ama
good
soldier
:
I
will
not
be
sent
for
like
a
hawker
,
'
—
you
say
.
'
I
was
noble
once
:
I
will
show
my
blood
at
last
,
if
I
die
.
'
Ah
!
—
you
say
that
?
"
He
laughed
a
little
as
he
looked
up
at
her
.
"
Not
exactly
that
;
but
something
as
foolish
,
perhaps
.
Are
you
a
witch
,
my
pretty
one
?
"
"
Whoever
doubted
it
,
except
you
?
"
She
looked
one
,
in
truth
,
whom
few
men
could
resist
,
bending
to
him
out
of
her
owl
's
nest
,
with
the
flash
of
the
sun
under
the
blue
awning
brightly
catching
the
sunny
brown
of
her
soft
cheek
and
the
cherry
bloom
of
her
lips
,
arched
,
pouting
,
and
coquette
.
She
set
her
teeth
sharply
,
and
muttered
a
hot
,
heavy
sacré
,
or
even
something
worse
,
as
she
saw
that
his
eyes
had
not
even
remained
on
her
,
but
were
thoughtfully
looking
down
the
chequered
light
and
colour
of
the
street
.
She
was
passionate
,
she
was
vain
,
she
was
wayward
,
she
was
fierce
as
a
little
velvet
leopard
,
as
a
handsome
,
brilliant
plumaged
hawk
;
she
had
all
the
faults
,
as
she
had
all
the
virtues
,
of
the
thorough
Celtic
race
;
and
,
for
the
moment
,
she
had
an
instinct
,
fiery
,
ruthless
,
and
full
of
hate
,
to
draw
the
pistol
out
of
her
belt
,
and
teach
him
with
a
shot
,
crash
through
heart
or
brain
,
that
girls
who
were
"
unsexed
"
could
keep
enough
of
the
woman
in
them
not
to
be
neglected
with
impunity
,
and
could
lose
enough
of
it
to
be
able
to
avenge
the
negligence
by
a
summary
vendetta
.
But
she
was
a
haughty
little
condottière
in
her
fashion
.
She
would
not
ask
for
what
was
not
offered
her
,
nor
give
a
rebuke
that
might
be
traced
to
mortification
.
She
only
set
her
two
rosebud
lips
in
as
firm
a
line
of
wrath
and
scorn
as
ever
Cæsar
's
or
Napoléon
's
moulded
themselves
into
,
and
spoke
in
the
curt
,
imperious
,
generalissimo
fashion
with
which
Cigarette
before
now
had
rallied
a
demoralised
troop
,
reeling
drunk
and
mad
,
away
from
a
razzia
.
"
I
am
a
witch
?
That
is
,
I
can
put
two
and
two
together
,
and
read
men
,
though
I
do
n't
read
the
alphabet
.
Well
,
one
reading
is
a
good
deal
rarer
than
the
other
.
So
you
mean
to
disobey
the
Hawk
to-night
?
I
like
you
for
that
.
But
listen
here
—
did
you
ever
hear
them
talk
of
Marquise
?
"
"
No.
"
"
Parbleu
!
"
swore
the
vivandière
in
her
wrath
,
"
you
look
on
at
a
bamboula
as
if
it
were
only
a
bearcub
dancing
,
and
can
only
give
one
'
yes
'
and
'
no
,
'
as
if
one
were
a
drummer-boy
.
Bah
!
are
those
your
Paris
courtesies
?
"
"
Forgive
me
,
ma
belle
!
I
thought
you
called
yourself
our
comrade
,
and
would
have
no
'
fine
manners
!
'
There
is
no
knowing
how
to
please
you
.
"
He
might
have
pleased
her
,
simply
and
easily
enough
,
if
he
had
only
looked
up
with
a
shade
of
interest
to
that
most
picturesque
picture
,
bright
as
a
pastel
portrait
that
was
hung
above
him
in
the
old
tumble-down
Moorish
stonework
.
But
his
thoughts
were
with
other
things
;
and
a
love
scene
with
this
fantastic
young
Amazon
did
not
attract
him
.
The
warm
,
ripe
,
mellow
,
little
wayside-cherry
hung
directly
in
his
path
,
with
the
sun
on
its
bloom
,
and
the
free
wind
tossing
it
merrily
;
but
it
had
no
charm
for
him
.
He
was
musing
rather
on
that
costly
,
delicate
,
brilliant-hued
,
hothouse
blossom
,
that
could
only
be
reached
down
by
some
rich
man
's
hand
,
and
grew
afar
on
heights
where
never
winter
chills
,
nor
summer
tan
,
could
come
too
rudely
on
it
.
"
Come
,
tell
me
,
what
is
Marquise
?
—
a
kitten
?
"
he
went
on
,
leaning
his
arm
still
on
the
sill
of
her
embrasure
,
and
willing
to
coax
her
out
of
her
anger
.
"
A
kitten
!
"
echoed
Cigarette
,
contemptuously
.
"
You
think
me
a
child
,
I
suppose
?
"
"
Surely
you
are
not
far
off
it
?
"
"
Mon
Dieu
!
why
,
I
was
never
a
child
in
my
life
,
"
retorted
Cigarette
,
waxing
sunny-tempered
and
confidential
again
,
while
she
perched
herself
,
like
some
gay-feathered
mocking-bird
on
a
branch
,
on
the
window-sill
itself
.
"
When
I
was
two
,
I
used
to
be
beaten
,
like
a
Turco
that
pawns
his
musket
;
when
I
was
three
,
I
used
to
scrape
up
the
cigar-ends
the
officers
dropped
about
,
to
sell
them
again
for
a
bit
of
black
bread
;
when
I
was
four
,
I
knew
all
about
Philippe
Durron
's
escape
from
Beylick
,
and
bit
my
tongue
through
,
to
say
nothing
,
when
my
mother
flogged
me
with
a
tringlo
's
mule-whip
because
I
would
not
tell
,
that
she
might
tell
again
at
the
Bureau
,
and
get
the
reward
.
A
child
?
—
diantre
!
before
I
was
two
feet
high
I
had
winged
my
first
Arbi
.
He
stole
a
rabbit
I
was
roasting
.
Presto
!
how
quick
he
dropped
it
when
my
ball
broke
his
wrist
like
a
twig
.
"
And
the
Friend
of
the
Flag
laughed
gaily
at
the
recollection
,
as
at
the
best
piece
of
mirth
with
which
memory
could
furnish
her
.
"
But
you
asked
about
Marquise
?
Well
,
he
was
what
you
are
,
a
hawk
among
carrion
crows
,
a
gentleman
in
the
ranks
.
Dieu
!
how
handsome
he
was
!
Nobody
ever
knew
his
real
name
,
but
they
thought
he
was
of
Austrian
breed
,
and
we
called
him
Marquise
because
he
was
so
womanish
white
in
his
skin
and
so
dainty
in
all
his
ways
.
Just
like
you
!
Marquise
could
fight
,
fight
like
a
hundred
devils
;
and
—
pouf
!
—
how
proud
he
was
;
—
very
much
like
you
altogether
!
Now
,
one
day
something
went
wrong
in
the
exercise-ground
.
Marquise
was
not
to
blame
,
but
they
thought
he
was
;
and
an
adjutant
struck
him
—
flick
,
flack
,
like
that
—
across
the
face
with
a
riding-switch
.
Marquise
had
his
bayonet
fixed
—
he
belonged
to
the
Zouaves
—
and
before
we
knew
what
was
up
,
crash
the
blade
went
through
—
through
the
breast-bone
,
and
out
at
the
spine
—
and
the
adjutant
fell
as
dead
as
a
cat
,
with
the
blood
spouting
out
like
a
fountain
.
'
I
come
of
a
great
race
,
that
never
took
insult
without
giving
back
death
,
'
was
all
that
Marquise
said
when
they
seized
him
,
and
brought
him
to
judgment
:
and
he
would
never
say
of
what
race
that
was
.
