served
so
long
.
When
it
was
finally
demanded
of
him
if
he
had
aught
to
urge
in
his
own
extenuation
,
he
paused
a
moment
,
with
a
gaze
under
which
even
hard
eagle
eyes
grew
restless
,
looked
across
to
Châteauroy
,
and
addressed
his
antagonist
rather
than
the
president
:
"
Only
this
,
that
a
tyrant
,
a
liar
,
and
a
traducer
cannot
wonder
if
men
prefer
death
to
submission
beneath
insult
.
But
I
am
well
aware
this
is
no
vindication
of
my
act
as
a
soldier
;
and
I
have
no
desire
to
say
words
which
,
whatever
their
truth
,
might
become
hereafter
dangerous
legacies
and
dangerous
precedents
to
the
army
.
"
That
was
all
which
he
answered
;
and
neither
his
counsel
nor
his
accusers
could
extort
another
syllable
from
him
.
He
knew
that
what
he
had
done
was
justified
to
his
own
conscience
;
but
he
did
not
seek
to
dispute
that
it
was
unjustifiable
in
military
law
.
True
,
had
all
been
told
,
it
was
possible
enough
that
his
judges
would
exonerate
him
morally
,
even
if
they
condemned
him
legally
;
his
act
would
be
seen
blameless
as
a
man
's
,
even
whilst
still
punishable
as
a
soldier
's
:
but
to
purchase
immunity
for
himself
at
cost
of
bringing
the
fairness
of
her
fame
into
the
coarse
babble
of
men
's
tongues
was
an
alternative
,
craven
and
shameful
,
which
never
even
once
glanced
across
his
thoughts
.
He
had
kept
faith
to
a
woman
whom
he
had
known
heartless
and
well-nigh
worthless
;
it
was
not
to
the
woman
whom
he
loved
with
all
the
might
of
an
intense
passion
,
and
whom
he
knew
pure
and
glorious
as
the
morning
sun
,
that
he
would
break
his
faith
now
.
All
through
the
three
days
that
the
Conseil
sat
,
his
look
and
his
manner
never
changed
;
the
first
was
quite
calm
,
though
very
weary
,
the
latter
courteous
but
resolute
with
the
unchanged
firmness
of
one
who
knew
his
own
past
action
justified
;
for
the
rest
,
many
noticed
that
,
during
the
chief
of
the
long
exhausting
hours
of
his
examination
and
his
trial
,
his
thoughts
seemed
far
away
,
and
he
appeared
to
recall
them
to
the
present
with
difficulty
,
and
with
nothing
of
the
vivid
suspense
of
an
accused
,
whose
life
and
death
swung
in
the
judgment-balance
.
In
truth
,
he
had
no
dread
as
he
had
no
hope
left
;
he
knew
well
enough
that
by
the
blow
which
had
vindicated
her
honour
he
had
forfeited
his
own
existence
.
All
he
wished
was
that
his
sentence
had
been
dealt
without
this
formula
of
debate
and
of
delay
,
which
could
have
issue
but
in
one
end
.
There
was
not
one
man
in
court
who
was
not
more
moved
than
he
,
more
quick
to
terror
and
regret
for
his
doom
.
To
many
amongst
his
comrades
who
had
learned
to
love
the
gentle
,
silent
"
aristocrat
,
"
who
bore
every
hardship
so
patiently
,
and
humanised
them
so
imperceptibly
by
the
simple
force
of
an
unvaunted
example
,
those
three
days
were
torture
.
Wild
,
brutal
brigands
,
whose
year
was
one
long
razzia
of
plunder
,
rapine
,
and
slaughter
,
felt
their
lips
tremble
like
young
girls
'
when
they
asked
how
the
issue
went
for
him
;
and
blood-stained
marauders
,
who
thought
as
little
of
assassination
for
a
hidden
pot
of
gold
as
butchers
of
drawing
a
knife
across
a
sheep
's
throat
,
grew
still
and
fear-stricken
with
a
great
awe
when
the
muttering
passed
through
the
camp
that
they
would
see
no
more
amongst
their
ranks
that
"
woman
's
face
"
which
they
had
beheld
so
often
foremost
in
the
fight
,
with
a
look
on
it
that
thrilled
their
hearts
like
their
forbidden
chant
of
the
Marseillaise
.
For
when
the
third
day
closed
,
they
knew
that
he
must
die
.
And
there
were
men
,
hard
as
steel
,
ravenous
of
blood
as
vultures
,
who
,
when
they
heard
that
sentence
given
,
choked
great
sobs
down
into
the
cavernous
depths
of
their
sinewy
breasts
;
but
he
never
gave
sigh
or
sign
.
He
never
moved
once
while
the
decree
of
death
was
read
to
him
;
and
there
was
no
change
in
the
weary
calmness
of
his
eyes
.
He
bent
his
head
in
acquiescence
.
"
C'est
bien
!
"
he
said
,
simply
.
It
seemed
well
to
him
:
dead
,
his
secret
would
lie
in
the
grave
with
him
,
and
the
long
martyrdom
of
his
life
be
ended
.
In
the
brightness
of
the
noon
Cigarette
leaned
out
of
her
little
oval
casement
that
framed
her
head
like
an
old
black
oak
carving
—
a
head
with
the
mellow
bloom
on
its
cheeks
,
and
the
flash
of
scarlet
above
its
dark
curls
,
and
the
robin-like
grace
of
poise
and
balance
in
it
as
it
hung
out
there
in
the
sun
.
Cigarette
had
been
there
a
whole
hour
in
thought
;
she
!
