The chilly breeze of dawn fanned my temples. My emotions now began to overwhelm me. Indeed, at that moment I had not even a thought for her for whom I would have sacrificed everything, the woman I was about to leave for ever. I gazed before me at the little hills, which now began to emerge, one by one, out of the yielding darkness. The amazing originality of the manner of my return was forgotten, and I was possessed by another sentiment, far stronger and more poignant. I was wholly under its influence when the car stopped so suddenly as almost to throw me on to the wind-screen. Without a word the Grand Duchess pointed to a frontier post ten paces away on the right of the road. The spectacle of that six-foot post, one side white and black, the other blue, white and red, was extraordinarily moving. I looked at the Grand Duchess and a great joy filled me as I saw the emotion in her set face. It was not yet quite light. The car was now going very slowly. It was as if Aurora wanted me to notice the little night flowers which trembled in the wind on the sides of the banks. Suddenly I caught hold of my companion's arm. The car stopped. Less than two hundred yards away, at the top of a hill above the road, a motionless horseman had just appeared, a dark silhouette against the sky. It was a French dragoon. We could see the buff cover of his helmet and the red and white pennon on his lance. Then two more appeared, then ten, then twenty, and they came forward at a canter to meet us. "It is your turn to do the talking this time," said Aurora, with a smile. An officer came first. He was a tall young man, dark and rather pale. His chin-strap drew a shining line across his black moustache. He saluted us with his sabre and asked to see our permits. "I must confess, monsieur," replied the Grand Duchess, "that I do not possess anything of the kind, for I don't suppose you will be satisfied with this which was given me by the German general in command at Thionville," she said, showing von Offenburg's permit. The young officer assumed an expression denoting that the occasion was hardly suitable for trifling. "Monsieur," continued Aurora, when she had satisfied herself at a glance that for the moment I was completely unable to say a word, "there are some things it would take too long to explain from a car to a horse in the middle of the road. These are the facts. I am the Grand Duchess of Lautenburg-Detmold. Monsieur Vignerte, my companion, is a French officer, a lieutenant like yourself. I don't know whether in France you have already taken the precaution of arresting Germans. But in Germany we have been arresting Frenchmen since yesterday. This gentleman was about to be arrested; I have brought him to you. That is all." And, moved apparently by the look of amazement which had spread over the dragoon's face, she added: "I should, perhaps, say, monsieur, that I am Russian by birth, so you need no longer doubt either myself or my immediate purpose."