They
shot
him
—
ah
,
bah
!
discipline
must
be
kept
—
and
I
saw
him
with
five
great
wounds
in
his
chest
,
and
his
beautiful
golden
hair
all
soiled
with
the
sand
and
the
powder
,
lying
there
by
the
open
grave
,
that
they
threw
him
into
as
if
he
were
offal
:
and
we
never
knew
more
of
him
than
that
.
"
Cigarette
's
radiant
laugh
had
died
,
and
her
careless
voice
had
sunk
,
over
the
latter
words
.
As
the
little
vivacious
brunette
told
the
tale
of
a
nameless
life
,
it
took
its
eloquence
from
her
,
simple
and
brief
as
her
speech
was
,
and
it
owned
a
deeper
pathos
because
the
reckless
young
Bacchante
of
the
As
de
Pique
grew
grave
one
moment
while
she
told
it
.
Then
,
grave
still
,
she
leaned
her
brown
bright
face
nearer
down
from
her
oval
hole
in
the
wall
.
"
Now
,
"
she
whispered
very
low
,
"
if
you
mutiny
once
they
will
shoot
you
just
like
Marquise
,
and
you
will
die
just
as
silent
,
like
him
.
"
"
Well
,
"
he
answered
her
slowly
,
"
why
not
?
Death
is
no
great
terror
;
I
risk
it
every
day
for
the
sake
of
a
common
soldier
's
rations
,
why
should
I
not
chance
it
for
the
sake
and
in
the
defence
of
my
honour
?
"
"
Bah
!
men
sell
their
honour
for
their
daily
bread
all
the
world
over
!
"
said
Cigarette
,
with
the
satire
that
had
treble
raciness
from
the
slang
in
which
she
clothed
it
.
"
But
it
is
not
you
alone
.
See
here
—
one
example
set
on
your
part
,
and
half
your
regiment
will
mutiny
too
.
It
is
bitter
work
to
obey
the
Black
Hawk
,
and
if
you
give
the
signal
of
revolt
,
three
parts
of
your
comrades
will
join
you
.
Now
what
will
that
end
in
,
beau
lion
—
eh
?
"
"
Tell
me
;
you
are
a
soldier
yourself
,
you
say
.
"
"
Yes
!
I
am
a
soldier
!
"
said
Cigarette
,
between
her
tight-set
teeth
,
while
her
eyes
lightened
,
and
her
voice
sank
down
into
a
whisper
,
that
had
a
certain
terrible
meaning
in
it
,
like
the
first
dropping
of
the
scattered
opening
shots
in
the
distance
before
a
great
battle
commences
;
"
and
I
have
seen
war
,
not
holiday
war
—
but
war
in
earnest
—
war
when
men
fall
like
hailstones
,
and
tear
like
tigers
,
and
choke
like
mad
dogs
with
their
throats
full
of
blood
and
sand
;
when
the
gun-carriage
wheels
go
crash
over
the
writhing
limbs
,
and
the
horses
charge
full
gallop
over
the
living
faces
,
and
the
hoofs
beat
out
the
brains
before
death
has
stunned
them
senseless
.
Oh
yes
!
I
am
a
soldier
,
and
I
will
tell
you
one
thing
I
have
seen
.
I
have
seen
soldiers
mutiny
,
a
squadron
of
them
,
because
they
hated
their
chief
and
loved
two
of
their
sous-officiers
;
and
I
have
seen
the
end
of
it
all
—
a
few
hundred
men
,
blind
and
drunk
with
despair
,
at
bay
against
as
many
thousands
,
and
walled
in
with
four
lines
of
steel
and
artillery
,
and
fired
on
from
a
score
of
cannon-mouths
—
volley
on
volley
like
the
thunder
—
till
not
one
living
man
was
left
,
and
there
was
only
a
shapeless
heaving
moaning
mass
,
with
the
black
smoke
over
all
.
That
is
what
I
have
seen
;
you
will
not
make
me
see
it
again
?
"
Her
face
was
very
earnest
,
very
eloquent
,
very
dark
and
tender
with
thought
;
there
was
a
vein
of
grave
,
even
of
intense
feeling
,
that
ran
through
the
significant
words
to
which
tone
and
accent
lent
far
more
meaning
than
lay
in
their
mere
phrases
;
the
little
bohemian
lost
her
insolence
when
she
pleaded
for
her
"
children
,
"
her
comrades
;
and
the
mischievous
pet
of
the
camp
never
treated
lightly
what
touched
the
France
that
she
loved
,
the
France
that
alone
of
all
things
in
her
careless
life
she
held
in
honour
and
reverence
.
"
You
will
not
make
me
see
it
again
?
"
she
said
,
once
more
leaning
out
,
with
eyes
that
were
like
a
brown
brook
sparkling
deep
yet
bright
in
the
sun
,
fixed
on
him
.
"
They
would
rise
at
your
bidding
,
and
they
would
be
mowed
down
like
corn
.
You
will
not
?
"
"
Never
!
I
give
you
my
word
.
"
The
promise
was
from
his
heart
.
He
would
have
endured
any
indignity
,
any
outrage
,
rather
than
have
drawn
into
ruin
,
through
him
,
the
fiery
,
fearless
,
untutored
lives
of
the
men
,
who
marched
and
slept
and
rode
and
fought
,
and
lay
in
the
light
of
the
picket-fires
,
and
swept
down
through
the
hot
sand
storms
on
to
the
desert
foe
by
his
side
.
Cigarette
stretched
out
her
hand
to
him
—
that
tiny
brown
hand
,
which
,
small
though
it
was
,
had
looked
so
burnt
and
so
hard
beside
the
delicate
,
fairy
,
ivory
carvings
of
his
workmanship
—
stretched
it
out
with
a
frank
,
winning
,
childlike
,
soldierlike
grace
.
"
C'est
ça
,
tu
es
bon
soldat
!
"
He
bent
over
the
hand
she
held
to
his
in
the
courtesy
natural
with
him
to
all
her
sex
,
and
touched
it
lightly
with
his
lips
.
"
Thank
you
,
my
little
comrade
,
"
he
said
,
simply
,
with
the
graver
thought
still
on
him
that
her
relation
and
her
entreaty
had
evoked
,
"
you
have
given
me
a
lesson
that
I
shall
not
be
quick
to
forget
.
"
Cigarette
was
the
wildest
little
bacchanal
that
ever
pirouetted
for
the
delight
of
half
a
score
of
soldiers
in
their
shirt-sleeves
and
half
drunk
;
she
was
the
most
reckless
coquette
that
ever
made
the
roll-call
of
her
lovers
range
from
prince-marshals
to
ploughboy
conscripts
;
she
had
flirted
as
far
and
wide
as
a
butterfly
flirts
with
the
blossoms
it
flutters
on
to
through
the
range
of
a
summer-day
;
she
took
kisses
,
if
the
giver
of
them
were
handsome
,
as
readily
as
a
child
takes
sweetmeats
at
Mardi
Gras
;
and
of
feminine
honour
,
feminine
scruples
,
feminine
delicacy
,
knew
nothing
,
save
by
such
very
dim
fragmentary
instincts
as
nature
still
planted
in
scant
growth
amidst
the
rank
soil
and
the
pestilent
atmosphere
of
camp-life
.
Her
eyes
had
never
sunk
,
her
face
had
never
flushed
,
her
heart
had
never
panted
,
for
the
boldest
or
the
wildest
wooer
of
them
all
,
from
M
.
le
Duc
's
Lauzun-esque
blandishments
,
to
Pouffer-de-Rire
's
or
Miou-Miou
's
rough
overtures
;
she
had
the
coquetry
of
her
nation
with
the
audacity
of
a
boy
.
Now
only
,
for
the
first
time
,
Cigarette
coloured
hotly
at
the
grave
,
graceful
,
distant
salute
,
so
cold
and
so
courteous
,
which
was
offered
her
in
lieu
of
the
rude
and
boisterous
familiarities
to
which
she
was
accustomed
;
and
drew
her
hand
away
with
what
was
,
to
the
shame
of
her
soldierly
hardihood
and
her
barrack
tutelage
,
very
nearly
akin
to
an
impulse
of
shyness
.
