to possess a gentle charm; it brought him memories of boyhood, of the
journeys that he had made to Vouziers in other days, when he had lived
at Chene, the village where he was born. For an hour he was oblivious
of the outer world.

The soup had long since been made and eaten and everyone was waiting
to see what would happen next, when, about half-past two o'clock, the
smoldering excitement began to gain strength, and soon pervaded the
entire camp. Hurried orders came to abandon the meadows, and the
troops ascended a line of hills between two villages, Chestres and
Falaise, some two or three miles apart, and took position there.
Already the engineers were at work digging rifle-pits and throwing up
epaulments; while over to the left the artillery had occupied the
summit of a rounded eminence. The rumor spread that General Bordas had
sent in a courier to announce that he had encountered the enemy in
force at Grand-Pre and had been compelled to fall back on Buzancy,
which gave cause to apprehend that he might soon be cut off from
retreat on Vouziers. For these reasons, the commander of the 7th
corps, believing an attack to be imminent, had placed his men in
position to sustain the first onset until the remainder of the army
should have time to come to his assistance, and had started off one of
his aides-de-camp with a letter to the marshal, apprising him of the
danger, and asking him for re-enforcements. Fearing for the safety of
the subsistence train, which had come up with the corps during the
night and was again dragging its interminable length in the rear, he
summarily sent it to the right about and directed it to make the best
of its way to Chagny. Things were beginning to look like fight.

"So, it looks like business this time--eh, Lieutenant?" Maurice
ventured to ask Rochas.