'At the moment when the gun went off,' as he often repeated to me, 'I shut my eyes by an involuntary movement, that I might not see the mutilated body of the poor wretch who had sacrificed himself in my place.

When I again opened them, the first thing I saw in the midst of the smoke, was the tall figure of this man, standing erect and calm on the same spot, and casting a sad mild look on the artilleryman, who, with one knee on the ground, and his body thrown backward, gazed on him in as much terror as if he had been the devil.
Afterwards, I lost sight of this man in the tumult,' added your father." "Bless me Dagobert! how can this be possible ?" "That is just what I said to the general.

He answered me that he had never been able to explain to himself this event, which seemed as incredible as it was true.

Moreover, your father must have been greatly struck with the countenance of this man, who appeared, he said, about thirty years of age--for he remarked, that his extremely black eyebrows were joined together, and formed, as it were, one line from temple to temple, so that he seemed to have a black streak across his forehead.
Remember this, my children; you will soon see why." "Oh, Dagobert! we shall not forget it," said the orphans, growing more and more astonished as he proceeded.
"Is it not strange--this man with a black seam on his forehead ?" "Well, you shall hear.

The general had, as I told you, been left for dead at Waterloo.