"
Dame
!
Ne
me
donnez
de
la
gabatine
!
"
30
"
I
am
not
a
court
lady
,
bon-zig
!
"
she
cried
,
hastily
,
almost
petulantly
,
to
cover
the
unwonted
and
unwelcome
weakness
;
while
,
to
make
good
the
declaration
and
revindicate
her
military
renown
,
she
balanced
herself
lightly
on
the
stone
ledge
of
her
oval
hole
and
sprang
with
a
young
wild-cat
's
easy
vaulting
leap
over
his
head
and
over
the
heads
of
the
people
beneath
,
on
to
the
ledge
of
the
house
opposite
,
a
low-built
wine-shop
,
whose
upper
story
nearly
touched
the
leaning
walls
of
the
old
Moorish
buildings
in
which
she
had
been
perched
.
The
crowd
in
the
street
below
looked
up
amazed
and
aghast
at
that
bound
from
casement
to
casement
as
she
flew
over
their
heads
like
a
blue-and-scarlet-winged
bird
of
Oran
;
but
they
laughed
as
they
saw
who
it
was
.
"
It
is
Cigarette
!
"
growled
a
Turco
Indigène
.
"
Ah-ah
!
the
devil
,
for
a
certainty
,
must
have
been
her
father
!
"
To
be
sure
!
"
cried
the
Friend
of
the
Flag
,
looking
from
her
elevation
;
"
he
is
a
very
good
father
,
too
,
and
I
do
n't
tease
him
like
his
sons
the
priests
!
But
I
have
told
him
to
take
you
,
Ben
Arsli
,
the
next
time
you
are
stripping
a
dead
body
;
so
look
out
;
he
wo
n't
have
to
wait
long
.
"
The
discomfited
Indigène
hustled
his
way
with
many
an
oath
through
the
laughing
crowd
as
best
he
might
,
and
Cigarette
,
with
an
airy
pirouette
on
the
wine-shop
's
roof
that
would
have
done
honour
to
any
opera
boards
,
and
was
executed
as
carelessly
,
twenty
feet
above
earth
,
as
if
she
had
been
a
pantomime-dancer
all
her
days
,
let
herself
down
by
the
awning
,
hand
over
hand
like
a
little
mousse
from
the
harbour
,
jumped
on
to
a
forage-waggon
that
was
just
passing
full
trot
down
the
street
,
and
disappeared
,
standing
on
the
piles
of
hay
,
and
singing
to
the
driving
tringlos
'
unutterable
delight
the
stanzas
of
Béranger
's
"
Infidelités
de
Lisette
;
"
her
lithe
slender
miniature
form
,
with
its
flash
of
gold
on
the
breast
,
and
its
strip
of
rich
scarlet
in
the
fluttering
sash
,
rising
out
against
the
blue
and
burning
sky
,
the
glare
of
the
white
walls
,
and
the
dusky
glow
and
movement
of
the
ebbing
and
flowing
crowd
.
Cecil
looked
after
her
with
a
certain
touch
of
pity
for
her
in
him
.
"
What
a
gallant
boy
is
spoilt
in
that
little
Amazon
!
"
he
thought
;
the
quick
flush
of
her
face
,
the
quick
withdrawal
of
her
hand
he
had
not
noticed
;
she
had
not
much
interest
for
him
—
scarcely
any
,
indeed
—
save
that
he
saw
she
was
pretty
,
with
a
mignonne
mischievous
face
,
that
all
the
sun-tan
of
Africa
and
all
the
wild
life
of
the
Caserne
could
not
harden
or
debase
.
But
he
was
sorry
a
child
so
bright
and
so
brave
should
be
turned
into
three
parts
a
trooper
as
she
was
,
should
have
been
tossed
up
on
the
scum
and
filth
of
the
lowest
barrack-life
,
and
should
be
doomed
in
a
few
years
'
time
to
become
the
yellow
,
battered
,
foul-mouthed
,
vulture-eyed
camp-follower
that
premature
old
age
would
surely
render
the
darling
of
the
tricolour
,
the
pythoness
of
the
As
de
Pique
.
Cigarette
was
making
scorn
of
her
doom
of
Sex
,
dancing
it
down
,
drinking
it
down
,
laughing
it
down
,
burning
it
out
in
tobacco
fumes
,
drowning
it
in
tumbling
cascades
of
wine
,
trampling
it
to
dust
under
the
cancan
by
her
little
brass-bound
boots
,
mocking
it
away
with
her
slang
jests
and
her
Theresa
songs
,
and
her
devil-may-care
audacities
,
till
there
was
scarce
a
trace
of
it
left
in
this
prettiest
and
wildest
little
scamp
of
all
the
Army
of
Africa
.
But
strive
to
kill
it
how
she
would
,
her
sex
would
have
its
revenge
one
day
and
play
Nemesis
to
her
.
She
was
bewitching
now
;
bewitching
,
though
she
had
no
witchery
for
him
,
in
her
youth
.
But
when
the
bloom
should
leave
her
brown
cheeks
,
and
the
laughter
die
out
of
her
lightning
glance
,
the
womanhood
she
had
defied
would
assert
itself
,
and
avenge
itself
,
and
be
hideous
in
the
sight
of
the
men
who
now
loved
the
tinkling
of
those
little
spurred
feet
,
and
shouted
with
applause
to
hear
the
reckless
barrack-blasphemies
ring
their
mirth
from
that
fresh
mouth
which
was
now
like
a
bud
from
a
damask
rose-branch
,
though
even
now
it
steeped
itself
in
wine
,
and
sullied
itself
with
oaths
and
seared
itself
with
smoke
,
and
had
never
been
touched
from
its
infancy
with
any
kiss
that
was
innocent
,
not
even
with
its
mother
's
.
And
there
was
a
deep
tinge
of
pity
for
her
in
Cecil
's
thoughts
as
he
watched
her
out
of
sight
,
and
then
strolled
across
to
the
café
opposite
to
finish
his
cigar
beneath
its
orange-striped
awning
.
The
child
had
been
flung
upward
,
a
little
straw
floating
in
the
gutter
of
Paris
iniquities
;
a
little
foam-bell
bubbling
on
the
sewer
waters
of
barrack-vice
;
the
stick
had
been
her
teacher
,
the
baggage-waggon
her
cradle
,
the
camp-dogs
her
playfellows
,
the
caserne
oaths
her
lullaby
,
the
guidons
her
sole
guiding-stars
,
the
razzia
her
sole
fête-day
:
it
was
little
marvel
that
the
bright
,
bold
,
insolent
little
Friend
of
the
Flag
had
nothing
left
of
her
sex
save
a
kitten
's
mischief
and
a
coquette
's
archness
.
It
said
much
rather
for
the
straight
fair
sunlit
instincts
of
the
untaught
nature
,
that
Cigarette
had
gleaned
,
even
out
of
such
a
life
,
two
virtues
that
she
would
have
held
by
to
the
death
,
if
tried
;
a
truthfulness
that
would
have
scorned
a
lie
as
only
fit
for
cowards
,
and
a
loyalty
that
cleaved
to
France
as
a
religion
.
Cecil
thought
that
a
gallant
boy
was
spoiled
in
this
eighteen-year-old
brunette
of
a
campaigner
;
he
might
have
gone
further
,
and
said
that
a
hero
was
lost
.
"
Voilà
!
"
said
Cigarette
between
her
little
teeth
.
She
stood
in
the
glittering
Algerine
night
,
brilliant
with
a
million
stars
,
and
balmy
with
a
million
flowers
,
before
the
bronze
trellised
gate
of
the
villa
on
the
Sahel
,
where
Châteauroy
when
he
was
not
on
active
service
—
which
chanced
rarely
,
for
he
was
one
of
the
finest
soldiers
and
most
daring
chiefs
in
Africa
—
indemnified
himself
with
the
magnificence
that
his
private
fortune
enabled
him
to
enjoy
,
for
the
unsparing
exertions
and
the
rugged
privations
that
he
always
shared
willingly
with
the
lowest
of
his
soldiers
.
