Paolo took his place beside the ladies, the two troopers fell in behind, and they started west, while Hector with the other two troopers galloped off to overtake his company.
At Joinville they found that de Thiou's company had just marched in, but it was not until the next day that the other two returned.

All had met with scattered bodies of peasants, but these had dispersed as soon as the troops were seen, and there had been no actual fighting except with the parties Hector had met.

The bodies of the soldiers that had fallen were buried near the chateau.

Those of the peasants were left where they lay, and would doubtless be carried off by their friends as soon as the latter knew that the troops had left.

The lesson had been a severe one indeed, upwards of two hundred and eighty being killed in the two encounters.