—
who
never
had
wasted
a
moment
in
meditation
or
reverie
,
and
who
found
the
long
African
day
all
too
short
for
her
busy
,
abundant
,
joyous
life
,
that
was
always
full
of
haste
and
work
,
just
as
a
bird
's
will
seem
so
,
though
the
bird
have
no
more
to
do
than
to
fly
at
its
will
through
summer
air
,
and
feed
at
its
will
from
brook
and
from
berry
,
from
a
ripe
ear
of
the
corn
or
from
a
deep
cup
of
the
lily
.
For
the
first
time
she
was
letting
time
drift
away
in
the
fruitless
labour
of
vain
purposeless
thought
,
because
,
for
the
first
time
also
,
happiness
was
not
with
her
.
They
were
gone
for
ever
—
all
the
elastic
joyaunce
,
all
the
free
fair
hours
,
all
the
dauntless
gaiety
of
childhood
,
all
the
sweet
harmonious
laughter
of
a
heart
without
a
care
.
They
were
gone
for
ever
;
for
the
touch
of
love
and
of
pain
had
been
laid
on
her
;
and
never
again
would
her
radiant
eyes
smile
cloudlessly
like
the
young
eagle
's
at
a
sun
that
rose
but
to
be
greeted
as
only
youth
can
greet
another
dawn
of
a
life
that
is
without
a
shadow
.
And
she
leaned
wearily
here
with
her
cheek
lying
on
the
cold
grey
Moorish
stone
;
the
colour
and
the
brightness
were
in
the
rays
of
the
noon
,
in
the
rich
hues
of
her
hair
and
her
mouth
,
in
the
scarlet
glow
of
her
dress
:
there
was
no
brightness
in
her
face
.
The
eyes
were
vacant
as
they
watched
the
green
lizard
glide
over
the
wall
beyond
,
and
the
lips
were
parted
with
a
look
of
unspeakable
fatigue
;
the
tire
,
not
of
the
limbs
,
but
of
the
heart
.
She
had
come
thither
hoping
to
leave
behind
her
on
the
desert
wind
that
alien
care
,
that
new
strange
passion
,
which
sapped
her
strength
,
and
stung
her
pride
,
and
made
her
evil
with
such
murderous
lust
of
vengeance
;
but
they
were
with
her
still
.
Only
something
of
the
deadly
biting
ferocity
of
jealousy
had
changed
into
a
passionate
longing
to
be
as
that
woman
was
who
had
his
love
;
into
a
certain
hopeless
sickening
sense
of
having
for
ever
lost
that
which
alone
could
have
given
her
such
beauty
and
such
honour
in
the
sight
of
men
as
those
this
woman
had
.
To
her
it
seemed
impossible
that
this
patrician
who
had
his
passion
should
not
return
it
.
To
the
child
of
the
camp
,
though
she
often
mocked
at
caste
,
all
the
inexorable
rules
,
all
the
reticent
instincts
of
caste
,
were
things
unknown
.
She
would
have
thought
love
could
have
bridged
over
any
gulf
;
she
would
have
failed
to
comprehend
all
the
thousand
reasons
which
would
have
forbidden
any
bond
between
the
great
aristocrat
and
a
man
of
low
grade
and
of
dubious
name
.
She
only
thought
that
the
one
she
envied
was
free
,
was
powerful
,
was
high
enough
to
hold
and
exercise
an
irresponsible
will
;
she
only
thought
of
love
as
she
had
always
seen
it
,
quickly
born
,
hotly
cherished
,
wildly
indulged
,
and
without
tie
or
restraint
.
And
she
had
left
them
together
!
Her
heart
ached
,
her
lips
grew
white
,
her
eyes
through
their
new
sadness
had
something
of
the
sullen
,
savage
fire
with
which
she
had
levelled
her
pistol
at
Venetia
Corona
,
where
she
leaned
out
from
the
oval
attic-lattice
above
the
deserted
Moorish
court
below
—
the
only
thing
of
life
and
youth
in
the
grim
desolation
of
the
God-forgotten
place
.
"
And
I
came
without
my
vengeance
!
"
she
mused
.
To
the
nature
that
felt
the
ferocity
of
the
vendetta
a
right
and
a
due
,
and
to
the
jealous
fever
that
still
flamed
after
some
such
awful
retribution
as
that
which
the
fisher-girl
of
Marseilles
had
dealt
by
the
southern
sea
,
there
was
wounding
humiliation
in
her
knowledge
that
she
had
left
her
rival
unharmed
,
and
had
come
hither
,
out
from
his
sight
and
his
presence
,
lest
he
should
see
in
her
one
glimpse
of
that
folly
which
she
would
have
killed
herself
under
her
own
steel
rather
than
have
betrayed
either
for
his
contempt
or
his
compassion
.
"
And
I
came
without
my
vengeance
!
"
she
mused
:
in
that
oppressive
noon
,
in
that
grey
and
lonely
place
,
in
that
lofty
tower-solitude
,
where
there
was
nothing
between
her
and
the
hot
,
hard
,
cruel
blue
of
the
heavens
,
vengeance
looked
the
only
thing
that
was
left
her
,
the
only
means
whereby
that
void
in
her
heart
could
be
filled
,
that
shame
in
her
life
be
washed
out
.
To
love
!
and
to
love
a
man
who
had
no
love
for
her
,
whose
eyes
only
beheld
another
's
face
,
whose
ears
only
thirsted
for
another
's
voice
!
Its
degradation
stamped
her
a
traitress
in
her
own
sight
—
traitress
to
her
code
,
to
her
pride
,
to
her
country
,
to
her
flag
!
And
yet
at
the
core
of
her
heart
so
tired
a
pang
was
aching
!
She
who
had
gloried
in
being
the
child
of
the
whole
people
,
the
daughter
of
the
whole
army
,
felt
lonely
and
abandoned
,
as
though
she
were
some
bird
which
an
hour
ago
had
been
flying
in
all
its
joy
amongst
its
brethren
,
and
now
,
maimed
with
one
shot
,
had
fallen
with
broken
pinion
and
torn
plumage
to
lie
alone
upon
the
sand
and
die
.
The
touch
of
a
bird
's
wing
brushing
her
hair
brought
the
dreamy
comparison
to
her
wandering
thoughts
.
She
started
and
lifted
her
head
;
it
was
a
blue
carrier-pigeon
,
one
of
the
many
she
fed
at
that
casement
,
and
the
swiftest
and
surest
of
several
she
sent
with
messages
for
the
soldiers
between
the
various
stations
and
corps
.
She
had
forgotten
she
had
left
the
bird
at
the
encampment
.
She
caressed
it
absently
,
while
the
tired
creature
sank
down
on
her
bosom
;
then
only
she
saw
that
there
was
a
letter
beneath
one
wing
.
She
unloosed
it
,
and
looked
at
it
without
being
able
to
tell
its
meaning
;
she
could
not
read
a
word
,
printed
or
written
.
Military
habits
were
too
strong
with
her
for
the
arrival
not
to
change
her
reverie
into
action
;
whoever
it
was
for
,
it
must
be
seen
.
She
gave
the
pigeon
water
and
grain
,
then
wound
her
way
down
the
dark
,
narrow
stairs
,
through
the
height
of
the
tower
,
out
into
the
passage
below
.
She
found
an
old
French
cobbler
sitting
at
a
stall
in
a
casement
stitching
leather
;
he
was
her
customary
reader
and
scribe
in
this
quarter
.
She
touched
him
with
the
paper
.
"
Bon
Mathieu
!
wilt
thou
read
this
to
me
?
"
He
took
it
,
and
looked
first
at
the
superscription
.
"
It
is
for
thee
,
Little
One
,
and
signed
'
Petit
Pot-de-terre
.
'
"
Cigarette
nodded
listlessly
.
"
'
Tis
a
good
lad
,
and
a
scholar
,
"
she
answered
,
absently
.
"
Read
on
!
"
And
he
read
aloud
:
"
There
is
ill
news
.
I
send
the
bird
on
a
chance
to
find
thee
.
Bel-à-faire-peur
struck
the
Black
Hawk
—
a
light
blow
,
but
with
threat
to
kill
following
it
.
He
has
been
tried
,
and
is
to
be
shot
.
There
is
no
appeal
to
the
Conseil
de
Révision
.
The
case
is
clear
;
the
Colonel
could
have
cut
him
down
,
were
that
all
.
I
thought
you
should
know
.
We
are
all
sorry
.
It
was
done
on
the
night
of
the
great
fête
.
I
am
thy
humble
lover
and
slave
.
"
So
the
boy-Zouave
's
scrawl
,
crushed
,
and
blotted
,
and
written
with
great
difficulty
,
ran
in
its
brief
phrases
that
the
slow
muttering
of
the
old
shoemaker
drew
out
in
tedious
length
.
Cigarette
heard
;
she
never
made
a
movement
or
gave
a
sound
,
but
all
the
blood
fled
out
of
her
brilliant
face
,
leaving
it
horribly
blanched
beneath
its
brown
sun-scorch
;
and
her
eyes
distended
,
senseless
,
sightless
,
were
fastened
on
the
old
man
's
slowly
moving
mouth
.
"
Read
it
again
!
"
she
said
,
simply
,
when
all
was
ended
.
He
started
,
and
looked
up
at
her
face
:
the
voice
had
not
one
accent
of
its
own
tones
left
.
He
obeyed
,
and
read
it
once
more
to
the
end
.
Then
a
loud
shuddering
sigh
escaped
her
,
like
the
breath
of
one
stifling
under
flames
.
"
Shot
!
"
she
said
,
vacantly
.
"
Shot
!
"
The
old
man
rose
hurriedly
.
"
Child
!
art
thou
ill
?
"
Her
eyes
turned
on
him
without
any
consciousness
in
them
.
"
The
blow
was
struck
for
her
!
"
she
muttered
.
"
It
was
that
night
,
you
hear
—
that
night
?
"
"
What
night
?
Thou
lookest
so
strangely
!
Dost
thou
love
this
doomed
soldier
?
"
Cigarette
laughed
—
a
laugh
whose
echo
thrilled
horribly
through
the
lonely
Moresco
courtway
.
"
Love
?
love
?
I
hated
him
,
look
you
!
So
I
said
.
And
I
longed
for
my
vengeance
.
It
is
come
!
"
She
was
still
a
moment
;
her
mouth
quivering
as
though
she
were
under
physical
torture
,
her
strained
eyes
fastened
on
the
empty
air
,
the
veins
in
her
throat
swelling
and
throbbing
till
they
glowed
to
purple
.
Then
she
crushed
the
letter
in
one
hand
,
and
flew
,
fleet
as
any
antelope
,
through
the
streets
of
the
Moorish
quarter
,
and
across
the
city
to
the
quay
.
The
people
ever
gave
way
before
her
;
but
now
they
scattered
like
frightened
sheep
from
her
path
.
There
was
something
that
terrified
them
in
that
bloodless
horror
set
upon
her
face
,
and
in
that
fury
of
resistless
speed
with
which
she
rushed
upon
her
way
.
Once
only
in
her
headlong
career
through
the
throngs
she
paused
;
it
was
as
one
face
,
on
which
the
strong
light
of
the
noontide
poured
,
came
before
her
.
The
senseless
look
changed
in
her
eyes
;
she
wheeled
out
of
her
route
,
and
stopped
before
the
man
who
had
thus
arrested
her
.
He
was
leaning
idly
over
the
stall
of
a
Turkish
bazaar
,
and
her
hand
grasped
his
arm
before
he
saw
her
.
"
You
have
his
face
?
"
she
muttered
.
"
What
are
you
to
him
?
"
He
made
no
answer
;
he
was
too
amazed
.
"
You
are
of
his
race
,
"
she
persisted
.
"
You
are
brethren
by
your
look
.
What
are
you
to
him
?
"
"
To
whom
?
"
"
To
the
man
who
calls
himself
Louis
Victor
?
a
Chasseur
of
my
Army
?
"
Her
eyes
were
fastened
entirely
on
him
;
keen
,
ruthless
,
fierce
,
in
this
moment
,
as
a
hawk
's
.
He
grew
pale
,
and
murmured
an
incoherent
denial
.
He
sought
to
shaked
her
off
,
first
gently
,
then
more
rudely
;
he
called
her
mad
,
and
tried
to
fling
her
from
him
;
but
the
lithe
fingers
only
wound
themselves
closer
on
his
arm
.
"
Be
still
—
fool
!
"
she
muttered
;
and
there
was
that
in
the
accent
that
lent
a
strange
force
and
dignity
in
that
moment
to
the
careless
and
mischievous
plaything
of
the
soldiery
—
force
that
overcame
him
,
dignity
that
overawed
him
.
"
You
are
of
his
people
;
you
have
his
eyes
,
and
his
look
,
and
his
features
.
He
disowns
you
,
or
you
him
.
No
matter
which
.
He
is
of
your
blood
;
and
he
lies
under
sentence
of
death
,
do
you
know
that
?
"
With
a
stifled
cry
,
the
other
recoiled
from
her
;
he
never
doubted
that
she
spoke
the
truth
,
none
could
who
had
looked
upon
her
face
.
Cigarette
smiled
—
a
smile
that
had
the
same
terrible
meaning
in
it
as
the
laugh
that
had
curdled
the
old
Frenchman
's
veins
in
the
stillness
of
the
Moorish
passage
.
"
Do
not
lie
to
me
,
"
she
said
,
curtly
.
"
It
avails
you
nothing
.
Read
that
.
"
She
thrust
before
him
the
paper
the
pigeon
had
brought
;
his
hand
trembled
sorely
as
he
held
it
:
he
believed
in
that
moment
that
this
strange
creature
,
half
soldier
,
half
woman
,
half
brigand
,
half
child
,
knew
all
his
story
and
all
his
shame
from
his
brother
.
"
Shot
!
"
he
echoed
hoarsely
as
she
had
done
,
when
he
had
read
on
to
the
end
.
"
Shot
!
O
Heaven
!
and
I
—
—
"
She
drew
him
out
of
the
thoroughfare
into
a
dark
recess
within
the
bazzar
;
he
submitted
unresistingly
;
he
was
filled
with
the
horror
,
the
remorse
,
the
overwhelming
shock
of
his
brother
's
doom
.
"
He
will
be
shot
,
"
she
said
,
with
a
strange
calmness
.
"
We
shoot
down
many
men
in
our
Army
.
I
know
him
well
.
He
was
justified
in
his
act
,
I
do
not
doubt
;
but
discipline
will
not
stay
for
that
—
—
"
"
Silence
,
for
mercy
's
sake
!
Is
there
no
hope
—
no
possibility
?
"
Her
lips
were
parched
like
the
desert
sand
as
her
dry
hard
words
came
through
them
.
"
None
.
There
is
no
appeal
but
the
Révision
;
and
none
to
that
here
.
His
chief
could
have
cut
him
down
on
the
instant
.
It
took
place
in
camp
.
You
feel
this
thing
;
you
are
of
his
race
,
then
?
"
"
I
am
his
brother
!
"
She
was
silent
;
looking
at
him
fixedly
,
it
did
not
seem
to
her
strange
that
she
should
thus
have
met
one
of
his
blood
in
the
crowds
of
Algiers
.
She
was
absorbed
in
the
one
catastrophe
whose
hideousness
seemed
to
eat
her
very
life
away
,
even
whilst
her
nerve
,
and
her
brain
,
and
her
courage
remained
at
their
keenest
and
strongest
.
"
You
are
his
brother
,
"
she
said
,
slowly
,
so
much
as
an
affirmation
that
his
belief
was
confirmed
that
she
had
learned
both
their
relationship
and
their
history
from
Cecil
.
"
You
must
go
to
him
,
then
.
"
He
shook
from
head
to
foot
.
"
Yes
,
yes
!
But
it
will
be
too
late
!
"
She
did
not
know
that
the
words
were
cried
out
in
all
the
contrition
of
an
unavailing
remorse
;
she
gave
them
only
their
literal
significance
,
and
shuddered
as
she
answered
him
:
"
That
you
must
risk
.
You
must
go
to
him
.
But
,
first
,
I
must
know
more
.
Tell
me
his
name
,
his
rank
.
"
He
was
silent
:
coward
and
egotist
though
he
was
,
both
cowardice
and
egotism
were
killed
in
him
under
the
overwhelming
horror
with
which
he
felt
himself
as
truly
by
moral
guilt
a
fratricide
as
though
he
had
stabbed
his
elder
through
the
heart
.
"
Speak
!
"
hissed
Cigarette
through
her
clenched
teeth
.
"
If
you
have
any
kindness
,
any
pity
,
any
love
for
the
man
of
your
blood
,
who
will
be
shot
there
like
a
dog
,
do
not
waste
a
second
—
answer
me
,
tell
me
all
.
