"Very well, we will resist."
Then, turning to his soldiers, he said,
"We are to resist. And now, my boys, here is the password—'Smile!'"
It was the same gallant French spirit found in a soldier who, when reënforcements reached him and asked whether a certain regiment was not supposed to hold the village, answered,
"It holds the village!" and pointed to his lone machine-gun. He was the only survivor.
It was the same gallant French spirit seen in the little drummer, who, when his hand and drum were shot away, sang "Rat-tat-a-tat!" at the top of his throat to the advancing troops until his throat was still for ever.
Horace had seen the wonder of war in the field. Here he saw it in the defense of Paris and felt anew the depth of the hunchback's saying that victory lies in the spirit of men, not in its machinery. He remembered the master's saying that the strength of a country is in proportion as its women are strong.
In the defense of Paris, the boy felt that he had his place. However irregular might be his position as a dispatch-rider, especially at the front where military discipline prevailed, he was invaluable in the voluntary work of aiding to strengthen Gallieni's defenses. Moreover, he learned indirectly some of the tactics planned for that very afternoon.
Le Grand Couronne had shown that the Germans could not break through at Nancy. The German line, therefore, could not drive bodily forward to the southwest, as apparently had been intended. It became necessary for the invading armies to concentrate further to the east.
Von Kluck's army had been facing southwest, to attack Paris. On receiving news of the repulse at Le Grand Couronne, he was compelled to pivot his line on the Marne, so that it faced southeast. This maneuver, reported by the French air-men, revealed that the German plan had changed. They dared not try to take Paris.