It
was
the
grandest
trait
in
the
man
's
character
that
he
utterly
scorned
the
effeminacy
which
many
commanders
provided
for
their
table
,
their
comfort
,
and
their
gratification
whilst
campaigning
,
and
would
commonly
neither
take
himself
nor
allow
to
his
officers
any
more
indulgence
on
the
march
than
his
troopers
themselves
enjoyed
.
But
his
villa
on
the
Sahel
was
a
miniature
palace
;
it
had
formerly
been
the
harem
of
a
great
Rais
,
and
the
gardens
were
as
enchanting
as
the
interior
was
,
if
something
florid
,
still
as
elegant
as
Paris
art
and
Paris
luxury
could
make
it
;
for
ferocious
as
the
Black
Hawk
was
in
war
,
and
well
as
he
loved
the
chase
and
the
slaughter
,
he
did
not
disdain
,
when
he
had
whetted
beak
and
talons
to
satiety
,
to
smoothe
his
ruffled
plumage
in
downy
nests
and
under
caressing
hands
.
To-night
the
windows
of
the
pretty
,
low
,
snow-white
,
far-stretching
building
were
lighted
and
open
,
and
through
the
wilderness
of
cactus
,
myrtle
,
orange
,
citron
,
fuchsia
,
and
a
thousand
flowers
that
almost
buried
it
under
their
weight
of
leaf
and
blossom
,
a
myriad
of
lamps
were
gleaming
like
so
many
glow-worms
beneath
the
foliage
,
while
from
a
cedar
grove
some
slight
way
farther
out
,
the
melodies
and
overtures
of
the
best
military
bands
in
Algiers
came
mellowed
,
though
not
broken
,
by
the
distance
,
and
the
fall
of
the
bubbling
fountains
.
Cigarette
looked
and
listened
,
and
her
gay
brown
face
grew
duskily
warm
with
wrath
.
"
Ah
,
bah
!
"
she
muttered
,
as
she
pressed
her
pretty
lips
to
the
lattice-work
.
"
The
men
die
like
murrained
sheep
in
the
hospital
,
and
get
sour
bread
tossed
to
them
as
if
they
were
pigs
,
and
are
thrashed
if
they
pawn
their
muskets
for
a
stoup
of
drink
when
their
throats
are
dry
as
the
desert
—
and
you
live
like
a
coq
en
pâte
!
31
.
Morbleu
!
what
fools
the
people
are
to
fight
,
and
toil
,
and
get
their
limbs
broken
,
and
have
their
brains
dashed
out
by
spent
balls
,
that
M
.
le
Maráchal
may
send
home
a
grand
story
with
his
own
name
flaring
in
letters
a
yard
long
on
the
placards
,
and
M
.
le
Colonel
give
his
fêtes
with
stars
and
ribbons
on
his
breast
,
while
those
who
won
the
battle
lie
rotting
in
the
sand
!
"
Cigarette
was
a
resolute
little
democrat
;
she
had
loaded
the
carbines
behind
the
barricade
in
an
émeute
in
Paris
before
she
was
ten
years
old
,
and
was
not
seldom
in
the
perplexity
of
conflicting
creeds
when
her
loyalty
to
the
tricolour
and
the
guidons
smote
with
a
violent
clash
on
her
love
for
the
populace
and
their
liberty
.
She
was
given
,
however
,
usually
to
reconciling
the
dilemma
with
all
her
sex
's
illogical
ingenuity
,
and
so
far
thoroughly
carried
out
her
republicanism
that
she
boxed
a
Prince
's
ear
without
ceremony
when
one
tried
to
subjugate
her
,
and
never
by
any
chance
veiled
the
sun
of
her
smiles
to
her
"
children
"
the
troopers
—
not
even
when
she
was
tired
to
death
after
a
burning
march
across
leagues
on
leagues
of
locust-wasted
country
,
or
had
spent
half
the
night
,
after
a
skirmish
,
dressing
wounds
,
soothing
fever
,
seeking
out
the
dying
men
who
lay
scattered
on
the
outskirts
of
the
field
of
carnage
,
with
a
magic
and
a
sweetness
,
and
a
patience
that
seemed
rather
fitting
for
the
gentle
Soeurs
Grises
than
for
the
wayward
,
mischievous
,
insolent
young
reveller
of
the
As
de
Pique
.
She
looked
a
moment
longer
through
the
gilded
scroll-work
;
then
,
as
she
had
done
once
before
,
thrust
her
pistols
well
within
her
sash
that
they
should
not
catch
upon
the
boughs
,
and
pushing
herself
through
the
prickly
cactus
hedge
,
impervious
to
anything
save
herself
or
a
Barbary
marmoset
,
twisted
with
marvellous
ingenuity
through
the
sharp-pointed
leaves
and
the
close
barriers
of
spines
,
and
launched
herself
with
inimitable
dexterity
on
to
the
other
side
of
the
cacti
.
Cigarette
had
too
often
played
a
game
at
spying
and
reconnoitring
for
her
regiments
,
and
played
it
with
a
cleverness
that
distanced
even
the
most
rusé
of
the
Zéphyrs
,
not
to
be
able
to
do
just
whatever
she
chose
,
in
taking
the
way
she
liked
,
and
lurking
unseen
at
discretion
.
She
crossed
the
breadth
of
the
grounds
under
the
heavy
shade
of
arbutus-trees
with
a
hare
's
fleetness
,
and
stood
a
second
looking
at
the
open
windows
and
the
terraces
that
lay
before
them
,
brightly
lighted
by
the
summer
moon
and
by
the
lamps
that
sparkled
among
the
shrubs
.
Then
down
she
dropped
,
as
quickly
,
as
lightly
,
as
a
young
setter
down
charging
among
the
ferns
,
into
a
shower
of
rhododendrons
,
whose
rose
and
lilac
blossoms
shut
her
wholly
within
them
like
a
fairy
enclosed
in
bloom
.
The
good
fairy
of
one
life
there
she
was
assuredly
,
though
she
might
be
but
a
devil-may-care
,
audacious
,
careless
little
feminine
Belphégor
and
military
Asmodeus
.
"
Ah
!
"
she
said
,
quickly
and
sharply
,
with
a
deep-drawn
breath
.
The
single
ejaculation
was
at
once
a
menace
,
a
tenderness
,
a
whirlwind
of
rage
,
a
volume
of
disdain
,
a
world
of
pity
.
It
was
intensely
French
,
and
the
whole
nature
of
Cigarette
was
in
it
.
Yet
all
she
saw
was
a
small
and
brilliant
group
sauntering
to
and
fro
before
the
open
windows
,
after
dinner
,
listening
to
the
bands
,
which
,
through
dinner
,
had
played
to
them
,
and
laughing
low
and
softly
;
and
,
at
some
distance
from
them
,
beneath
the
shade
of
a
cedar
,
the
figure
of
a
Corporal
of
Chasseurs
,
calm
,
erect
,
motionless
,
as
though
he
were
the
figure
of
a
soldier
cast
in
bronze
.
The
scene
was
simple
enough
,
though
very
picturesque
;
but
it
told
,
by
its
vivid
force
of
contrast
,
a
whole
history
to
Cigarette
.
"
A
true
soldier
!
"
she
muttered
,
where
she
lay
among
the
rhododendrons
,
while
her
eyes
grew
very
soft
,
as
she
gave
the
highest
word
of
praise
that
her
whole
range
of
language
held
.
"
A
true
soldier
!
How
he
keeps
his
promise
!
But
it
must
be
bitter
.
"
She
looked
awhile
,
very
wistfully
,
at
the
Chasseur
,
where
he
stood
under
the
Lebanon
boughs
;
then
her
glance
swept
bright
as
a
hawk
's
over
the
terrace
,
and
lighted
with
a
prescient
hatred
on
the
central
form
of
all
—
a
woman
's
.
There
were
two
other
great
ladies
there
;
but
she
passed
them
,
and
darted
with
unerring
instinct
on
that
proud
,
fair
,
patrician
head
,
with
its
haughty
stag-like
carriage
and
the
crown
of
its
golden
hair
.
Cigarette
had
seen
grandes
dames
by
the
thousand
,
though
never
very
close
;
seen
them
in
Paris
,
when
they
came
to
look
on
at
a
grand
review
;
seen
them
in
their
court
attire
,
when
the
Guides
had
filled
the
Carrousel
on
some
palace
ball
night
,
and
lined
the
Cour
des
Princes
,
and
she
had
bewitched
the
officers
of
the
guard
into
letting
her
pass
in
to
see
the
pageantry
.
But
she
had
never
felt
for
those
grandes
dames
anything
save
a
considerably
contemptuous
indifference
.
She
had
looked
on
them
pretty
much
as
a
war-worn
powder-tried
veteran
looks
on
the
curled
dandy
of
some
fashionable
home-staying
corps
.
She
had
never
realised
the
difference
betwixt
them
and
herself
,
save
in
so
far
as
she
thought
them
useless
butterflies
,
worth
nothing
at
all
,
and
laughed
as
she
triumphantly
remembered
how
she
could
shoot
a
man
like
any
Tirailleur
,
and
break
in
a
colt
like
any
rough-rider
.
Now
,
for
the
first
time
,
the
sight
of
one
of
those
aristocrats
smote
her
with
a
keen
hot
sting
of
heart-burning
jealousy
.
Now
,
for
the
first
time
,
the
little
Friend
of
the
Flag
looked
at
all
the
nameless
graces
of
rank
with
an
envy
that
her
sunny
,
gladsome
,
generous
nature
had
never
before
been
touched
with
—
with
a
sudden
perception
,
quick
as
thought
,
bitter
as
gall
,
wounding
,
and
swift
,
and
poignant
,
of
what
this
womanhood
,
that
he
had
said
she
herself
had
lost
,
might
be
in
its
highest
and
purest
shape
.
"
Unsexed
—
he
said
I
was
unsexed
,
"
she
mused
,
while
her
teeth
clenched
on
the
ruby
fulness
of
her
lips
,
and
her
heart
swelled
,
half
with
impotent
rage
,
half
with
unconfessed
pain
.
For
the
first
time
,
looking
on
this
imperial
foreign
beauty
,
sweeping
so
slowly
and
so
idly
along
there
in
the
Algerian
star-light
,
she
understood
all
that
he
had
missed
,
all
that
he
had
meant
,
when
he
had
used
that
single
word
,
for
which
she
had
vowed
on
him
her
vengeance
and
the
vengeance
of
the
Army
of
Africa
.
"
If
those
are
the
women
that
he
knew
before
he
came
here
,
I
do
not
wonder
that
he
never
cared
to
watch
even
my
bamboula
,
"
was
the
latent
,
unacknowledged
thought
that
was
so
cruel
to
her
:
the
consciousness
—
which
forced
itself
in
on
her
,
while
her
eyes
jealously
followed
the
perfect
grace
of
the
one
in
whom
instinct
had
found
her
rival
—
that
,
while
she
had
been
so
proud
of
her
recklessness
,
and
her
devilry
,
and
her
trooper
's
slang
,
and
her
deadly
skill
as
a
shot
,
she
had
only
been
something
very
worthless
,
something
very
lightly
held
by
those
who
liked
her
for
a
ribald
jest
,
and
a
guinguette
dance
,
and
a
Spahis
'
supper
of
headlong
riot
and
drunken
mirth
.
The
mood
did
not
last
.
She
was
too
brave
,
too
fiery
,
too
dauntless
,
too
untamed
.
The
dusky
angry
flush
upon
her
face
grew
deeper
,
and
the
passion
gathered
more
stormily
in
her
eyes
,
while
she
felt
the
pistol-butts
in
her
sash
,
and
laughed
low
to
herself
,
where
she
lay
stretched
under
her
flowery
nest
.
"
Bah
!
she
would
faint
,
I
dare
say
,
at
the
mere
sight
of
these
,
"
she
thought
,
with
her
old
disdain
,
"
and
would
stand
fire
no
more
than
a
gazelle
!
They
are
only
made
for
summer-day
weather
,
those
dainty
,
gorgeous
,
silver
pheasants
.
A
breath
of
war
,
a
touch
of
tempest
,
would
soon
beat
them
down
—
crash
!
—
with
all
their
proud
crests
drooping
!
"
Like
many
another
,
Cigarette
underrated
what
she
had
no
knowledge
of
,
and
depreciated
an
antagonist
the
measure
of
whose
fence
she
had
no
power
to
gauge
.
Crouched
there
among
the
rhododendrons
,
she
lay
as
still
as
a
mouse
,
moving
nearer
and
nearer
,
though
none
would
have
told
that
so
much
as
a
lizard
even
stirred
under
the
blossoms
,
until
her
ear
,
quick
and
unerring
as
an
Indian
's
,
could
detect
the
sense
of
the
words
spoken
by
that
group
,
which
so
aroused
all
the
hot
ire
of
her
warrior
's
soul
and
her
democrat
's
impatience
.
Châteauroy
himself
was
bending
his
fine
dark
head
towards
the
patrician
on
whom
her
instinct
of
sex
had
fastened
her
hatred
.
"
You
expressed
your
wish
to
see
my
Corporal
's
little
sculptures
again
,
Madame
,
"
he
was
murmuring
now
,
as
Cigarette
got
close
enough
under
her
flower
shadows
to
catch
the
sense
of
the
words
.
"
To
hear
was
to
obey
with
me
.
He
waits
your
commands
yonder
.
"
"
Mille
tonneres
!
It
was
you
,
was
it
,
brought
him
here
?
"
muttered
the
Friend
of
the
Flag
to
herself
,
with
the
passion
in
her
burning
more
hotly
against
that
"
silver
pheasant
,
"
whose
delicate
train
was
sweeping
the
white
marbles
of
Châteauroy
's
terraces
,
and
whose
reply
,
"
with
fashion
,
not
with
feeling
,
softly
freighted
,
"
she
lost
,
though
she
could
guess
what
it
had
been
,
when
a
lacquey
crossed
the
lawn
,
and
summoned
the
Chasseur
from
his
waiting-place
beneath
the
cedars
.
Cecil
obeyed
,
passed
up
the
terrace
stairs
,
and
stood
before
his
Colonel
,
giving
the
salute
;
the
shade
of
some
acacias
still
fell
across
him
,
whilst
the
party
he
fronted
were
in
all
the
glow
of
a
full
Algerian
moon
,
and
of
the
thousand
lamps
among
the
belt
of
flowers
and
trees
.
Cigarette
gave
another
sharp
deep-drawn
breath
,
and
lay
as
mute
and
motionless
as
she
had
done
before
then
among
the
rushes
of
some
dried
brook
's
bed
,
scanning
a
hostile
Kabyl
camp
,
when
the
fate
of
a
handful
of
French
troops
had
rested
on
her
surety
and
her
caution
.
Châteauroy
spoke
with
a
carelessness
of
a
man
to
a
dog
,
turning
to
his
Corporal
.
"
Victor
,
Madame
la
Princesse
honours
you
with
the
desire
to
see
your
toys
again
.
Spread
them
out
.
"
The
savage
authority
of
his
general
speech
was
softened
for
sake
of
his
guest
's
presence
,
but
there
was
a
covert
tone
in
the
words
that
made
Cigarette
murmur
to
herself
:
"
If
he
forget
his
promise
,
I
will
forgive
him
!
"
Cecil
had
not
forgotten
it
;
neither
had
he
forgotten
the
lesson
that
this
fair
aristocrate
had
read
him
in
the
morning
.
He
saluted
his
chief
again
,
set
the
chess-box
down
upon
the
ledge
of
the
marble
balus-trade
and
stood
silent
,
without
once
glancing
at
the
fair
and
haughty
face
that
was
more
brilliant
still
in
the
African
starlight
than
it
had
been
in
the
noon
sun
of
the
Chasseurs
'
Chambrée
.
