"My children have come to stay with me," I said to the sergeant; "you will excuse them if they make a little noise in the house?"
"How! Father Moses," he exclaimed. "I will excuse everything! Do not be concerned; are we not old friends?"
And at once, in spite of all we could say, he chose another room looking upon the court.
"All the nestful ought to be together," said he. "I am the friend of the family, the old sergeant, who will not trouble anybody, provided they are willing to see him here."
I was so much moved that I gave him both my hands.
"It was a happy day when you entered my house," said I. "The Lord be thanked for it!"
He laughed, and said: "Come now, Father Moses; come! Have I done anything more than was natural? Why do you wonder at it?"
He went at once to get his things and carry them to his new room; and then went away, so as not to disturb us.
How we are mistaken! This sergeant, whom Frichard had sent to plague us, at the end of a fortnight was one of our family; he consulted our comfort in everything—and, notwithstanding all the years that have passed since then, I cannot think of that good man without emotion.
When we were alone, Baruch told us that he could not stay at Phalsburg; that he had come to bring his family, with everything that he could provide for them in the first hurried moments; but that, in the midst of such dangers, when the enemy could not long delay coming, his duty was to guard his house, and prevent, as much as possible, the pillage of his goods.