"'You will tell the commander that we have here seven dragoons and an officer as prisoners of the French chasseurs. You also will say that the French commander sends warning to him that unless the father of this child, taken as a hostage, is returned to this village before eight o'clock this evening, your captain and seven Bavarian dragoons in the hands of the French will be shot immediately. Can you remember this?'
"'Oui, monsieur le Capitaine.'
"'Then go speedily.'
"The dragoon departed in haste. He was eager to get away from this stern-faced Frenchman, at whose hands he knew he could expect small mercy after what the Bavarians had done in that little peasant home.
"Gené had rejoined her mother, who had been tenderly placed in her bed by the tender-hearted French captain. The child sat clasping her mother's hand and comforting her.
"'Have no fears, my mother. The brave commander of the chasseurs will see to it that father comes safely home,' said Gené. Yet the brave little French girl herself was full of anxiety; she could scarcely keep the tears back when she realized that already her father may have been shot.
"It was late in the afternoon, darkness was just falling, when Gené heard some one approaching. By the clanking sound she knew it was one of the chasseurs, and her heart sank within her.
"The captain of the French detachment entered and halted at the door. She searched his face and what she saw there caused Gené to utter a little cry of joy.
"'Here,' said the officer, 'is what you have been waiting for. Here is the father whose life you have saved. What I have done for you was only my duty; what you have done for France is immeasurable. I salute you, daughter of France!'