"'Leave me, monsieur,' said the sufferer, who was in great agony; 'leave me that I may die, and go to that God who for you and me suffered more than I this night endure!' "With these pious words he became insensible, and this chevalier, so daring and devout, was poor Prince Xavier of Saxony, who was afterwards slain on the field of Minden. "The moon rose above the mountains to light the scene of this misfortune, and while stretched on the ground, enduring great pain and thirst, Vicomte Chateaunoir had the horror of beholding many of his wounded companions butchered (even as he, perhaps, was butchered at Minden!) by the sabres of some prowling Jagers in search of plunder; and though he lay still, feigning death, such would too probably have been his own fate, had not a sudden torrent of rain mercifully driven them into an adjacent wood for shelter. "Believing himself to be now altogether lost--for if not rescued by his French comrades, he was certain when day dawned to be slain by the Jagers or the Westphalian peasantry--he lay bruised, sore, and helpless under the drenching rain, and was on the point of becoming insensible from exhaustion and suffering, when the tremulous light of a lantern gleamed along the wet grass, and glinted on the scattered weapons, the shot-riven soil, and the pale faces of the dead. Two dark figures approached noiselessly, and then he heard a female crying-- "'Hatzfeld--Count Hatzfeld;' and near him there passed a young woman of great beauty, muffled to her chin in a mantle of furs, and attended by an old man bearing a lantern, the light of which, (while shuddering at the terrors it revealed), they turned from aide to side on the faces of the dead and wounded among whom they threaded their way. "'If you seek Count Hatzfeld, madame, you seek in vain,' said the vicomte, faintly. "'Who spoke?' said the lady, pausing in terror. "'I--a wounded Frenchman!' "'And wherefore say you so, monsieur?' asked the lady, while her large dark eyes seemed to dilate with alarm; 'is he wounded--slain?' "'Nay, I hope not, as _you_ are interested in his safety; but he has simply fallen back with his victorious infantry towards the town of Munden.' "'Thanks--thanks,' said she, turning away; and then, seeing by the light of her lantern that the speaker was a young and very handsome man, she added--'Pardon my selfish anxiety, for Count Hatzfeld is my husband; but you--who are you?' "'To-night I am your humble servant, madame; this morning I was colonel of the brave Mousquetaires Gris, under Louis XV.' "'Your name----' "'Henri, Vicomte de Chateaunoir.' "'Who was the first to cross the Rhine at Cologne?' "'I had that honour, madame.' "'Oh, monsieur, I have heard of you very often.' "'Then I would pray you, madame, a Prussian though you be, to give me but a cup of water; for even under this falling rain I am dying of thirst.'