Once in the room, my wife fetched a candle from the kitchen. Then, catching sight of this strong and square-built man, with his thick mustaches, his tall figure, his sword at his side, his sleeves and his cuirass stained with blood, and the skin on one side of his face torn away and bruised all round to the back of the head, we saw at once that he was not a deserter, and that something terrible had happened in our neighborhood; and Placiard having again begun to tell us how he had himself caught this soldier in his garden, where the poor wretch was going to hide, George cried indignantly: "Come now, does a man like that hide himself? I tell you, M. Placiard, that it would have taken twenty like you to hold him, if he had chosen to resist." The cuirassier then turned his head and gazed at George; but he spoke not a word. He seemed to be mute with stupefaction. "You have come from a fight, my friend, haven't you?" said my cousin, gently. "Yes, sir." "So they have been fighting to-day?" "Yes." "Where?" The cuirassier pointed in the direction of the Falberg, on the left by the saw-mills. "Down there," he said, "behind the mountains." "At Reichshoffen?" "Yes, that is it: at Reichshoffen." "This man is exhausted," said George: "Catherine, bring some wine." My wife took the bottle out of the cupboard and filled a glass; but the cuirassier would not drink: he looked on the ground before him, as if something was before his eyes. What he had just told us made us turn pale. "And," said George, "the cuirassiers charged?" "Yes," said the soldier, "all of them." "Where is your regiment now?" He raised his head. "My regiment? it is down there in the vineyards, amongst the hops, in the river...." "What! in the river?" "Yes: there are no more cuirassiers!" "No more cuirassiers?" cried my cousin; "the six regiments?" "Yes, it is all over!" said the soldier, in a low voice: "the grapeshot has mown them down. There are none left!" [Illustration: "THE GRAPESHOT HAS MOWN THEM DOWN. THERE ARE NONE LEFT!"] "Oh!" cried Placiard, "now you see: what did I say? He is one of those villains who propagate false reports. Can six regiments be mown down? Did you not yourself say, Monsieur le Maire, that those six regiments alone would bear down everything before them?" I could answer nothing; but the perspiration ran down my face. "You must lock him up somewhere, and let the gendarmes know," continued Placiard. "Such are the orders of Monsieur le Sous-prefet." The cuirassier wiped with his sleeves the blood which was trickling upon his cheek; he appeared to hear nothing. Out of all the open windows were leaning the forms of the village people, with attentive ears. George and I looked at each other in alarm. "You have blood upon you," said my cousin, pointing to the soldier's cuirass, who started and answered: "Yes; that is the blood of a white lancer: I killed him!" "And that wound upon your cheek?"