The Maids of Paradise

IMMO

Two men were leaning over me; a third came up, holdi

ght my eye; his face was a curious golden yellow, his ey

, leggings laced close over the thin shins and ankles of an Arab. And I knew him for a soldier of African riflemen, one of those brave children of the desert whom we

aid, faintly; "what ar

-bronze visage rel

"they picked a bullet from

a staff-surgeon came around t

through his gold-rimmed glasses. "Can

all too intensel

ou're lucky to have a pain in your legs." Turning to the Turco, he added, "Lift h

let, I could have turned it out with a straw, only it rested there exactly where it stopped the use of those long legs of yours!-a fine example o

smartly buttoned tunic. The room was

member that and keep off your feet. Ouf! The cannon are tuning up!" as

I, doctor?

zim-bam-zim! The Prussians are playing their Wagner

ou say a day o

is evening if I'm not up to my chin in amputations. T

ap, tightened the check strap, and walked out of the room. Down-stairs I

n, but thirsty and restless, and numbed to the hips. Alarmed, I strove to move my feet, and succeeded. Then, freed from

design which marked the early period of the Consulate; the mirror was a fine sheet of glass imbedded in Pompeian and Egyptian designs; the clock, which had stopped, was a meaningless lump of gilt and marble, su

ere along the single street of Morsbronn, though I could not remember seeing any building i

ing on somewhere among the mountains. Knowing the Alsatian frontier fairly well, I understood that a battle among t

roar of a cataract. At moments I believed that I could distinguish the stac

hirst which, to thoroughly appreciate, one must be wounded, the door opene

quipped, crimson chechia, snowy g

fellow came up, smiling, showing his s

lips, and the good fellow unslung his blue

you dwell in Paradise with Ali, t

the Tekbir in a low voice

f our African battalions?"

said, smiling. "And you are a Kabyle

ove our officers and bear witness to the unity of God, too. I am a marabout, my inspecto

-be-forgotten cavalry with the scarlet cloaks, rushed on me thick and fast; incidents, trivial matters 69 of t

lint, and you have your two good arms and as many legs with which to explain to

aying, gravely: "We both worship the same

culade? But I need not ask; the cannon tell me e

patois. "There is much noise, but we Turcos are here

und of the cannonade appeared t

like retreat!"

Quis qui c

imple fellow with

I told you," said I. "Are y

rtant for everybody that he should rejoin his battalion in the street below, where

, proudly, "and I have yet to explain to these Prussians who my

0 of the bugles rang through the street; his fine n

ed, the marabout,"

d flew to his scarlet fez, and, "Salute! O my inspe

h I could not see because of the blinds. Command after command was ringing out in the street below. "Forward!" shouted a resonant voice, and "Forward! forwar

he shrill whistle of their flutes, the tinkle of the silver chimes on their toug; then a blank, filled with the hollow roar of

, when there came a knock at the door, and I hastily buttoned my blood-staine

e to my senses under the surgeon's probe. But at the touch of her fingers on the door outside, I knew her-I was certain that it could

when she saw me sitting there with eyes and nose all red and swolle

he pain so dreadf

y a fool, and quit

ost exquisite wine I ever tasted-a wine that seemed

re you are?" she

-in Mor

ose house,

the tarnished coronet on the canopy above

was born in this room. It was to this hou

rested first on one famili

ed farms in the times when every hamlet was a petty kingdom-like the King of Yvet?t's

stone turret wedged in betw

farm. My ancestors built this crazy

d, "I wish I could lo

don't suppose it

me if I don'

dow and folded up t

said. "Wait! don't think of moving! I will pu

the entire length of the street. This street comprised all there was of Morsbronn; it lay between a double rank of houses construc

. One or two dismounted soldiers of the Third Hussars sat in the doorway, listening to the cannon; but, except for these listless troopers, a fe

erted houses; the heavy gables cast sinister shadows over closed doors and gates barred and locked, and it made me think of an

arquebus fire. It tired me to lean on the window, so I contented myself with lying back an

alk, I had been for some minutes thinking of my friend Mr. Buckhur

be a cripple?" she sai

indeed!"

she added

s de Vassart to tuck up her skirts and rake hay, and live with a lot of half-crazy apostles, and throw her fortune to the proletariat and her reputation to the dogs. She could do it; she was éline Cyprienne de Trécourt, Countess de Vas

also well for Americans to remember that she was French, and that this was France, and that in France a countess was a

hers. Pensive, distraite, she sat there, the delicate contour of her head outlined

nsieur Scarlett?" sh

can, m

ake service un

harder servi

ecess

, ma

as si

o hear what I have be

quietly. "To hear of hardship he

other. The jar of the discharges began to dislodge bits of glass and little triangular pieces of plaster, and the soli

re not in Mors

own house than I should a

rhaps of the wretched exposure of Buckhurst-the man she had truste

osite, bursting immediately in a cloud of gra

d there motionless, her face turned towar

walked to the window, closed the heavy outside shutters and the blinds. As she was fastening the

Y OF TURC