"
He
turned
his
wild
terrified
glance
upon
her
:
he
had
in
that
moment
no
sense
but
to
seize
some
means
of
reparation
,
to
declare
his
brother
's
rights
,
to
cry
out
to
the
very
stones
of
the
streets
his
own
wrong
and
his
victim
's
sacrifice
.
"
He
is
the
head
of
my
House
!
"
he
answered
her
,
scarce
knowing
what
he
answered
.
"
He
should
bear
the
title
that
I
bear
now
.
He
is
here
,
in
this
misery
,
because
he
is
the
most
merciful
,
the
most
generous
,
the
most
long-suffering
of
living
souls
!
If
he
die
,
it
is
not
they
who
have
killed
him
;
it
is
I
!
"
She
listened
,
with
her
face
set
in
that
stern
,
fixed
,
resolute
command
which
never
varied
:
she
neglected
all
that
wonder
,
or
curiosity
,
or
interest
would
have
made
her
ask
at
any
other
time
,
she
only
heeded
the
few
great
facts
that
bore
upon
the
fate
of
the
condemned
.
"
Settle
with
yourself
for
that
sin
,
"
she
said
,
bitterly
.
"
Your
remorse
will
not
save
him
.
But
do
the
thing
that
I
bid
you
,
if
that
remorse
be
sincere
.
Write
me
out
here
that
title
you
say
he
should
bear
,
and
your
statement
that
he
is
your
brother
,
and
should
be
the
chief
of
your
race
;
then
sign
it
,
and
give
it
to
me
.
"
He
seized
her
hands
,
and
gazed
with
imploring
eyes
into
her
face
.
"
Who
are
you
?
What
are
you
?
If
you
have
the
power
to
do
it
,
for
the
love
of
God
rescue
him
!
It
is
I
who
have
murdered
him
—
I
—
who
have
let
him
live
on
in
this
hell
for
my
sake
!
"
"
For
your
sake
!
"
She
flung
his
hands
off
her
and
looked
him
full
in
the
face
;
that
glance
of
the
speechless
scorn
,
the
unutterable
rebuke
,
of
the
woman-child
who
would
herself
have
died
a
thousand
deaths
rather
than
have
purchased
a
whole
existence
by
a
single
falsehood
or
a
single
cowardice
,
smote
him
like
a
blow
,
and
avenged
his
sin
more
absolutely
than
any
public
chastisement
.
The
courage
and
the
truth
of
a
girl
scorned
his
timorous
fear
and
his
living
lie
.
His
head
sank
,
he
seemed
to
shrink
under
her
gaze
;
his
act
had
never
looked
so
vile
to
him
as
it
looked
now
.
She
gazed
a
moment
longer
at
him
in
mute
and
wondering
disdain
that
there
should
be
on
earth
a
male
life
capable
of
such
fear
and
of
such
ignominy
as
these
.
Then
the
strong
and
rapid
power
in
her
took
its
instant
ascendancy
over
the
weaker
nature
.
"
Monsieur
,
I
do
not
know
your
story
;
I
do
not
want
.
I
am
not
used
to
men
who
let
others
suffer
for
them
.
What
I
require
is
your
written
statement
of
your
brother
's
name
and
station
;
give
it
me
.
"
He
made
a
gesture
of
consent
;
he
would
have
signed
away
his
soul
,
if
he
could
,
in
the
stupor
of
remorse
which
had
seized
him
.
She
brought
him
pens
and
paper
from
the
Turk
's
store
,
and
dictated
what
he
wrote
:
"
I
hereby
affirm
that
the
person
serving
in
the
Chasseurs
d
'
Afrique
under
the
name
of
Louis
Victor
is
my
elder
brother
,
Bertie
Cecil
,
lawfully
,
by
inheritance
,
the
Viscount
Royallieu
,
Peer
of
England
.
I
hereby
also
acknowledge
that
I
have
succeeded
to
and
borne
the
title
illegally
,
under
the
supposition
of
his
death
.
(
Signed
)
"
Berkeley
Cecil
.
"
He
wrote
it
mechanically
,
the
force
of
her
will
and
the
torture
of
his
own
conscience
driving
him
,
on
an
impulse
,
to
undo
in
an
instant
the
whole
web
of
falsehood
that
he
had
let
circumstance
weave
on
and
on
to
shelter
him
through
twelve
long
years
.
He
allowed
her
to
draw
the
paper
from
him
and
fold
it
away
in
her
belt
.
He
watched
her
with
a
curious
dreamy
sense
of
his
own
impotence
against
the
fierce
and
fiery
torrent
of
her
bidding
.
"
What
is
it
you
will
do
?
"
he
asked
her
,
as
she
took
from
him
the
acknowledgment
to
the
world
of
his
brother
's
life
and
name
.
"
The
best
that
shall
lie
in
my
power
;
do
you
the
same
.
"
"
Can
his
life
yet
be
saved
?
"
"
His
honour
may
—
his
honour
shall
.
"
Her
face
had
an
exceeding
beauty
as
she
spoke
;
though
it
was
stern
and
rigid
still
,
a
look
that
was
sublime
gleame
over
it
.
She
,
the
waif
and
stray
of
a
dissolute
camp
,
knew
better
than
the
scion
of
his
own
race
how
the
doomed
man
would
choose
the
vindication
of
his
honour
before
the
rescue
of
his
life
.
He
laid
his
hand
on
her
as
she
moved
:
"
Stay
!
—
stay
!
One
word
—
—
"
She
flung
him
off
her
again
:
"
This
is
no
time
for
words
.
Go
to
him
—
coward
!
—
and
let
the
balls
that
kill
him
reach
you
too
,
if
you
have
one
trait
of
manhood
left
in
you
!
