for fifteen years she remained thus inert and secluded.

"The war broke out, and in the beginning of December the Germans came to
Cormeil. I can remember it as if it were but yesterday. It was freezing
hard enough to split the stones, and I, myself, was lying back in an
armchair, being unable to move on account of the gout, when I heard
their heavy and regular tread; I could see them pass, from my window.

"They defiled past interminably, with that peculiar motion of a puppet on
wires, which belongs to them. Then the officers billeted their men on
the inhabitants, and I had seventeen of them. My neighbor, the crazy
woman, had a dozen, one of whom was the Commandant, a regular violent,
surly swashbuckler.

"During the first few days everything went on as usual. The officers next
door had been told that the lady was ill, and they did not trouble
themselves about that in the least, but soon, that woman whom they never
saw, irritated them. They asked what her illness was, and were told that
she had been in bed for fifteen years, in consequence of terrible grief.
No doubt they did not believe it, and thought that the poor mad creature
would not leave her bed out of pride, so that she might not come near
the Prussians, not speak to them, nor even see them.

"He insisted upon her receiving him, and he was shown into the room, and
said to her roughly: 'I must beg you to get up, Madame, and to come
downstairs so that we may all see you,' but she merely turned her vague
eyes on him, without replying, and so he continued: 'I do not intend to
tolerate any insolence, and if you do not get up of your own accord, I
can easily find means to make you walk without any assistance.'