Motionless, he leaned against the table, with his hand still buried in the pocket.
Then, yielding to a vague hope--for so cruel a reality did not appear possible--he hastily emptied the contents of the knapsack on the table--his poor half-worn clothes--his old uniform-coat of the horse-grenadiers of the Imperial Guard, a sacred relic for the soldiers--but, turn and return them as he would, he found neither his purse, nor the portfolio that contained his papers, the letters of General Simon, and his cross.
In vain, with that serious childishness which always accompanies a hopeless search, he took the knapsack by the two ends, and shook it vigorously; nothing came out.

The orphans looked on with uneasiness, not understanding his silence or his movements, for his back was turned to them.

Blanche ventured to say to him in a timid voice: "What ails you--you don't answer us .-- What is it you are looking for in your knapsack ?" Still mute, Dagobert searched his own person, turned out all his pockets--nothing!--For the first time in his life, perhaps, his two children, as he called them, had spoken to him without receiving a reply.

Blanche and Rose felt the big tears start into their eyes; thinking that the soldier was angry, they darst not again address him.
"No, no! it is impossible--no!" said the veteran, pressing his hand to his forehead, and seeking in his memory where he might have put those precious objects, the loss of which he could not yet bring himself to believe.

A sudden beam of joy flashed from his eyes.