I must pass over that afternoon of familiar intercourse with my mentor and my friend. Suffice it to say, that my new-born resolutions were strengthened, my eyes still more widely opened to my own wants and requirements; and when I set out on my return, I felt that, indeed, a path had been tracked for me across the yet untrodden wilderness of life.
There are few landscapes so pretty in the middle of France as that which presents itself to the eye on arriving at the Forest of Argonne.
This struck me as it had never done before, and I paused involuntarily to gaze at the scene.
At this moment two travellers came towards me, followed by a carriage slowly toiling up the ascent.
One of these strangers particularly attracted my attention. He might be about fifty years of age, of no great stature, but wiry and strongly built. He had a noble head, and his weather-beaten face was lit by the glance of an eagle. Had not the scar of a sabre wound sufficiently indicated his profession, I could have told he was a soldier from the unmistakable way in which he wore his civilian’s suit.
His companion, younger and stouter, was likewise a soldier; but evidently not of the same standing.
These two men halted a moment near me, less to look at the landscape than to continue an animated conversation, in which the elder sustained the principal part.
“Yes, my dear Thévenot,” he said; “I will never give in on this point. If ever France is invaded by Montmedy and Verdun, it is here that we must meet the enemy; with 20,000 soldiers I’ll engage to stop a foe 80,000 strong. The Forest of Argonne is the Thermopylæ of France.”
“That is to say. General,” replied the other, who looked like his aide-de-camp, “if the two or three roads through the forest could be defended as easily as this one; for it is quite evident that a couple of batteries with six guns each would make this defile impracticable.”
“There are only two roads,” returned the General; “the one we are now pursuing, leading to Islettes; and the other, the Grand Prés road. Both these routes conjoin at Verdun.”