I told my most unwelcome companion that I believed I was the first out of the town that morning. I pretended to be of opinion that it was past five o’clock, and said that I believed it was usual to open the gates of the town about that hour. He rejoined, “That it was more likely to be nearer three than five;” and added, “that he wondered to see me barefooted.” I began to dislike the style of conversation exceedingly; but I assumed tranquillity, if I had it not; and I told him I was a soldier, and that, after the severe campaigns we lately had had in Prussia and against the Russians, we were insensible to cold and indifferent to all weathers. He assented to all I said, commending my zeal, and declaring that “we soldiers were wonderful fellows.” I was glad to hear him say that he was a butcher, going to purchase cattle; and still more glad when he told me that “he could not bear me company for more than two miles farther.” Strasbourg was about three leagues off. At the distance he had named he took leave of me, inviting me to accept a dram from him at a public-house on the roadside. I excused myself, observing, “That I had never been accustomed to drink so early.” The excuse had at least a military probability about it, for in France I found the soldiers remarkably sober.
The day was breaking fast, and I was approaching a large town, which made it necessary to get off the highway; so I took the first path to the right, determining to leave Strasbourg on the left, as it was my intention to proceed to Switzerland, if I found any considerable obstacle in attempting to cross the Rhine. I advanced about two or three miles through the fields, then sat down, wiped my feet, and got my shoes (with the legs of my stockings) on, though with great difficulty, as my feet were still very much swelled, and the skin had been partly peeled off. I limped on in great pain, the morning was very hazy and disagreeable, and I felt excessively weak. The heat of my feet parched the upper leather of the shoes to that degree that I was frequently obliged to stand in a pool or wet place to cool and soften them. Roving about in the open fields, in excruciating pain and under the greatest dejection of spirits, without being able to discover a hiding-place, I remained for some time undetermined how to act.
At length I heard a bell ring, and conjectured it must be in some small village. The fog was so thick that I could not see any distance. I directed my course towards the sound, and found what I had supposed. The village appeared to be a very poor one. After a great deal of hesitation I resolved to approach the next house, or cottage, to me. My pretext was, to inquire my distance from the road to Strasbourg. This I accordingly did. I found two young women spinning flax, dressed genteelly, after the German manner. They could not understand me. I made signals that I was thirsty; when one of them brought me some milk, which I swallowed with great eagerness. I offered payment, but she would not take any, and made me understand how sorry they were that they could not speak French. After this, one went out, and shortly returned with a man, who spoke a little broken French: the less, and the more broken, the better for me, for this excused me from being too explicit or communicative. I could willingly have declined her well-meant but officious services.
What were my feelings may be easily imagined, when my civil instructor engagingly informed me that the mayor of the village was the only man amongst them who spoke my language correctly. At that moment I entertained a most uncharitable wish as to the locality in which his worship might be confined, at least until I could escape. Imagine then what my sensations were when my most officiously kind communicant politely assured me, “That the young woman had been in search of the mayor; that his worship was not at home: he was, however, expected every minute; and that immediately he returned he would do himself the pleasure of coming and conversing with me.” He concluded by assuring me that the mayor delighted in paying his respects to strangers. I almost wished that Beelzebub himself had had this polite mayor in his clutches, or that his worship was thrice triply surrounded by the fairies, by the demons of Freischütz, if not by the worse imps of another place. All the visions of a good cheer, an excellent fire, repose and concealment amongst apparently some of “the best people in the world,” were destroyed in a moment. I suddenly arose, and assuming a tone of great gratitude and a sense of obligations, I thanked them cordially for their hospitality, and thanked them most hypocritically for their extreme goodness in wishing to procure me the honour of a visit from the mayor; and I expressed my great regret that I could not wait to receive his worship, as I was in the greatest haste to get to Strasbourg. Saying this, I left the house.
I limped on through the fields as fast as I could, every now and then looking behind me to see if these well-intentioned people were watching which way I took; or rather, whether their officious kindness had led to a pursuit of me. The weather was, fortunately, thick and hazy, and I advanced through the fields, carefully avoiding those in which I could perceive people at work. I had an opportunity this day of getting an excellent supply of turnips. This part of the country abounds in them; they are the principal food of their cattle; and the peasantry were busily employed in piling them in heaps, and covering them with earth, as the winter store of provender. In one respect, at least, I might have thought myself reduced very much to the condition of Nebuchadnezzar, for both my food and shelter resembled those of four-footed animals. My punishment, however, was not to be so long. “My poverty, and not my will, consented.”
