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MM. ERCKMANN-CHATRIAN.
THE
GREAT INVASION
OF 1813-14;
OR,
AFTER LEIPZIG.
BY
MM. ERCKMANN-CHATRIAN,
AUTHORS OF "WATERLOO," "THE CONSCRIPT," "THE BLOCKADE," "ETC."
BEING
A STORY OF THE ENTRY OF THE ALLIED FORCESINTO ALSACE AND LORRAINE, AND THEIR MARCHUPON PARIS AFTER THE BATTLE OFLEIPZIG, CALLED THE BATTLE OFTHE KINGS AND NATIONS.
WARD, LOCK AND CO.
LONDON: WARWICK HOUSE, SALISBURY SQUARE, E.C.
NEW YORK: BOND STREET.
THE
GREAT INVASION;
OR
AFTER LEIPZIG.
CHAPTER I.
If you would like to know the story of the Great Invasion of 1814, justas it was told me by the old huntsman, Frantz du Hengst, you must comewith me to the village of Charmes, in that province of France calledthe Vosges. About thirty little houses, with stuccoed fronts, and theirroofs covered with dark green moss, are dotted along the borders ofthe Sarre; you can see their gables round which the ivy creeps andthe honeysuckle twines—the honeysuckle withered now, for winter isnear—the beehives closed with wisps of straw, the little gardens, thewooden palings, the hedge-rows that divide them from each other. Tothe left, on a high mountain, stand the ruins of the ancient castleof Falkenstein, destroyed two hundred years ago by the Swedes. It isnow nothing but a heap of ruins, over-run with brambles and weeds. Theapproach to it is by an old, worn pathway, called a schlitte[1] road,of which you can catch a glimpse through the fir-trees. To the right,[Pg 10]on the hillside, is seen the farm of Bois-de-Chênes, a large building,with granaries, stables, and outhouses, the flat roof weighted withhuge stones to resist the keen north wind. Cows are grazing on thecommon, and a few goats are climbing the steep rocks.
All is calm and silent.
Some children, in drawers made of a sort of gray cloth, their headsand feet bare, are warming themselves round their little fires on theoutskirts of the wood. If you watch the light blue columns of smoke asthey disperse in the air, or hang mot