CHAPTER II.
THE SCHOOL-HOUSE The greater part of the next day was spent by us in the little town of S----, a comfortable place very slightly disturbed by the fact that it had been already the scene of four battles; there was just this effect, as it seemed to me, that the affairs of the day were carried on with a kind of somnolent indifference....

"You may order your veal," the waiter seemed to say, "but whether you will get it or no is entirely in the hands of God.

It is, therefore, of no avail that I should hurry or that you should show temper should the veal not appear.

At any moment your desire for veal and my ability to bring it you may have ceased for ever." For the rest the town billowed with trees of the youngest green; also birds of the tenderest age, if one may judge by their happiness at the spring weather.

There were many old men in white smocks and white trousers and women in brightly-coloured kerchiefs.