Thus spoke Cousin George to me. I thought this was a little too bad; but, on arriving home, the first thing my wife said to me was, "Do you know that Frantz is going?" "Our young man?" "Yes, he wants his wages." "Ah, indeed. Let him come here at the back, and we will have a talk." I was much surprised, and I made him come into my room at the bottom of the mill, where I keep my papers and my books. His cow-skin pack was already fastened upon his shoulder. "Are you going away, Frantz? Have you anything to complain of?" "No, nothing at all, Monsieur Weber. But I am obliged to go; for I have received orders to join my regiment." "Are you a soldier, then?" "Yes, in the Landwehr. We are all soldiers in Germany." "But if you liked to stay here, who would come and fetch you?" "That is an impossibility, M. Weber. I should be declared a deserter. I could never return home again. They would take away all my property, present and to come; my brothers and sisters would come in for it." "Ah, that is a different thing! Now I understand. There--there's your certificate of character." I had written a good certificate for him, for he was a good workman. I paid him what I owed him to the last farthing, and wished him a prosperous journey. Cousin George was right; those Germans were all moving homeward. You would never have thought there were so many in the country; some had passed themselves off for Swiss, some for Luxemburgers; others had quite settled down, and no one would ever have suspected that they owed two or three more years' service to their country. This gave rise to disputes. Those whose situations they had taken, and who bore ill-will against them, fell upon them; the _gendarmerie_ beat up the mountains; things were taking an ugly turn. It was in vain that I affirmed at the mayoralty-house that the Emperor breathed only peace; for the Gazettes of the prefecture talked of nothing but the insults we had had to endure, the ambition of Prussia, revenge for Sadowa, the Catholic nations who were going to declare _en masse_ in our favor, and all the powers which affirmed the justice of our cause: the enthusiasm for war grew higher and higher day by day; especially that of the pedlers, the tinkers, the small dealers, and all those good fellows who come out of the prisons, and who are continually seeking for work without finding any; though they do find walls to get over, doors to break in, cupboards to plunder. All these excellent people declared that it was for the honor of France to make war upon Germany.