"It is all the same to me," he answered; "make room for me if you have none." He ordered me to open the coach-house, but when he saw it crammed up with all sorts of things, he made a wry face. "And up there?" he asked, pointing at the deserter's attic. Good Heavens! the pears! the wine! I was trembling with fear, and was at a loss how to answer when the man altered his mind: "I would rather have a bedroom to myself," and so saying he opened Antoinette's door. "That will do," said the person, and waving back the silently waiting soldiers he kept but two of them with him. We began to remove a few things from the room, which Antoinette had always kept for herself, and before the sergeant's taunting eyes we carried away clothes, books, and knick-knacks. The door we had left ajar was suddenly thrown open, and a little coxcomb of an officer came in and cried out in a cheerful tone: "Oh! oh! Two at a time!" That was more than we could stand, and leaving blankets and coverlets we ran away. At the corner of the house a brutal arm stopped me, and a soldier I hardly saw in the night muttered something I did not understand about money--five francs. I tried to break loose from the man's hold, and answered at random we were no shopkeepers and sold nothing. "If you are busy," he said, "another lady would do." In the dim light of a glimmering window I caught sight of a Slavonic-featured, black-bearded, sneaking-eyed face that belonged to one of the stable-dwellers--a perfect brute. He looked so strange, his voice was so peculiar that I suddenly understood the meaning of his words. Frightened, I shook my arm to get it free, set off running, and got so quickly out of sight he might have believed I had been swallowed up by the night. I rushed into the house, banged the door, turned the key in it, pushed the bolts, and even then I was not sure I was secure. I wished for padlocks, bars, chains, to protect us against such creatures. We thought we would never dare go to bed. With Mme. Valaine I went through the house to test the wooden shutters. In the street the carts of the convoy stood close to the house; here and there we saw a lantern glimmer. Lying under the awnings the drivers tumbled and tossed, and from time to time uttered heavy groans. Those carts reminded us of monstrous beasts, hunch-backed and mischievous, which squatted at our door to watch and threaten us. The yard was pitch dark, all seemed to be in a sound sleep, but for the horses, which kicked and pawed the ground of the narrow stable. The men were snoring; the dogs shut up in the lobby whined gently. We talked in a low voice and went on tip-toe. In our own house we felt beset with dangers and cares. Without taking off our clothes, we laid ourselves down, our eyes wide open, our ears attentive to all outside sounds, our nerves on edge. So we waited for the break of day.