When the guard had been dismissed and the soldier on post turned again to look at the officer, he was astonished at the change that had come over him.

Marteau, pale as death, leaned against the wall, his hand on his heart.
"What's the matter ?" cried the soldier, staring at him curiously.
"Has monsieur seen a ghost ?" asked young Pierre, running toward him in great anxiety.
"Who--who was that ?" asked Marteau, who had received a dreadful shock apparently.
"The governor of the town." "Yes, yes, I know, but his name ?" "I was about to tell you.

The Marquis de---- Upon my word, I have forgot it." "Was it by any chance the Marquis d'Aumenier ?" "That's it," said the soldier.
"And the man with him in the red coat ?" The soldier spat into the dust to show his contempt.
"An English milord." "And the lady ?" "I don't know.

They say, the wife of that Englishman.

Things have come to a pretty pass," growled the soldier, turning away, "when our girls marry these English beef-eaters, and---- It was not so in the day of the Em----" He stopped suddenly, wondering fearfully whether his garrulousness had betrayed him into an imprudence with this stranger.
"No," said Marteau reassuringly.