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A year ago I followed the German in his retreat from Claye through Meaux, Château Thierry to Soissons, where, on the east bank of the Aisne, I watched the French artillery shell his guns on the hills opposite. The French then were hot upon his heels. In one place they had not had time to remove even their own dead, and to avoid the bodies in the open road the car had to twist and turn.
And when the sun rose, the three spies the two women and the chauffeur who in the great chateau were now alone, could see as well as hear the gray column of steel rolling past below them. The spies knew that the gray column had reached Claye, had stood within fifteen miles of Paris, and then upon Paris had turned its back.
We know that the enemy drove the French and English before him until at the Forest of Montmorency, the Hun was within ten and at Claye within fifteen miles of Paris. But to-day, by any outward evidence, he would have a hard time to prove it. And that is not because when he advanced he was careful not to tramp on the grass or to pick the flowers.
His errand to my wife had, of course, been fruitless. "At last I entered Paris with the Cossacks. To me this was grief on grief. On seeing the Russians in France, I quite forgot that I had no shoes on my feet nor money in my pocket. Yes, monsieur, my clothes were in tatters. The evening before I reached Paris I was obliged to bivouac in the woods of Claye.
The Count and Countess of Provence both started at the same time as the rest, and reached Belgium in safety. Fersen, directing matters with skill and forethought, made one mistake. Two attendants on the royal children were taken, in a hired carriage, to Claye, the second stage on the eastern road; and it was their driver who made known, on his return, which way the fugitives had taken.
Here we were obliged to take the road to Laguy, because the Prussians occupied that which led to Claye. We marched all that day and the night following. On the 30th, at five in the morning, we were at the bridge of Saint-Maur. The same day we passed outside of Paris and bivouacked in a place rich in everything, called Vaugirard. The 1st of July we reached Meudon, a superb place.
Emong the whiche, one is an heade, whose sonne enheriteth his roume by succession. The moste part of men in solempne burialles, shaue their heades, and let theyr beardes growe, but Thegiptians shaued their beardes and let their heades grow. They wrought their doughe with their fiete, and their claye with their handes.
Low down in the valley, at the northwest, lies lie de Villenoy, like a toy town, where the big bridge spans the Marne to carry the railroad into Meaux. On the horizon line to the west the tall chimneys of Claye send lines of smoke into the air.
In the west it seemed to be somewhere near Claye, and in the east it was in the direction of Barcy. I tried to remember what the English soldiers had said, that the Germans were, if possible, to be pushed east, in which case the artillery at the west must be either the French of English. The hard thing to bear was, that it was all conjecture.
She was not rich, and generally lived upon her estate at Claye. The Queen was astonished at not having seen her at Court earlier. The confession that her want of fortune had even prevented her appearance at the celebration of the marriages of the Princes added to the interest which she had inspired. The Queen was full of consideration, and took delight in counteracting the injustice of fortune.
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