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"Oh, yes," he said. "I can tell you exactly why. You don't want to take away my freedom. You want me to be a sort of what was that opera you spoke about at Hickory Hill? Chemineau. Doing nothing but what I please. Wandering off wherever I like." He smiled. "Mary, dear, do you realize that you're proposing to deal with me exactly as Graham Stannard would have dealt with you?
There happened to be, rather uncannily, a genuine proof that this was true. While she had been still dazed with that first look of his, there in the oak shade at the edge of the field, she had said that it was like the first act of Le Chemineau. That had been speaking all but with the tongue of prophecy.
Chemineau the Fool was half as tall again as her sister. Her hair was coarse, and came down nearly to her eyebrows. Her shoulders were square, and her hips were broad. We used to call her the sister's watch-dog. And down at the other end of the dormitory was Colette. She still believed that I was going to Mademoiselle Maximilienne.
While these thoughts were passing through my head, General Chemineau galloped along our front, crying: "Form square." The officers on the right, on the left, in advance, in the rear, took up the word and it passed from right to left; four squares of four battalions each were formed.
That's been made plain enough. But I wish I could think of some way of making you sure that I could live yours, as well. Your old one; the Chemineau one. The way it was when you came to Hickory Hill." A few minutes later she gave a sudden laugh. "Tony," she said, "will you swear you will do something for me without knowing what it is? Oh, it's nothing very serious. It's about our honeymoon.
She even heard herself join in, the voice was hers anyhow when Graham, commenting upon the view across the field, remarked that it was so intensely farm-like that it had almost the look of a stage setting. "It is like something," she said then. "It's like the first act of Le Chemineau.
Then the artillery and caissons crossed. Captain Florentin had just ordered us to renew our primings, when General Souham, General Chemineau, Colonel Zapfel, and our commandant arrived. The battalion began its march. I looked forward expecting to see the Russians coming on at a gallop, but nothing stirred. As each regiment reached the farther bank it formed a square with ordered arms.
A little further down the room were the beds of Chemineau the Proud, and her twin sister, the Fool. Chemineau the Proud had a big smooth white forehead and gentle eyes. She never said it was not true when she was accused of doing anything wrong. She simply shrugged her shoulders and looked round her with contempt. Sister Marie-Aimée used to say that her conscience was as white as her forehead.
A few of the Russians neared us; we saw their forms appear a moment through the smoke, and then saw them no more. In a few moments more the ringing voice of General Chemineau arose, sounding above the crash and rattle: "Cease firing!" We scarcely dared obey.
And thus, after every shot from the Russians, the colonel said, "Close up the ranks!" and I knew that each time he spoke there was a breach in the living wall! It was no pleasant thing to think of, but still we marched on toward the valley. At last I did not dare to think at all, when General Chemineau, who had entered our square, cried in a terrible voice: "Halt!"
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