But the Emperor was saved by such cowardice, and he slept that night in the village which Kutusoff's guns had failed to hold.
II
The morning broke clear and sunny, but hardly were we upon the road when the north wind began to blow and our sufferings to recommence. The Russians had drawn off for the time being, and we neither saw them nor heard their guns. The troops themselves, no longer fearing an attack, marched in that disorder of which I have spoken. Hardly a regiment could have been distinguished even by one familiar with our army. We were but scattered groups of malcontents, and every man thought only of his own safety.
I had not seen my nephew Léon during the battle, and was very glad to re-discover him not far from the bivouac. He was marching with other officers of the Vélites when I came up, and I perceived at once that he had made a captive. The latter might, at the first glance, have been taken for a lad of seventeen, clad in stout riding-breeches, and wearing a tunic of rich fur.
The bright eyes of the prisoner and the cheerful manner evidently won upon my comrades, and I was not very much astonished to discover presently that the prisoner was of the other sex, and to hear that she had been caught in the village that very morning, and herself had volunteered to show us the road to the Bérézina.
Such things happened almost every day while we were in Russia, and for a native woman to adopt the garb of a soldier was by no means an uncommon thing. The only difference in this case was that the girl herself appeared to be well born, and beyond the station where such monkey tricks would be looked for. It occurred to me at once that she might have been sent out to betray us, and I spoke of it to Léon before he had gone a league.
"Where did you find her?" I asked him.
He parried the question, as a young man would when he has found a companion to his liking.
"She came out of the last house in the village just as we were marching past. I wish I could understand their cursed lingo, mon oncle. I think she comes from a place called Druobona, but am not very sure. In either case, it does not matter," he added carelessly, "for I do not suppose she will go back there when we have done with her."
This was said with a laugh which I did not like to hear, and I rebuked him sharply for his levity.