Before every door and at every window there was nothing to be seen but their flat noses, their long filthy yellow beards, their white coats filled with vermin, and their low shakos, looking out at you, as they smoked their pipes in idleness and drunkenness. We were obliged to work for them, and at last honest people were compelled to give them two thousand millions of francs more to induce them to go away. How many things I might say against these lazybones from Russia and Germany, if we had not done ten times worse in their country. You can each one make reflections for yourself, and imagine the rest. At Heitz's inn I said to Buche, "Let's stop here. My legs are giving out." Mother Heitz, who was then still a young woman, threw up her hands and exclaimed, "My God! there is Joseph Bertha! God in heaven! what a surprise for the town!" I went in, sat down and leaned my head on a table and wept without restraint. Mother Heitz ran down to the cellar to bring a bottle of wine, and I heard Buche sobbing in the corner. Neither of us could speak for thinking of the joy of our friends. The sight of our own country had upset us, and we rejoiced to think that our bones would one day rest peacefully in the village cemetery. Meanwhile we were going to embrace those we loved best in the world. When we had recovered a little, I said to Buche: "Jean, you must go on before me, so that my wife and Mr. Goulden may not be too much surprised. You will tell them that you saw me the day after the battle, and that I was not wounded, and then you must say, you met me again in the suburbs of Paris, and even on the way home, and at last, that you think I am not far behind, that I am coming--you understand." "Yes, I understand," said he, getting up after having emptied his glass, "and I will do the same thing for grandmother, who loves me more than she does the other boys; I will send some one on before me." He went out at once, and I waited a few minutes; Mother Heitz talked to me but I did not listen; I was thinking how far Buche had gone; I saw him near the ford, at the outworks, and at the gate. Suddenly I went out, saying to Mother Heitz, "I will pay you another time." I began to run; I partly remember having met three or four persons, who said, "Ah! that is Joseph Bertha!" But I am not sure of that. All at once, without knowing how, I sprang up the stairs, and then I heard a great cry--Catherine was in my arms. My head swam--in a minute after I seemed to come out of a dream; I saw the room, Mr. Goulden, Jean Buche, and Catherine; and I began to sob so violently, that you would have thought some great misfortune had happened. I held Catherine on my knee and kissed her, and she cried too. After a long while I exclaimed: "Ah! Mr. Goulden, pardon me! I ought to have embraced you, my father! whom I love as I do myself!"