"'I say, thou, embaume, how dost thou write that?'
"'Embaume?'
"'Yes, embaume.... "The rose, may it embaume [perfume] this letter...."' (With a sly smile): "'I am writing to my payse.... I am not sure.... She was with the Sisters three years.'
"'Ah, well! embaume: E-m-b-a-u-m-e.'
"'B-a-u.'
"'M-e.'
"'M-e.... Merci, pays.'
"And he continues, without deigning to reply to the loustic who has remarked our colloquy, and who calls to him:
"'Hé! Pitou, say to thy people that thou hast lost the umbrella of the squad, and that they send thee a hundred sous to buy a new one with.'"
At ten o'clock the bugle sounds: "Lights out!" and the dormitory sinks into darkness and slumber. "In the silence of the night, when sleep has already dulled all the caserne, a sound as gentle as a caress comes from outside, mysterious and far-away. The clairon has transformed itself into something soft and cradling, and modulates tenderly an old, old song: