The Captain was reading, by the light of a solitary tallow-candle, some intercepted dispatches taken from the Germans.

He had suffered the wood fire, scattered over the large open grate, to burn low; the red embers only faintly illuminated a part of the room.

On the floor behind him lay some of the miller's empty sacks.

In a corner opposite to him was the miller's solid walnut-wood bed.

On the walls all around him were the miller's colored prints, representing a happy mixture of devotional and domestic subjects.