"
Then
,
swiftly
as
a
swallow
darts
,
she
quitted
him
and
flew
on
her
headlong
way
,
down
through
the
pressure
of
the
people
,
and
the
throngs
of
the
marts
,
and
the
noise
,
and
the
colour
,
and
the
movement
of
the
streets
.
The
sun
was
scarce
declined
from
its
noon
before
she
rode
out
of
the
city
,
on
a
black
half-bred
horse
of
the
Spahis
,
swift
as
the
antelope
and
as
wild
,
with
her
only
equipment
,
some
pistols
in
her
holsters
,
and
a
bag
of
rice
and
a
skin
of
water
slung
at
her
saddle-bow
.
They
asked
her
where
she
went
;
she
never
answered
.
Some
noticed
that
her
eyes
looked
at
them
as
if
she
had
no
sense
or
comprehension
of
their
presence
.
The
hoofs
struck
sharp
echoes
out
of
the
rugged
stones
of
the
tortuous
streets
,
and
the
people
were
scattered
like
chaff
before
a
breeze
as
she
went
at
full
gallop
down
through
Algiers
with
the
sun-ray
glittering
like
fire
on
her
Cross
.
Her
comrades
,
used
to
see
her
ever
with
some
song
in
the
air
and
some
laugh
on
the
lips
as
she
went
,
looked
after
her
with
wonder
as
she
passed
them
,
silent
,
and
with
her
face
white
and
stern
as
though
the
bright
brown
loveliness
of
it
had
been
changed
to
alabaster
.
"
What
is
it
with
the
Cigarette
?
"
they
asked
each
other
.
None
could
tell
;
the
desert
horse
and
his
rider
flew
by
them
as
a
swallow
flies
.
The
gleam
of
her
croix
d'honneur
and
the
colourless
calm
of
the
childlike
face
that
wore
the
resolve
of
a
Napoléon
's
on
it
,
were
the
last
they
ever
saw
of
Cigarette
.
The
words
with
which
she
had
asked
for
the
loan
of
a
fresh
young
horse
had
been
the
only
ones
she
had
spoken
.
All
her
fluent
untiring
speech
was
gone
—
gone
with
the
rose-hue
from
her
cheek
,
with
the
laugh
from
her
mouth
,
with
the
child
's
joyaunce
from
her
heart
;
but
the
brave
,
staunch
,
dauntless
spirit
lived
with
a
soldier
's
courage
,
with
a
martyr
's
patience
.
And
she
rode
straight
through
the
scorch
of
the
mid-day
sun
,
along
the
sea-coast
eastward
.
The
dizzy
swiftness
would
have
blinded
most
who
should
have
been
carried
through
the
dry
air
and
under
the
burning
skies
at
that
breathless
and
pauseless
speed
;
but
she
had
ridden
half-maddened
colts
with
the
skill
of
Arabs
themselves
;
she
had
been
tossed
on
a
holster
from
her
earliest
years
,
and
had
clung
with
an
infant
's
hands
in
fearless
glee
to
the
mane
of
rough-riders
'
chargers
.
She
never
swerved
,
she
never
sickened
;
she
was
borne
on
and
on
against
the
hard
hot
currents
of
the
cleft
air
with
only
one
sense
—
that
she
went
so
slowly
,
so
slowly
,
when
with
every
beat
of
the
ringing
hoofs
one
of
the
few
moments
of
a
doomed
life
fled
away
!
She
had
a
long
route
before
her
;
she
had
many
leagues
to
travel
,
and
there
were
but
four-and-twenty
hours
,
she
knew
well
,
left
to
the
man
who
was
condemned
to
death
.
Four-and-twenty
hours
left
open
for
appeal
—
no
more
—
betwixt
the
delivery
and
execution
of
the
sentence
.
That
delay
was
always
interpreted
by
the
French
Code
as
a
delay
extending
from
the
evening
of
one
day
to
the
dawn
of
the
second
day
following
;
and
some
slight
interval
might
then
ensue
,
according
as
the
General
in
command
ordained
.
But
the
twenty-four
hours
was
all
of
which
she
could
be
certain
;
and
even
of
them
some
must
have
flown
by
since
the
carrier-pigeon
had
been
loosed
to
her
.
She
could
not
tell
how
long
he
had
to
live
;
and
the
agony
in
her
made
the
headlong
electric
speed
of
the
free-born
horse
of
the
plains
seem
tardy
,
and
slackened
,
and
weighted
with
lead
,
as
they
flew
eastward
by
the
line
of
the
sea
.
There
were
fifty
miles
between
her
and
her
goal
;
Abd-el-Kader
's
horse
had
once
covered
that
space
in
three
hours
,
so
men
of
the
Army
of
D'Aumale
had
told
her
:
she
knew
what
they
had
done
she
could
do
with
this
brave
swift
beast
,
who
asked
nothing
of
her
but
to
be
left
to
dash
onward
at
his
own
will
as
fleetly
as
his
wild
sires
of
the
desert
herds
had
galloped
ere
ever
the
curb
or
the
spur
of
a
rider
had
touched
them
.
Once
only
she
paused
,
to
let
him
lie
a
brief
while
,
and
cool
his
foam-flaked
sides
,
and
crop
some
short
sweet
grass
that
grew
where
a
cleft
of
water
ran
and
made
the
bare
earth
green
.
She
sat
quite
motionless
while
he
rested
;
she
was
keenly
alive
to
all
that
could
best
save
his
strength
and
further
her
travel
;
but
she
watched
him
during
those
few
minutes
of
rest
and
inaction
with
a
fearful
look
of
hunger
in
her
eyes
—
the
worst
hunger
,
that
which
craves
Time
and
cannot
seize
it
fast
enough
.
Then
she
mounted
again
,
and
again
went
on
,
in
her
flight
.
