I was going to reply that still we must use moderation in all things--for these women, even the best of them, do not know that--when the sergeant came in to take his little glass. He wore his foraging coat, and carried hung across his cape a kind of bag of red leather. "He, he, he!" said he, as he saw the rolls. "The devil! the devil! You ought to be satisfied with this day's work, Father Moses?" "Yes, not bad, sergeant," I joyfully replied. "I think," said he, as he sat down and tasted the little glass of cherry-brandy, which Zeffen had just poured out for him, "I think that after one or two sorties more, you will do for colonel of the shopkeepers' regiment. So much the better; I am very glad of it!" Then, laughing heartily, he said, "He, Father Moses! see what I have here; these rascals of kaiserlichs deny themselves nothing." At the same time he opened his bag, and began to draw out a pair of mittens lined with fox-skin, then some good woollen stockings, and a large knife with a horn handle and blades of very fine steel. He opened the blades: "There is everything here," said he, "a pruning-knife, a saw, small knives and large ones, even to a file for nails." "For finger-nails, sergeant!" said I. "Ah! very likely!" said he. "This big landwehr was as nice as a new crown-piece. He would be likely to file his finger-nails. But wait!" My wife and children, leaning over us, looked on with eager eyes. Thrusting his hand into a sort of portfolio in the side of the bag, he drew out a handsome miniature, surrounded with a circle of gold in the shape of a watch, but larger. "See! What ought this to be worth?" I looked, then Sorlé, then Zeffen, and Sâfel. We were all surprised at seeing a work of such beauty, and even touched, for the miniature represented a fair young woman and two lovely children, as fresh as rose-buds. "Well, what do you think of that?" asked the sergeant. "It is very beautiful," said Sorlé. "Yes, but what is it worth?" I took the miniature and examined it. "To any one else, sergeant," said I, "I should say that it was worth fifty francs; but the gold alone is worth more, and I should estimate it at a hundred francs; we can weigh it." "And the portrait, Father Moses?" "The portrait is worth nothing to me, and I will give it back to you. Such things do not sell in this country; they are of no value except to the family." "Very well," said he, "we will talk about that by and by." He put back the miniature into the bag. "Do you read German?" he asked. "Very well." "Ah, good! I am curious to hear what this kaiserlich had to write. See, it is a letter! He was keeping it doubtless for the baggage-master to send it to Germany. But we came too soon! What does it say?" He handed me a letter addressed to Madame Roedig, Stuttgart, No. 6 Bergstrasse. That letter, Fritz, here it is. Sorlé has kept it; it will tell you more about the landwehr than I can. "Bichelberg, Feb. 25, 1814.