miller's empty sacks. In a corner opposite to him was the
miller's solid walnut-wood bed. On the walls all around him were
the miller's colored prints, representing a happy mixture of
devotional and domestic subjects. A door of communication leading
into the kitchen of the cottage had been torn from its hinges,
and used to carry the men wounded in the skirmish from the field.
They were now comfortably laid at rest in the kitchen, under the
care of the French surgeon and the English nurse attached to the
ambulance. A piece of coarse canvas screened the opening between
the two rooms in place of the door. A second door, leading from
the bed-chamber into the yard, was locked; and the wooden shutter
protecting the one window of the room was carefully barred.
Sentinels, doubled in number, were placed at all the outposts.
The French commander had neglected no precaution which could
reasonably insure for himself and for his men a quiet and
comfortable night.

Still absorbed in his perusal of the dispatches, and now and then
making notes of what he read by the help of writing materials
placed at his side, Captain Arnault was interrupted by the
appearance of an intruder in the room. Surgeon Surville, entering
from the kitchen, drew aside the canvas screen, and approached
the little round table at which his superior officer was sitting.

"What is it?" said the captain, sharply.

"A question to ask," replied the surgeon. "Are we safe for the
night?"

"Why do you want to know?" inquired the captain, suspiciously.