She
swept
by
cantonments
,
villages
,
soldiers
on
the
march
,
douairs
of
peaceful
Arabs
,
strings
of
mules
and
camels
,
caravans
of
merchandise
:
nothing
arrested
her
;
she
saw
nothing
that
she
passed
,
as
she
rode
over
the
hard
dust-covered
shadowless
roads
,
over
the
weary
sun-scorched
monotonous
country
,
over
the
land
without
verdure
and
without
foliage
,
the
land
that
yet
has
so
weird
a
beauty
,
so
irresistible
a
fascination
;
the
land
to
which
men
,
knowing
that
death
waits
for
them
in
it
,
yet
return
with
so
mad
an
infatuation
as
her
lovers
went
back
across
the
waters
to
Circe
.
The
horse
was
reeking
with
smoke
and
foam
,
and
the
blood
was
coursing
from
his
flanks
,
as
she
reached
her
destination
at
last
,
and
threw
herself
off
his
saddle
as
he
sank
faint
and
quivering
to
the
ground
.
Whither
she
had
come
was
to
a
fortress
where
the
Marshal
of
France
,
who
was
the
Viceroy
of
Africa
,
had
arrived
that
day
in
his
progress
of
inspection
throughout
the
provinces
.
Soldiers
clustered
round
her
eagerly
beneath
the
gates
,
a
thousand
questions
pouring
from
their
curious
tongues
.
She
pointed
to
the
animal
with
one
hand
,
to
the
gaunt
pile
of
stone
that
bristled
with
cannon
with
the
other
.
"
Have
a
care
of
him
;
and
lead
me
to
the
Chief
!
"
She
spoke
quietly
;
but
a
certain
sensation
of
awe
and
fear
moved
those
who
heard
.
She
was
not
the
Child
of
the
Army
whom
they
knew
so
well
.
She
was
a
creature
,
desperate
,
hard
pressed
,
mute
as
death
,
strong
as
steel
;
above
all
,
hunted
by
despair
.
They
hesitated
to
take
her
message
,
to
do
her
bidding
.
The
one
whom
she
sought
was
great
and
supreme
here
as
a
king
;
they
dreaded
to
approach
his
staff
,
to
ask
his
audience
.
Cigarette
looked
at
them
a
moment
,
then
loosened
her
Cross
and
held
it
out
to
an
Adjutant
standing
beneath
the
gates
.
"
Take
that
to
the
man
who
gave
it
me
.
Tell
him
Cigarette
waits
;
and
that
with
each
moment
that
she
waits
a
soldier
's
life
is
lost
.
Go
!
"
The
Adjutant
took
it
,
and
went
.
Over
and
over
again
she
had
brought
intelligence
of
an
Arab
movement
,
news
of
a
contemplated
razzia
,
warning
of
an
internal
revolt
,
or
tidings
of
an
encouter
on
the
plains
,
that
had
been
of
priceless
value
to
the
army
which
she
served
.
It
was
not
lightly
that
Cigarette
's
words
were
ever
received
when
she
spoke
as
she
spoke
now
;
nor
was
it
impossible
that
she
now
brought
to
them
that
which
would
brook
neither
delay
nor
trifling
.
She
waited
patiently
;
all
the
iron
discipline
of
military
life
had
never
bound
her
gay
and
lawless
spirit
down
,
but
now
she
was
singularly
still
and
mute
.
Only
there
gleamed
thirstily
in
her
eyes
that
fearful
avarice
which
begrudges
every
moment
in
its
flight
as
never
the
miser
grudges
his
hoarded
gold
into
the
robber
's
grasp
.
A
few
minutes
,
and
her
decoration
was
brought
back
to
her
,
and
her
demand
granted
.
She
was
summoned
to
the
Marshal
's
presence
.
She
was
taken
within
the
casemate
of
the
fortress
,
to
where
the
mighty
Chief
stood
amongst
his
officers
.
It
was
the
ordnance-room
,
a
long
vast
silent
chamber
filled
with
stands
of
arms
,
with
all
the
arts
and
appliances
of
war
brought
to
their
uttermost
perfection
,
and
massed
in
all
the
resource
of
a
great
empire
against
the
sons
of
the
desert
,
who
had
nothing
to
oppose
to
them
save
the
despair
of
a
perishing
nationality
and
a
stifled
freedom
.
The
Marshal
,
leaning
against
a
brass
field-piece
,
turned
to
her
with
a
smile
in
his
keen
stern
eyes
.
"
You
,
my
young
décorée
!
What
brings
you
here
?
"
She
came
up
to
him
with
her
rapid
leopard-like
grace
,
and
he
started
as
he
saw
the
change
upon
her
features
,
that
had
lost
all
the
sunlight
of
their
childhood
and
their
mirth
,
and
were
so
dark
,
so
colourless
,
so
still
.
She
was
covered
with
sand
and
dust
,
and
with
the
animal
's
blood-flecked
foam
.
The
beating
of
her
heart
from
the
fury
of
the
gallop
had
drained
every
hue
from
her
face
;
her
voice
was
scarcely
articulate
in
its
breathless
haste
as
she
saluted
him
:
"
Monseigneur
,
I
have
come
from
Algiers
since
noon
—
—
"
"
From
Algiers
!
"
He
and
his
officers
echoed
the
name
of
the
city
in
incredulous
amaze
;
they
knew
how
far
from
them
down
along
the
sea-line
the
white
town
lay
.
"
Since
noon
,
to
rescue
a
life
—
the
life
of
a
great
soldier
,
of
a
guiltless
man
.
He
who
saved
the
honour
of
France
at
Zarâila
is
to
die
the
death
of
a
mutineer
at
dawn
!
"
"
What
!