Courtesy
was
forbidden
him
as
insult
from
a
Corporal
to
a
nobly
born
beauty
;
he
no
more
quarrelled
with
the
decree
than
with
other
inevitable
consequences
,
inevitable
degradations
,
that
followed
on
his
entrance
as
a
private
under
the
French
flag
.
He
had
been
used
to
the
impassable
demarcations
of
Caste
,
he
did
not
dispute
them
more
now
that
he
was
without
,
than
he
had
done
when
within
,
their
magic
pale
.
The
carvings
were
passed
from
hand
to
hand
as
the
Marquis
's
six
or
eight
guests
,
listlessly
willing
to
be
amused
in
the
warmth
of
the
evening
after
their
dinner
,
occupied
themselves
with
the
ivory
chess
armies
,
cut
with
a
skill
and
a
finish
worthy
a
Roman
studio
.
Praise
enough
was
awarded
to
the
art
,
but
none
of
them
remembered
the
artist
who
stood
apart
,
grave
,
calm
,
with
a
certain
serene
dignity
that
could
not
be
degraded
because
others
chose
to
treat
him
as
the
station
he
filled
gave
them
fit
right
to
do
.
Only
one
glanced
at
him
with
a
touch
of
wondering
pity
,
softening
her
pride
;
she
who
had
rejected
the
gift
of
those
mimic
squadrons
.
"
You
were
surely
a
sculptor
,
once
?
"
she
asked
him
,
with
that
graceful
distant
kindness
which
she
might
have
shown
some
Arab
outcast
.
"
Never
,
Madame
.
"
"
Indeed
!
Then
who
taught
you
such
exquisite
art
?
"
"
It
cannot
claim
to
be
called
art
,
Madame
.
"
She
looked
at
him
with
an
increased
interest
:
the
accent
of
his
voice
told
her
that
this
man
,
whatever
he
might
be
now
,
had
once
been
a
gentleman
.
"
Oh
yes
;
it
is
perfect
of
its
kind
.
Who
was
your
master
in
it
?
"
"
A
common
teacher
,
Madame
—
Necessity
.
"
There
was
a
very
sweet
gleam
of
compassion
in
the
lustre
of
her
dark
dreaming
eyes
.
"
Does
necessity
often
teach
so
well
?
"
"
In
the
ranks
of
our
army
,
Madame
,
I
think
it
does
;
—
often
indeed
much
better
.
"
Châteauroy
had
stood
by
and
heard
,
with
as
much
impatience
as
he
cared
to
show
before
guests
whose
rank
was
precious
to
the
man
who
had
still
weakness
enough
to
be
ashamed
that
his
father
's
brave
and
famous
life
had
first
been
cradled
under
the
thatch
roof
of
a
little
posting-house
.
"
Victor
knows
that
neither
he
nor
his
men
have
any
right
to
waste
their
time
on
such
trash
,
"
he
said
,
carelessly
;
"
but
the
truth
is
,
they
love
the
canteen
so
well
that
they
will
do
anything
to
add
enough
to
their
pay
to
buy
brandy
.
"
She
whom
he
had
called
Madame
la
Princesse
looked
with
a
doubting
surprise
at
the
sculptor
of
the
white
Arab
King
she
held
.
"
That
man
does
not
carve
for
brandy
,
"
she
thought
.
"
It
must
be
a
solace
to
many
a
weary
hour
in
the
barracks
to
be
able
to
produce
such
beautiful
trifles
as
these
,
"
she
said
aloud
.
"
Surely
you
encourage
such
pursuits
,
Monsieur
?
"
"
Not
I
,
"
said
Châteauroy
,
with
a
dash
of
his
camp
tone
that
he
could
not
withhold
.
"
There
are
but
two
arts
or
virtues
for
a
trooper
to
my
taste
—
fighting
and
obedience
.
"
"
You
should
be
in
the
Russian
service
,
M
.
de
Châteauroy
,
"
said
the
lady
,
with
a
smile
,
that
,
slight
as
it
was
,
made
the
Marquis
's
eyes
flash
fire
.
"
Almost
I
wish
I
had
been
,
"
he
answered
her
;
"
men
are
made
to
keep
their
grades
there
,
and
privates
who
think
themselves
fine
gentlemen
receive
the
lash
they
merit
.
"
"
How
he
hates
his
Corporal
!
"
thought
Miladi
,
while
she
laid
aside
the
White
King
once
more
.
"
Nay
,
"
interposed
Châteauroy
,
recovering
his
momentary
self-abandonment
,
"
since
you
like
the
bagatelles
,
do
me
honour
enough
to
keep
them
.
"
"
Oh
no
,
I
offered
your
soldier
his
own
price
for
them
this
morning
,
and
he
refused
any
.
"
Châteauroy
swung
round
.
"
Ah
,
sacripant
!
you
dared
refuse
your
bits
of
ivory
when
you
were
honoured
by
an
offer
for
them
.
"
Cecil
stood
silent
;
his
eyes
met
his
chief
's
steadily
;
Châteauroy
had
seen
that
look
when
his
Chasseur
had
bearded
him
in
the
solitude
of
his
tent
,
and
demanded
back
the
Pearl
of
the
Desert
.
The
Princess
glanced
at
both
;
then
she
stooped
her
elegant
head
slightly
to
the
Marquis
.
"
Do
not
blame
your
Corporal
unjustly
through
me
,
I
pray
you
.
He
refused
any
price
,
but
he
offered
them
to
me
very
gracefully
as
a
gift
,
though
of
course
it
was
not
possible
that
I
should
accept
them
so
.
"
"
The
man
is
the
most
insolent
larron
in
the
service
,
"
muttered
her
host
,
as
he
motioned
Cecil
back
off
the
terrace
.
"
Get
you
gone
,
sir
,
and
leave
your
toys
here
,
or
I
will
have
them
broken
up
by
a
hammer
.
"
The
words
were
low
,
that
they
should
not
offend
the
ears
of
the
great
ladies
who
were
his
listeners
,
but
they
were
coarsely
savage
in
their
whispered
command
,
and
the
Princess
heard
them
.
"
He
has
brought
his
Chasseur
here
only
to
humiliate
him
,
"
thought
Miladi
with
the
same
thought
that
flashed
through
the
mind
of
the
little
Friend
of
the
Flag
where
she
hid
among
her
rhododendrons
.
Now
the
dainty
aristocrat
was
very
proud
,
but
she
was
not
so
proud
but
that
justice
was
stronger
in
her
than
pride
,
and
a
noble
generous
temper
mellowed
the
somewhat
too
cold
and
languid
negligence
of
one
of
the
fairest
and
haughtiest
women
that
ever
adorned
a
court
.
She
was
too
generous
not
to
rescue
any
one
who
suffered
through
her
the
slightest
injustice
,
not
to
interfere
when
through
her
any
misconception
lighted
on
another
;
she
told
with
her
sex
's
rapid
perception
and
sympathy
that
the
man
,
whom
Châteauroy
addressed
with
the
brutal
insolence
of
a
bully
to
his
disobedient
dog
,
had
once
been
a
gentleman
,
though
he
now
held
but
the
rank
of
a
sous-officier
in
the
Algerian
Cavalry
,
and
she
saw
that
he
suffered
all
the
more
keenly
under
an
outrage
he
had
no
power
to
resist
because
of
that
enforced
serenity
,
that
dignity
of
silence
and
of
patience
,
with
which
he
stood
before
his
tyrant
.
"
Wait
,
"
she
said
,
moving
a
little
towards
them
,
while
she
let
her
eyes
rest
on
the
carver
of
the
sculptures
with
a
grave
compassion
,
though
she
addressed
his
chief
.
"
You
wholly
mistake
me
.
I
laid
no
blame
whatever
on
your
Corporal
.
Let
him
take
the
chessmen
back
with
him
;
I
would
on
no
account
rob
him
of
them
.
I
can
well
understand
that
he
does
not
care
to
part
with
such
masterpieces
of
his
art
;
and
that
he
would
not
appraise
them
by
their
worth
in
gold
only
shows
that
he
is
a
true
artist
,
as
doubtless
also
he
is
a
true
soldier
.
