"It is a pity, Moses!" I said to myself, as I walked up and down the room; "yes, for if these spirits had been sent a week sooner, we should have made a great profit; but now, at least, thou art relieved of great anxiety. Be content with thine old trade. Let alone for the future such harassing undertakings. Don't stake thine all again on one throw, and let this be a lesson to thee!" Such thoughts were in my mind, when, about four o'clock, I heard some one coming up our stairs. It was a heavy step, as of a man trying to find his way in the dark. Zeffen and Sorlé were in the kitchen, preparing supper. Women always have something to talk about by themselves, for nobody else to hear. So I listened, and then opened the door. "Who is there?" I asked. "Does not Mr. Moses, the wine-merchant, live here?" asked the man in a blouse and broad-brimmed felt hat, with his whip on his shoulder--a wagoner's figure, in short. I turned pale as I heard him, and replied: "Yes, my name is Moses. What do you want?" He came in, and took out a large leather portfolio from under his blouse. I trembled as I looked on. "There!" said he, giving me two papers, "my invoice and my bill of lading! Are not the twelve pipes of three-six from Pézenas for you?" "Yes, where are they?" "On the Mittelbronn hill, twenty minutes from here," he quietly answered. "Some Cossacks stopped my wagons, and I had to take off the horses. I hurried into the city by a postern under the bridge." My legs failed me as he spoke. I sank into my arm-chair, unable to speak a word. "You will pay me the portage," said the man, "and give me a receipt for the delivery." "Sorlé! Sorlé!" I cried in a despairing voice. And she and Zeffen ran to me. The wagoner explained it all to them. As for me, I heard nothing. I had strength only to exclaim: "Now all is lost! Now I must pay without receiving the goods." "We are willing to pay, sir," said my wife, "but the letter states that the twelve pipes shall be delivered in the city." The wagoner said: "I have just come from the justice of the peace, as I wanted to find out before coming to you what I had a right to claim; he told me that you ought to pay for everything, even my horses and carriages, do you understand? I unharnessed my horses, and escaped, myself, which is so much the less on your account. Will you settle? Yes or no?" We were almost dead with fright when the sergeant came in. He had heard loud words, and asked: "What is it, Father Moses? What is it about? What does this man want?" Sorlé, who never lost her presence of mind, told him the whole story, shortly and clearly; he comprehended it at once. "Twelve pipes of three-six, that makes twenty-four pipes of cognac. What luck for the garrison! what luck!" "Yes," said I, "but it cannot come in; the city gates are shut, and the wagons are surrounded by Cossacks."