"Any news?"
"Yes—interesting too."
We looked up anxiously.
In a few words he repeated the information he had just received. It was this. We were engaged in what might be called the second battle of the Ourcq, for there had been another fought and lost, between the 4th and 7th, by the plucky divisions of reservists from the Paris garrison. The great object of the Staff had been to collect a large army of fresh men to place in the hands of the Commander-in-Chief, the 7th Army Corps coming from Alsace, the 4th—that was ours—and then the divisions from Africa which had just disembarked at Marseilles. (So there was some truth in Pomot's tales, I thought.) With all those combined we should pull it off. We had been withstanding the pressure brought to bear on our weakest point all that day. Now we were going to take the offensive. If we managed to pierce their line...! From a certain thrill in his voice I imagined that that was not all.
"What? What more do you know? Out with it!"
De Valpic hesitated for a moment: "And the decisive attack, the Big Push, is to come off to-night, according to my cousin!"
"Do you believe it?"
Guillaumin yawned. "I say, they're not counting on us, I hope!"
"Why?" I said, sharply.