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Before one of the cupboards Victoire flung herself down, stretching out her arms, and, with a piercing shriek, cried, "Non, jamais, monsieur l'officier! Jamais! I will rather die than let you see this wardrobe." But Captain Westbury would open it, still with a smile on his face, which, when the box was opened, turned into a fair burst of laughter.
"This way, Monsieur l'Officier, this way. I have thought of everything. You must have the seat of honour. Follow me." I followed the holy man, who elbowed a way for me up the crowded aisle. He had reserved all the choir-stalls for the officers. Before the war they had been occupied, at high mass, by the clergy, the choir, and the principal members of the congregation.
He rolled over on his side, and with a grin of exquisite pain, yet in words of unconquerable derision "You may have my sword now, Monsieur l'Officier," he said, and sank back, swooning. With an oath, the musketeer stepped forward. He obeyed Chatellerault to the letter, by kneeling beside him and carefully withdrawing the sword. Then he ordered a couple of his men to take up the body.
Before one of the cupboards Victoire flung herself down, and, with a piercing shriek, cried, "Non, jamais, monsieur l'officier! Jamais! I will rather die than let you see this wardrobe." But Captain Westbury would open it, still with a smile on his face, which, when the box was opened, turned into a fair burst of laughter.
She was next preceding us up a spiral turret stairway; the adjacent walls were hung here and there with faded bits of tapestry. Once more she turned to lead us along an open gallery; on this several rooms appeared to open. On each door a different sign was painted in rude Gothic letters. The first was "Chambre de l'Officier;" the second, "Chambre du Cure," and the next was flung widely open.
On passing through it we found several of the inhabitants on their doorsteps: "Monsieur l'Officier, ... Monsieur l'Officier, will they come back again?" "Never!" I shouted, with conviction. I stopped an orderly, who told me that the German cavalry were firing on the exit from the town. How many of them he could not say, as they were hidden in the woods.
The inhabitants ventured out upon their doorsteps, in spite of the early hour, with some hesitation at first, but glad indeed when they saw our light-blue uniforms; they cheered, crying: "They are gone!... they are gone!" But some old folk replied more calmly to my questions: "Monsieur l'Officier, have a care. They were here an hour ago with a large number of horses and guns.
'I am nothing to her at all, cried Sanin, 'I am a Russian, but I cannot look on at such insolence with indifference; but here is my card and my address; monsieur l'officier can find me. As he uttered these words, Sanin threw his visiting-card on the table, and at the same moment hastily snatched Gemma's rose, which one of the officers sitting at the table had dropped into his plate.