This seemed to me to be going too far, but the peasants in their pity for us had made us drink again and again, and had given us pipes and tobacco, and at last I said the same as Buche. It was not till after we had left the place that the recollection of our shameful falsehoods made me ashamed of myself, and I said to Buche:
"Do you know, Jean, that our lies about the traitors were not right? If every one tells as many, we shall all be traitors, and the Emperor will be the only true man amongst us. It is a disgrace to the country to say that we have so many traitors; it is not true."
"Bah! bah!" said he. "We have been betrayed; if we had not, the English and Prussians could never have forced us to retreat."
We did nothing but dispute this point till eight o'clock in the evening. By this time we had reached a village called Bouvigny.
We were so tired that our legs were as stiff as stakes, and for a long while we had needed a great deal of courage to take a single step.
We were certain that the Prussians were no longer near, and as I had money we went into an inn and asked for a bed.
I took out a six-franc piece in order to let them see that we could pay. I had resolved to change my uniform the next day, to leave my gun and knapsack and cartridge-box here and to go home, for I believed that the war was over, and I rejoiced in the midst of my misfortunes that I had escaped with my arms and legs.
Buche and I slept that night in a little room, with a Holy Virgin and infant Jesus in a niche between the curtains over our heads, and we rested like the blessed in heaven.
The next morning, instead of keeping on our way, we were so glad to sit on a comfortable chair in the kitchen, to stretch our legs and smoke our pipes as we watched the kettles boiling, that we said, "Let us stay quietly here. To-morrow we shall be well rested, and we will buy two pairs of linen pantaloons, and two blouses, we will cut two good sticks from a hedge, and go home by easy stages."
The thought of these pleasant plans touched us. And it was from this inn that I wrote to Catherine and Aunt Grédel and Mr. Goulden. I wrote only a word: