While we were there meditating, some one came up the stairs. We listened, and our sergeant, with his musket on his shoulder, and his cape and gaiters covered with mud, opened the door, exclaiming: "Good for you, Father Moses! Good for you!—You distinguished yourself last night!"
"Ha! what is it, sergeant?" asked my wife in astonishment.
"What! has he not told you of the famous thing he did, Madame Sorlé? Has he not told you that the national guard Moses, on patrol about nine o'clock at the Hospital bastion, discovered and then arrested a deserter in the very act! It is on Lieutenant Schnindret's affidavit!"
"But I was not alone," I exclaimed in despair; "there were four of us."
"Bah! You discovered the track, you went down into the trenches, you carried the lantern! Father Moses, you must not try to make your good deed seem less; you are wrong. You are going to be named for corporal. The court-martial will sit to-morrow at nine. Be easy, they will take care of your man!"
Imagine, Fritz, how I looked; Sorlé, Zeffen, and the children looked at me, and I did not know what to say.
"Now I must go and change my clothes," said the sergeant, shaking my hand. "We will talk about it again, Father Moses. I always said that you would turn out well in the end."
He gave a low laugh as was his custom, winking his eyes, and then went across the passage into his room.
My wife was very pale.
"Is it true, Moses?" she asked after a minute.