"Ah," said the man, "a thousand thanks!" and he drained the cup, smacking his thin lips as he finished.
"It makes a man over." And rising stiffly he tottered to the table and sank in a chair beside Hans. "You have news of the battle, my friend?"
Hans nodded.
"Napoleon is in Jena," he answered shortly.
"And the army?"
Hans snapped his fingers.
"Gone like a bubble," he said. Then he told of the night and the flying of the soldiers, of the crossing and recrossing of lines, of the racing of the riderless horses, and the entrance of Napoleon into Jena.
The soldier's head sank low; he left his second cup of coffee untasted.
"No one can stand against the French Emperor," he said.
"Ach, nein," agreed Frau Schmelze.