"
The
words
were
spoken
with
a
gracious
courtesy
,
the
clear
cold
tone
of
her
habitual
manner
just
marking
in
them
still
the
difference
of
caste
between
her
and
the
man
for
whom
she
interceded
,
as
she
would
equally
have
interceded
for
a
dog
who
should
have
been
threatened
with
the
lash
because
he
had
displeased
her
.
That
very
tone
struck
a
sharper
blow
to
Cecil
than
the
insolence
of
his
commander
had
power
to
deal
him
.
His
face
flushed
a
little
;
he
lifted
his
cap
to
her
with
a
grave
reverence
,
and
moved
away
:
"
I
thank
you
,
Madame
.
Keep
them
,
if
you
will
so
far
honour
me
.
"
The
words
reached
only
her
ear
;
in
another
instant
he
had
passed
away
down
the
terrace
steps
,
obedient
to
his
chief
's
dismissal
.
"
Ah
!
have
no
kind
scruples
in
keeping
them
,
Madame
,
"
Châteauroy
laughed
to
her
,
as
she
still
held
in
her
hand
,
doubtfully
,
the
White
Sheik
of
the
chess
Arabs
;
"
I
will
see
that
Bel-à-faire-peur
,
as
they
call
him
,
does
not
suffer
by
losing
these
trumperies
,
which
,
I
believe
,
old
Zist-et-Zest
,
a
veteran
of
ours
and
a
wonderful
carver
,
had
really
far
more
to
do
with
producing
than
he
.
You
must
not
let
your
gracious
pity
be
moved
by
such
fellows
as
these
troopers
of
mine
;
they
are
the
most
ingenious
rascals
in
the
world
,
and
know
as
well
how
to
produce
a
dramatic
effect
in
your
presence
as
they
do
how
to
drink
and
to
swear
when
they
are
out
of
it
.
"
"
Very
possibly
,
"
she
said
,
with
an
indolent
indifference
;
"
but
that
man
was
no
actor
,
and
I
never
saw
a
gentleman
if
he
have
not
been
one
.
"
"
Like
enough
,
"
answered
the
Marquis
.
"
I
believe
many
'
gentlemen
'
come
in
our
ranks
who
have
fled
their
native
countries
,
and
broken
all
laws
from
the
Decalogue
to
the
Code
Napoléon
.
So
long
as
they
fight
well
,
we
do
n't
ask
their
past
criminalities
.
We
cannot
afford
to
throw
away
a
good
sabreur
because
he
has
made
his
own
land
too
hot
to
hold
him
.
"
"
Of
what
country
is
your
Corporal
,
then
?
"
"
I
have
not
an
idea
.
I
imagine
his
past
must
have
been
something
very
black
indeed
,
for
the
slightest
trace
of
it
has
never
,
that
I
know
of
,
been
allowed
to
let
slip
from
him
.
He
encourages
the
men
in
every
insubordination
,
buys
their
favour
with
every
sort
of
stage
trick
,
thinks
himself
the
finest
gentleman
in
the
whole
brigades
of
Africa
,
and
ought
to
have
been
shot
long
ago
if
he
had
had
his
real
deserts
.
"
She
let
her
glance
dwell
on
him
with
a
contemplation
that
was
half
contemptuous
amusement
,
half
unexpressed
dissent
.
"
I
wonder
he
has
not
been
,
since
you
have
the
ruling
of
his
fate
,
"
she
said
,
with
a
slight
smile
lingering
about
the
proud
rich
softness
of
her
lips
.
"
So
do
I
.
"
There
was
a
gaunt
,
grim
stern
significance
in
the
three
monosyllables
that
escaped
him
unconsciously
;
it
made
her
turn
and
look
at
him
more
closely
.
"
How
has
he
offended
you
?
"
she
asked
.
Châteauroy
laughed
off
the
question
.
"
In
a
thousand
ways
,
Madame
.
Chiefly
because
I
received
my
regimental
training
under
one
who
followed
the
traditions
of
the
Armies
of
Egypt
and
the
Rhine
,
and
have
,
I
confess
,
little
tolerance
,
in
consequence
,
of
a
rebel
who
plays
the
martyr
,
and
a
soldier
who
is
too
effeminate
an
idler
to
do
anything
except
attitudinise
in
interesting
situations
to
awaken
sympathy
.
"
She
listened
with
something
of
distaste
upon
her
face
where
she
still
leaned
against
the
marble
balustrade
toying
with
the
ivory
Bedouins
.
"
I
am
not
much
interested
in
military
discussions
,
"
she
said
,
coldly
,
"
but
I
imagine
—
if
you
will
pardon
me
for
saying
so
—
that
you
do
your
Corporal
some
little
injustice
here
.
I
should
not
fancy
he
'
affects
'
anything
,
to
judge
from
the
very
good
tone
of
his
manners
.
For
the
rest
,
I
shall
not
keep
the
chessmen
without
making
him
fitting
payment
for
them
;
since
he
declines
money
,
you
will
tell
me
what
form
that
had
better
take
to
be
of
real
and
welcome
service
to
a
Chasseur
d'Afrique
.
"
Châteauroy
,
more
incensed
than
he
chose
or
dared
to
show
,
bowed
courteously
,
but
with
a
grim
ironic
smile
.
"
If
you
really
insist
,
give
him
a
Napoléon
or
two
whenever
you
see
him
;
he
will
be
very
happy
to
take
it
and
spend
it
au
cabaret
,
though
he
played
the
aristocrat
to-day
.
But
you
are
too
good
to
him
;
he
is
one
of
the
very
worst
of
my
pratiques
,
and
you
are
as
cruel
to
me
in
refusing
to
deign
to
accept
my
trooper
's
worthless
bagatelles
at
my
hands
.
"
She
bent
her
superb
head
silently
,
whether
in
acquiescence
or
rejection
he
could
not
well
resolve
with
himself
,
and
turned
to
the
staff-officers
,
among
them
the
heir
of
a
princely
semi-royal
French
House
,
who
surrounded
her
,
and
sorely
begrudged
the
moments
she
had
given
to
those
miniature
carvings
and
the
private
soldier
who
had
wrought
them
.
She
was
no
coquette
;
she
was
of
too
imperial
a
nature
,
had
too
lofty
a
pride
,
and
was
too
difficult
to
charm
or
to
enchain
;
but
those
meditative
,
brilliant
,
serene
eyes
had
a
terrible
gift
of
wakening
without
ever
seeking
love
,
and
of
drawing
without
ever
recompensing
homage
.
Couched
down
among
her
rose-hued
covert
,
Cigarette
had
watched
and
heard
,
her
teeth
set
tightly
,
her
breath
coming
and
going
swiftly
,
her
hand
clenched
close
on
the
butts
of
her
pistols
,
fiery
curses
,
with
all
the
infinite
variety
in
cursing
of
a
barrack
répertoire
,
chasing
one
another
in
hot
fast
mutterings
off
those
bright
lips
,
that
should
have
known
nothing
except
a
child
's
careless
and
innocent
song
.
"
Comme
elle
est
belle
!
comme
elle
est
belle
!
"
she
whispered
every
now
and
then
to
herself
,
with
a
new
,
bitter
,
ferocious
meaning
in
the
whisper
that
had
,
with
all
its
hate
,
something
pathetic
too
.
She
had
never
looked
at
a
beautiful
high-bred
woman
before
,
holding
them
in
gay
satirical
disdain
as
mere
papillons
rouants
who
could
not
prime
a
revolver
and
fire
it
off
to
save
their
own
lives
,
if
ever
such
need
arose
;
a
depth
of
ignorance
that
was
,
to
the
vivandière
's
view
,
the
ne
plus
ultra
of
crassitude
and
impotence
.
But
now
she
studied
one
through
all
the
fine
,
quickened
,
unerring
instincts
of
jealousy
;
and
there
is
no
instinct
in
the
world
that
gives
such
thorough
appreciation
of
the
very
rival
it
reviles
.