After a long state of suspense I descried a kind of shrubbery about a mile off, and I instantly bent my steps towards it. I found it was a thick enclosure, and well adapted for a hiding-place. Though wet to the skin, I immediately began my preparations for the night. My feet were so much worse that it was utterly impossible to get my shoes on. However, I thought I might be able to limp on by some means or other to the Rhine that night. At my usual time I hobbled forth. The night set in with incessant rain, and I found myself in a short time surrounded with marshes and rivers, and in total darkness. After wading through a multiplicity of bogs, I at length found myself in a tolerably clear country, and my feet felt better from the moisture. It was, however, useless to keep walking on, as I might increase the distance I had to go, instead of diminishing it. I therefore resolved, if I could get a convenient place, to halt until it should clear up. I espied a house at some distance and made for it, hoping to find shelter near it. It proved to be a large farmhouse. It was now about midnight. I got into the yard, and could hear the cattle in the stables and cow-houses feeding. I could not help envying the beasts that were so comfortably provided for, but my fears deterred me from attempting to join them, and I proceeded to some distance from the dwelling, into the open fields, where I discovered a few willow-trees by a large dyke, one of which was of a tolerably good size, and its trunk afforded me shelter. It was close to a pathway, which was no small encouragement, as I expected it led my way. I sat down by the willow, and earnestly prayed that the clouds might disperse, and the stars show themselves and guide me out of the misery I was overwhelmed with. Being excessively faint, I fell into a kind of slumber; and some time had elapsed, when, on a sudden, I was startled at hearing the footsteps of a man. As information was actually indispensable, and as I might not have any other opportunity of obtaining it, I determined to accost the passenger, got up, and followed him. He walked so exceedingly fast that I had to hobble, or even run, to overtake him, though the pain occasioned by doing so was excruciating. On coming up I accosted him in French, and he answered me very civilly. He was in a peasant’s garb, but I much feared that this might be merely a disguise. With some little preamble and circumlocution, I asked him my way to Strasbourg. He replied that I was on the right road, and that, as he was going there, we could accompany each other. Heaven forgive me for hypocrisy, when I assured him I should be glad of his company.
Although he spoke French tolerably well, I perceived that he had a German accent. This pleased me much, and I began to hope that by devising some very plausible tale, and by feigning to make him my confidant, he might be so well deceived, and so much flattered, as not to betray me, even if he were a gendarme in disguise.
Putting on suitable looks and gestures, I began my story. I told him that as he appeared to be a friendly, honest kind of man, I wished to disclose to him what I was and where I was going, and that I earnestly begged for his advice. He listened to me with much complacency. I continued my narrative, and with as pathetic a tone as I could assume. I told him that I was an unfortunate conscript, a native of Switzerland; that I had lately received an account of the death of my parents, in consequence of which I had become possessed of a small independence, and that I had applied for permission to go and settle my affairs, and had been refused. My companion heard all this with such an appearance of honest sympathy that I came to my climax, and divulged that this cruel refusal had induced me to desert, and that I had determined never more to serve the French nation. I told him that I should feel quite secure if I could only get the other side of the Rhine; and concluded by saying that I relied upon his goodness to direct me, and that I had three crowns which were at his service, if he would only procure me a passage across the river. How fertile are necessity and danger in giving a poor mortal a faculty for invention!
The man continued to the last to listen to me attentively, every now and then stopping and surveying me earnestly. I did not much like his scrutinising looks. At last he desired me to be of good cheer, and said that my confidence in him was not by any means misplaced; there could not be much risk in crossing the Rhine, and he would direct me how to proceed and where to procure a boat. We had passed a small village about a mile, when he halted quite short or suddenly, felt for his tobacco-box, and exclaimed, “My God, I have lost it!” He thought he recollected where he must have dropped it. I wished to know if it was of any value, otherwise it was not worth turning back for it. He answered, “Yes, my friend, it cost me twenty sols” (tenpence). I endeavoured to dissuade him from going back, but all my entreaties proved useless. The fact was, I dreaded this was only a pretext to return to the village, in order to give information and have me arrested. He advised me to remain in a place which he pointed out until he came back. I informed him I would; yet I had no intention to keep my promise. He then quitted me, and I directed my course towards the appointed spot; but when I had lost sight of him I changed my position, and, after a severe struggle, in the most excruciating agony, I got on the legs of my stockings, my old shoes, and an old pair of gaiters which I managed to button over all. I then placed myself in a tolerably good thicket, where I could see him without being seen. Here I remained in a state of uncertainty very near a hour, when, to my great satisfaction, I saw him returning by himself. I therefore regained the appointed place before he arrived, lest he might discover my suspicions. He had not found the box, and regretted very much its loss. We were now approaching the ancient and well-known city of Strasbourg, and could very plainly see its steeples, the principal one of which is acknowledged to be one of the highest and most beautiful in Europe. But, whatever admiration I may feel for works of art, I was in that condition which disqualified me for enjoying the sight of church steeples.
The stranger now began his own history, as a return for my communicative confidence. He informed me that he was a Russian by birth, had been a long time in the French army, and had deserted the service. A Russian in the French service struck me as improbable. He then dwelt greatly on the timidity of young deserters. He when he first deserted, thought he should be arrested if he but saw the top of a steeple, and advised me to advance boldly to a part of the Rhine which he would point out, where there were fishermen that would instantly put me across for a mere trifle. I wished him to accompany me to the place, offering him two of the crowns which he had already refused. He would neither accompany me nor receive the money, but contented himself with assuring me that there was no danger. Close to the gates of this renowned city he told me that he must quit me. I therefore begged of him to accept one crown, which he received with great pleasure. I then shook hands with him, and proceeded in the direction he had pointed out. I have always since considered my meeting with this kind stranger as a providential interference in my favour, at a moment when I was quite at a loss to direct myself, and did not know which way to turn or what on earth to do.