"I looked around me. We were alone among these ten men, whose looks seemed very strange to me. Around us nothing but the lonely fields, the darkness, and the fog. In front of us a row of untidy beds; on a broken-legged table a wretched lamp completed this picture of a disreputable house.
"'Oh no, I pray you, let us go away; let us return to Laon.'
"'If you don't come in, and quickly, I will shoot you.'
"And the officer snatched up his revolver.
"Out of despair we went in, the ten men pushed us and rushed in after us.
"'You pack off post haste,' the officer said.
"The soldiers disappeared, except one to guard the door.
"'Well, you were wise to come in,' said the officer, 'or I would have ordered my men to fire at you.'
"To exemplify his officer's words, the facetious guard pointed his revolver at us. Pierrot chose that very moment to shriek with terror:
"'Oh, I am so frightened, so frightened!'