She
saw
the
courtly
negligence
,
the
regal
grace
,
the
fair
brilliant
loveliness
,
the
delicious
serene
languor
,
of
a
pure
"
aristocrate
"
for
the
very
first
time
to
note
them
,
and
they
made
her
heart
sick
with
a
new
and
deadly
sense
;
they
moved
her
much
as
the
white
delicate
carvings
of
the
lotus-lilies
and
the
lentiscus-leaves
had
done
;
they
,
like
the
carvings
,
showed
her
all
she
had
missed
.
She
dropped
her
head
suddenly
like
a
wounded
bird
,
and
the
racy
vindictive
camp-oaths
died
off
her
lips
.
She
thought
of
herself
as
she
had
danced
that
mad
bacchic
bamboula
amidst
the
crowd
of
shouting
,
stamping
,
drunken
,
half-infuriated
soldiery
,
and
for
the
moment
she
hated
herself
more
even
than
she
hated
that
patrician
yonder
.
"
I
know
what
he
meant
now
!
"
she
pondered
,
and
her
spirited
,
sparkling
,
brunette
face
was
dark
and
weary
,
like
a
brown
sun-lightened
brook
over
whose
radiance
the
heavy
shadow
of
some
broad-spread
eagle
's
wings
hovers
,
hiding
the
sun
.
She
looked
once
,
twice
,
thrice
,
more
inquiringly
,
envyingly
,
thirstily
;
then
,
as
the
band
under
the
cedars
rolled
out
their
music
afresh
,
and
light
laughter
echoed
to
her
from
the
terrace
,
she
turned
and
wound
herself
back
under
the
cover
of
the
shrubs
,
not
joyously
and
mischievously
as
she
had
come
,
but
almost
as
slowly
,
almost
as
sadly
,
as
a
hare
that
the
greyhounds
have
coursed
drags
itself
through
the
grasses
and
ferns
.
Once
through
the
cactus
hedge
her
old
spirit
returned
;
she
shook
herself
angrily
with
petulant
self-scorn
;
she
she
swore
a
little
,
and
felt
that
the
fierce
familiar
words
did
her
good
like
brandy
pured
down
her
throat
;
she
tossed
her
head
like
a
colt
that
rebels
against
the
gall
of
the
curb
;
then
,
fleet
as
a
fawn
,
she
dashed
down
the
moonlit
road
at
top
most
speed
.
"
Diantre
!
she
ca
n't
do
what
I
do
!
"
she
thought
.
And
she
ran
the
faster
,
and
sang
a
drinking-song
of
the
Spahis
all
the
louder
,
because
still
at
her
heart
a
dull
pain
was
aching
.
CHAPTER
VII
.
CIGARETTE
EN
CONDOTTIERA
.
Cigarette
always
went
fast
.
She
had
a
bird-like
way
of
skimming
her
ground
that
took
her
over
it
with
wonderful
swiftness
,
all
the
tassels
,
and
ribbon-knots
,
and
sashes
with
which
her
uniform
was
rendered
so
gay
and
so
distinctive
fluttering
behind
her
,
and
her
little
military
boots
,
with
the
bright
spurs
twinkling
,
flying
over
the
earth
too
lightly
for
a
speck
of
dust
,
though
it
lay
thick
as
August
suns
could
parch
it
,
to
rest
upon
her
.
Thus
she
went
now
,
along
the
lovely
moonlight
,
singing
her
drinking-song
so
fast
and
so
loud
that
had
it
been
any
other
than
this
young
fire-eater
of
the
African
squadrons
it
might
have
been
supposed
she
sang
out
of
fear
and
bravado
—
two
things
,
however
,
that
never
touched
Cigarette
;
for
she
exulted
in
danger
as
friskily
as
a
young
salmon
exults
in
the
first
fresh
,
crisp
,
tumbling
crest
of
a
sea-wave
,
and
would
have
backed
up
the
most
vain-glorious
word
she
could
have
spoken
with
the
cost
of
her
life
,
had
need
been
.
Suddenly
,
as
she
went
,
she
heard
a
shout
on
the
still
night
air
—
very
still
now
,
that
the
lights
,
and
the
melodies
,
and
the
laughter
of
Châteauroy
's
villa
lay
far
behind
,
and
the
town
of
Algiers
was
yet
distant
,
with
its
lamps
glittering
down
by
the
sea
.
The
shout
was
,
"
A
moi
,
Roumis
!
Pour
la
France
!
"
And
Cigarette
knew
the
voice
,
ringing
melodiously
and
calmly
still
,
though
it
gave
the
sound
of
alarm
.
"
Cigarette
au
secour
!
"
she
cried
in
answer
;
she
had
cried
it
many
a
time
over
the
heat
of
battle-fields
,
and
when
the
wounded
men
in
the
dead
of
the
sickly
night
writhed
under
the
knife
of
the
camp-thieves
.
If
she
had
gone
like
the
wind
before
,
she
went
like
the
lightning
now
.
A
few
yards
onward
she
saw
a
confused
knot
of
horses
and
of
riders
struggling
one
with
another
in
a
cloud
of
white
dust
,
silvery
and
hazy
in
the
radiance
of
the
moon
.
The
centre
figure
was
Cecil
's
;
the
four
others
were
Arabs
,
armed
to
the
teeth
and
mad
with
drink
,
who
had
spent
the
whole
day
in
drunken
debauchery
,
pouring
in
raki
down
their
throats
until
they
were
wild
with
its
poisonous
fire
,
and
had
darted
head-long
all
abreast
down
out
of
the
town
overriding
all
that
came
in
their
way
,
and
lashing
their
poor
beasts
with
their
sabres
till
the
horses
'
flanks
ran
blood
.
Just
as
they
neared
Cecil
,
they
had
knocked
aside
and
trampled
over
a
worn-out
old
colon
,
of
age
too
feeble
for
him
to
totter
in
time
from
their
path
.
Cecil
had
reined
up
and
shouted
to
them
to
pause
;
they
,
inflamed
with
the
perilous
drink
,
and
senseless
with
the
fury
which
seems
to
posses
every
Arab
once
started
in
a
race
neck
to
neck
,
were
too
blind
to
see
,
and
too
furious
to
care
,
that
they
were
faced
by
a
soldier
of
France
,
but
rode
down
on
him
at
once
,
with
their
curled
sabres
flashing
round
their
heads
.
His
horse
stood
the
shock
gallantly
,
and
he
sought
at
first
only
to
parry
their
thrusts
and
to
cut
through
their
stallions
'
reins
;
but
the
latter
were
chain
bridles
,
and
only
notched
his
sword
as
the
blade
struck
them
,
and
the
former
became
too
numerous
and
too
savagely
dealt
to
be
easily
played
with
in
carte
and
tierce
.
The
Arabs
were
dead-drunk
,
he
saw
at
a
glance
,
and
had
got
the
blood-thirst
upon
them
;
roused
and
burning
with
brandy
and
raki
,
these
men
were
like
tigers
to
deal
with
;
the
words
he
had
spoken
they
never
heard
,
and
their
horses
hemmed
him
in
powerless
,
whilst
their
steel
flashed
on
every
side
;
—
they
were
not
of
the
tribe
of
the
Khalifa
.
If
he
struck
not
,
and
struck
not
surely
,
he
saw
that
a
few
moments
more
of
that
moonlight
night
were
all
that
he
would
live
.
He
wished
to
avoid
bloodshed
,
both
because
his
sympathies
were
always
with
the
conquered
tribes
,
and
because
he
knew
that
every
one
of
these
quarrels
and
combats
between
the
vanquisher
and
the
vanquished
served
further
to
widen
the
breach
,
already
broad
enough
,
between
them
.
But
it
was
no
longer
a
matter
of
choice
with
him
,
as
his
shoulder
was
grazed
by
a
thrust
which
,
but
for
a
swerve
of
his
horse
,
would
have
pierced
to
his
lungs
;
and
the
four
riders
,
yelling
like
madmen
,
forced
the
animal
back
on
its
haunches
and
assaulted
him
with
breathless
