"It is the old brigadier," they would say; "whose pretty daughter is sick. They are alone. It is he who comes now."
None of them ever sold me their vegetables at too high a price.
XXXIX
I thought no longer of the affairs of the country. I only wanted to save my daughter; the rumours of elections, of the National Assembly at Bordeaux, no longer interested me; my only thought was:
"If Marie-Rose only lives!"
So passed the end of January, then came the treaty of peace: we were deserted! And from day to day the neighbours received news from their sons, from their brothers, from their friends, some prisoners in Germany, others in cantonments in the interior; but for us not a word!
I went to the post-office every morning to see if anything had come for us. One day the postmaster said to me:
"Ah! it is you. The postman has just gone. He has a letter for you."
Then I hastened hopefully home. As I reached the door the postman left the alley and called to me, laughing:
"Hurry up, Father Frederick, you have got what you wanted this time: a letter that comes from the Army of the Loire!"