We listened attentively. There were hurrying footsteps; the butts of the muskets were rattling on the pavement: they were assembling, falling in, and in all directions were cries: "The drivers! the drivers! where are they?" The commander was swearing: he shouted furiously, "Fetch them here! find them! shoot the vagabonds." We did not stir a finger. Suddenly the door burst open. The Prussians demanded in German and in French: "Where are the drivers--those Alsacian drivers?" The aged dame answered not a word; she shook her head, and looked as deaf as a post, just as usual. At last, out they rushed again. The rascals had indeed seen the trap-door in the ceiling, but it seems they were in a hurry and could not find a ladder without losing time. At last, whether they saw it or not, presently we heard the tramping of the men in the mud, the cracking of the whips, the rolling of the carts, and then all was silent. The battalion had disappeared. Then only, after they had left half an hour, the kind old woman below began to call us. "You can come down," she said; "they are gone now." And we came down. The poor woman said, laughing heartily, "Now you are safe! Only you must lose no time; there might come an order to catch you. There, eat that." She took out of the cupboard a large basin full of soup made of beans--for she used to cook enough for three or four days at a time--and warmed it over the fire. "Eat it all; never mind me! I have got more beans left." There was no need for pressing, and in a couple of minutes the basin was empty. The good woman looked on with pleasure, and George said to her: "We have not had such a meal for a week." "So much the better! I am glad to have done you any service! And now go. I wish I could give you some money; but I have none." "You have saved our lives," I said. "God grant you may see your son again. But I have another request to make before we go." "What is it, then?" "Leave to give you a kiss." "Ah, gladly, my poor Alsacians, with all my heart! I am not pretty as I used to be; but it is all the same." And we kissed her as we would a mother. When we went to the door, the daylight was breaking. "Before you lies the road to Dun-sur-Meuse," she said, "don't take that; that is the road the Prussians have taken: no doubt the commander has given a description of you in the next village. But here is the road to Metz by Damvillers and Etain; follow that. If you are stopped say that your horses were worked to death, and you were released." This poor old woman was full of good sense. We pressed her hand again, with tears in our eyes, and then we set off, following the road she had pointed out to us.