He hoped that the present war would sweep away all such as Auersperg.
He watched nearly an hour while the automobiles, cyclists, a column of infantry, and then several batteries of heavy guns drawn by motors, passed.

He judged that the Germans were executing a change of front somewhere, and that the Franco-British forces were still pressing hard.
The far thunder of the guns had not ceased for an instant, although it must be nearly midnight.

He wished he knew what this movement on the part of the Germans meant, but, even if he had known, he had no way of reaching his own army, and he turned back to the cottage.
Having fastened the door securely again he spread the blankets on the bench by the window and lay down to sleep.

The tension was gone from his nerves now, and he felt that he could fall asleep at once, but he did not.

A shift in the wind brought the sound of the artillery more plainly.