It is reception day, to-day. Major Hély of the General Staff, after having inspected the sector, will dine with us.
And so, there are fresh flowers on the table—chicken and champagne.
A ray of sun is equally in the party. What luck! The boches are quiet.
It is the end of the dinner.
Ménard brings the jus, excellent coffee which he pours in the cups. The only coffee spoon makes the rounds of the table. Ménard also deposits a dusty bottle which we all regard in silence but with respect.
Captain Gunther himself will pour the precious liquor in the little glasses——
Major Hély sips this plum nectar like a connoisseur. He sniffs the brandy and it causes him to smack his lips——
"Ah! Gunther, where did you unearth this marvelous stuff?"
"In a cellar of the village, under the corpse of an old woman."
PRECAUTION TRENCH, EPARGES.
December, 1915.