the distant shots--the broken hearts of the widow and the orphan.

But that was a mere prelude.

On Friday, September 4th, a large detachment of Von Kluck's army invaded
Vareddes, coming from Barcy, which lies to the west. It was no doubt
moving towards the Marne on that flank march which was Von Kluck's
undoing. The troops left the village on Saturday the 5th, but only to
make a hurried return that same evening. Von Kluck was already aware of
his danger, and was rapidly recalling troops to meet the advance of
Maunoury. Meanwhile the French Sixth Army was pressing on from the west,
and from the 6th to the 9th there was fierce fighting in and round
Vareddes. There were German batteries behind the Presbytère, and the
church had become a hospital. The old Curé, the Abbé Fossin, at the age
of seventy-eight, spent himself in devoted service to the wounded
Germans who filled it. There were other dressing stations near by. The
Mairie, and the school, were full of wounded, of whom there were
probably some hundreds in the village. Only 135 dead were buried in the
neighbourhood; the Germans carried off the others in great lorries
filled with corpses.

By Monday the 7th, although they were still to hold the village till the
9th, the Germans knew they were beaten. The rage of the great defeat, of
the incredible disappointment, was on them. Only a week before, they had
passed through the same country-side crying "Nach Paris!" and polishing
up buttons, belts, rifles, accoutrements generally, so as to enter the
French capital in _grande tenue._ For whatever might have been the real
plans of the German General Staff, the rank and file, as they came south
from Creil and Nanteuil, believed themselves only a few hours from the
Boulevards, from the city of pleasure and spoil.