—
your
Chasseur
?
"
A
dusky
scarlet
fire
burned
through
the
pallor
of
her
face
;
but
her
eyes
never
quailed
,
and
the
torrent
of
her
eloquence
returned
under
the
pangs
of
shame
that
were
beaten
back
under
the
noble
instincts
of
her
love
.
"
Mine
!
—
since
he
is
a
soldier
of
France
;
yours
,
too
,
by
that
title
.
I
am
come
here
,
from
Algiers
,
to
speak
the
truth
in
his
name
,
and
to
save
him
for
his
own
honour
and
the
honour
of
my
Empire
.
See
here
!
At
noon
,
I
have
this
paper
,
sent
by
a
swift
pigeon
—
read
it
!
You
see
how
he
is
to
die
,
and
why
.
Well
,
by
my
Cross
,
by
my
Flag
,
by
my
France
,
I
swear
that
not
a
hair
of
his
head
shall
be
touched
,
not
a
drop
of
blood
in
his
veins
shall
be
shed
!
"
He
looked
at
her
,
astonished
at
the
grandeur
and
the
courage
which
could
come
on
this
child
of
razzias
and
revelries
,
and
give
to
her
all
the
fearless
command
of
some
young
empress
.
But
his
face
darkened
and
set
sternly
as
he
read
the
paper
;
it
was
the
vilest
crime
in
the
sight
of
a
proud
soldier
,
this
crime
against
discipline
,
of
the
man
for
whom
she
pleaded
.
"
You
speak
madly
,
"
he
said
,
with
cold
brevity
.
"
The
offence
merits
the
chastisement
.
I
shall
not
attempt
to
interfere
.
"
A
convulsion
went
over
her
face
;
but
her
spirit
only
rose
the
stronger
for
the
despair
that
strove
to
crush
it
.
"
Wait
!
you
will
hear
,
at
least
,
Monseigneur
?
"
"
I
will
hear
you
—
yes
;
but
I
tell
you
,
once
for
all
,
I
never
change
sentences
that
are
pronounced
by
conseils
de
guerre
;
and
this
crime
is
the
last
for
which
you
should
attempt
to
plead
for
mercy
with
me
.
"
"
Hear
me
,
at
least
!
"
she
cried
,
with
passionate
ferocity
—
the
ferocity
of
a
dumb
animal
wounded
by
a
shot
.
"
You
do
not
know
what
this
man
is
—
how
he
has
had
to
endure
;
I
do
.
I
have
watched
him
;
I
have
seen
the
brutal
tyranny
of
his
chief
,
who
hated
him
because
the
soldiers
loved
him
.
I
have
seen
his
patience
,
his
obedience
,
his
long-suffering
beneath
insults
that
would
have
driven
any
other
to
revolt
and
murder
.
I
have
seen
him
—
I
have
told
you
how
—
at
Zarâila
,
thinking
never
of
death
or
of
life
,
only
of
our
Flag
,
that
he
has
made
his
own
,
and
under
which
he
has
been
forced
to
lead
the
life
of
a
galley-slave
,
of
a
dog
—
—
"
"
The
finer
soldier
he
be
,
the
less
pardonable
his
offence
.
"
"
That
I
deny
!
If
he
were
a
dolt
,
a
brute
,
a
thing
of
wood
,
as
many
are
,
he
would
have
no
right
to
vengeance
;
as
it
is
,
he
is
a
gentleman
,
a
hero
,
a
martyr
;
may
he
not
forget
for
one
hour
that
he
is
a
slave
?
Look
you
!
I
have
seen
him
so
tried
,
that
I
told
him
—
I
,
who
love
my
Army
better
than
any
living
thing
under
the
sun
—
that
I
would
forgive
him
if
he
forgot
duty
and
dealt
with
his
tyrant
as
man
to
man
.
And
he
always
held
his
soul
in
patience
.
Why
?
Not
because
he
feared
death
—
he
desired
it
;
but
because
he
loved
his
comrades
,
and
suffered
in
peace
and
in
silence
lest
,
through
him
,
they
should
be
led
into
evil
—
—
"
His
eyes
softened
as
he
heard
her
;
but
the
inflexibility
of
his
voice
never
altered
.
"
It
is
useless
to
argue
with
me
,
"
he
said
,
briefly
;
"
I
never
change
a
sentence
.
"
"
But
I
say
that
you
shall
!
"
As
the
audacious
words
were
flung
forth
,
she
looked
him
full
in
the
eyes
,
while
her
voice
rang
with
its
old
imperious
oratory
.
"
You
are
a
great
chief
;
you
are
as
a
monarch
here
;
you
hold
the
gifts
and
the
grandeur
of
the
Empire
;
but
,
because
of
that
—
because
you
are
as
France
in
my
eyes
—
I
swear
,
by
the
name
of
France
,
that
you
shall
see
justice
done
to
him
—
after
death
,
if
you
cannot
in
life
.
Do
you
know
who
he
is
—
this
man
whom
his
comrades
will
shoot
down
at
sunrise
as
they
shoot
down
the
murderer
and
the
ravisher
in
their
crimes
?
"
"
He
is
a
rebellious
soldier
;
it
is
sufficient
.
"
"
He
is
not
!
He
is
a
man
who
vindicated
a
woman
's
honour
;
he
is
a
man
who
suffers
in
a
brother
's
place
;
he
is
an
aristocrat
exiled
to
a
martyrdom
;
he
is
a
hero
who
has
never
been
greater
than
he
will
be
great
in
his
last
hour
.
Read
that
!
What
you
refuse
to
justice
,
and
mercy
,
and
courage
,
and
guiltlessness
,
you
will
grant
,
maybe
,
to
your
Order
.
"
She
