to a hero of the Grand Army, and had first seen the light at
Chene-Populeux, where his father, not caring to tread the path of
glory, had held an ill-paid position as collector of taxes. His
mother, a peasant, had died in giving him birth, him and his twin
sister Henriette, who at an early age had become a second mother to
him, and that he was now what he was, a private in the ranks, was
owing entirely to his own imprudence, the headlong dissipation of a
weak and enthusiastic nature, his money squandered and his substance
wasted on women, cards, the thousand follies of the all-devouring
minotaur, Paris, when he had concluded his law studies there and his
relatives had impoverished themselves to make a gentleman of him. His
conduct had brought his father to the grave; his sister, when he had
stripped her of her little all, had been so fortunate as to find a
husband in that excellent young fellow Weiss, who had long held the
position of accountant in the great sugar refinery at Chene-Populeux,
and was now foreman for M. Delaherche, one of the chief cloth
manufacturers of Sedan. And Maurice, always cheered and encouraged
when he saw a prospect of amendment in himself, and equally
disheartened when his good resolves failed him and he relapsed,
generous and enthusiastic but without steadiness of purpose, a
weathercock that shifted with every varying breath of impulse, now
believed that experience had done its work and taught him the error
of his ways. He was a small, light-complexioned man, with a high,
well-developed forehead, small nose, and retreating chin, and a pair
of attractive gray eyes in a face that indicated intelligence; there
were times when his mind seemed to lack balance.

Weiss, on the eve of the commencement of hostilities, had found that
there were family matters that made it necessary for him to visit
Mulhausen, and had made a hurried trip to that city. That he had been