That afternoon, first of all, which we spent wandering in a forest. Surrounded? We were not far from it. The men were well aware of the sentries8 posted everywhere, and the patrol parties sent out to investigate in every direction.
One scene stands out particularly clearly in my memory. Those staff-officers we passed as I was going with my section to inspect a certain issue. The[Pg 308] general seated on the edge of a slope with his head between his hands, his subordinates standing9 motionless a few steps away, respecting his meditation10. A little farther on were the orderlies, holding their horses by their halters. An hour later as we were returning, we found them at the same place, and in the same attitudes, the general with his head still sunk in his hands, his aides-de-camp silently fixing their eyes on him.
A petrified11 tableau12. So all these people expected nothing better than to have to give up their swords. I thought we were done for, but forced myself to distract the attention of my companions.
We afterwards learnt that during the twenty-four hours there, we had, in high places, been looked upon as taken, and coldly struck off the lists. We owed our escape solely13 to a company sergeant-major, a native of that part of the country, who, having made careful inquiries14 about the limits of the hostile advance, went, that evening, to find the general in charge of the division, and offered himself as guide.
It was our last chance. We followed him. The march lasted for three hours. Only a small number of us discerned the tragic15 element floating about us. The men complained of the absence of halts. The strictest silence had been imposed upon us, we even had to hold the sheaths of our bayonets in our hands. At the most dangerous point some palavering in undertones, and obstreperous16 horse-play went on, a practical joke. The Bosches no doubt were tired out; their sentries dead tired! A few shots cracked on our flanks. We reached Cremilly. That apparently17 meant that we were saved.
For one day!
[Pg 309]
That was only the mild beginning of our trials. After a morning's rest we started again, with a charitable warning that we should have to keep at it until nightfall. We had to keep at it all night too, and the next day.... A forced march of thirty hours, the stiffest in the campaign! I may mention further that we had not slept or had a bite of food since two days before.... A miracle of human endurance.
As long as it was light I vaguely18 noticed the road we covered. The noise of the firing was growing weaker. We were falling back on the Meuse, as De Valpic had predicted.
Back there already! I lamented19 so much lost territory. This thought pained me. I looked with the aching heart with which one salutes20 abandoned patrimony21, at these fields and valleys, these woods, which I examined with such a cold and detached gaze a few weeks ago. Lorraine was actually becoming dear to me! I began to realise that each part of the world has its own particular character.... The tender green of these pastures which not even the ardour of a torrid summer had been able to alter! The calm and haughty22 harmony of this billowing ground.... I was seized with affection for this pensive23 and laborious24 race by whose property the whole of the French lineage is enriched. The names recurred25 to me of authors born in these parts, who wove their noble blossoms for our literary crown, of painters who had grown up and erected26 their easels here, attracted by the enchantment27 of the mist. And all that belonged there of our history: Varennes, the flight of Louis XVI., the romantic episode on the threshold of a troubled and magnificent epopee!... Valmy, Sedan close at hand! We were, as I[Pg 310] have said, drawing near to the Meuse. Fifteen or twenty miles up-stream lay Domrémy and Vaucouleurs. Were these hamlets full of sacred memories destined28 to crumble29 within a few days beneath the Teuton howitzers?
And if we had to retreat still farther! My gaze took in the hills, and the expanse of pale sky. Fortin's brutal30 warning recurred to my mind. "What they needed first was what remained to us of Lorraine, Champagne31, and the Franche-Comté...."
My heart contracted. I murmured, "No, no!"
Hours and hours passed by. The evening fell. There were no halts, or almost none. The night came down. We went on mechanically, hour after hour, bowed beneath our packs. No one stayed behind. Guillaumin had spread the report that the Uhlans, pushing on behind us, butchered all the stragglers—a superfluous32 intimidation33. After three weeks of active service, those who had already fallen out eliminated, these classes of reserves contained nothing but unusually good soldiers ... no more sentiment or thought ... admirable beasts of burden. Shall I say that we slept standing up? But I mean it quite literally34. Many of them I swear were snoring. Every other minute one got one's neighbour's rifle in the shoulder or in the face: not that it woke one up for very long. It was astonishing that there were no serious accidents. Had we crossed the Meuse? Were we continuing to skirt it? Guillaumin was talking in his sleep. At one point he said to me:
"We're going through Verdun, you see?"
I raised my heavy eyes and said:
"Are you sure?"
[Pg 311]
He made a movement with his head:
"Look at these two-storied houses."
They were the trees bordering the road. I had not even the strength to smile. At dawn an artillery35 officer galloped36 along the column. He slowed down on a level with us and asked:
"Have you seen him? My orderly! He must have fallen off his horse on to the road."
The men nudged and questioned each other. Nobody, no. Nobody had seen anything. We learnt, ten minutes later, that the man had just been picked up gasping37 and on the point of death, a kilometre behind us. The whole regiment38 had gone over his body without noticing it.
Farther on—the longing39 to sleep had left me since it had grown light again—I witnessed a touching40 scene.
Henriot looked me up and whispered:
"I say, we shall pass my home!"
I was interested.
"At Génicourt?"
"Yes, the village after this one."
We had just entered Dieu. The lieutenant41 stayed beside me. When, on leaving the village, he saw that we were turning to the right, his face clouded over:
"What in the world are we going to do over there!"
We were crossing the river; we should leave Génicourt on the left!
"Do you think, do you think," he said, "that I might ask the captain...?"
Ask what? For permission to go and kiss his mother.
"Of course!" I said.
I never dreamt that it would be refused.
[Pg 312]
He left me, but soon came back:
"The captain didn't want me to. He's quite right. Quite right!"
"And do you know. He assures me that it would have been no good, that the village must be evacuated44 because ... because it's on ... the right bank!"
He stopped at the side of the road.
"Oh! Dreher! I should never have thought that they would have left it, that they would...."
Génicourt, his birthplace, devoted45 to ruin, to the worst ravages46, to the fate of those wretched villages whose funeral pyres had blazed like beacons47 on the horizon, yesterday.
"Come along, sir."
He followed me like a child, adding:
"You, you understand, don't you? You who are a Lorrain too. The captain told me that over there in your direction, towards Lunéville, we have had to retire too, and let them penetrate48 into our territory...."
It was a striking coincidence—that fact that he told me. I had had a presentiment49 of it. All night I had confusedly turned this apprehension50 over in my mind. Eberménil. Eberménil.
How often had I not repeated to myself that I felt no particular attachment51 to this hamlet where chance, and chance alone, had decreed that I was to be born! I had not set foot in it since I was ten years old. We only kept the estate out of affection for the past. Why did I suddenly have a strikingly clear vision of the white house with green shutters52, the big fir beneath whose shade the table was often laid? I called to mind other scenes. The little pond where we always[Pg 313] tried to catch the gold fish—I had fallen in twice—the nursery where we fought with Euréka pistols, the croquet lawn, where mother used to play with me against father and Victor—Victor! Mother! O dear shades! Yonder lay my childhood dead, with the vanished beings. This part of the world was for me a unique centre of emotions. I made a vow53 to go back there and soak myself with its melancholy54 and charm. But a cloud intervened. What if the old place had been sacked? Perhaps the old fir-tree had fallen! Revolted at the thought, I felt the shock of an individual rancour. My heart contracted. We should see!
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1
logic
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| n.逻辑(学)；逻辑性 | |
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exhaustion
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| n.耗尽枯竭，疲惫，筋疲力尽，竭尽，详尽无遗的论述 | |
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anguish
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| n.(尤指心灵上的)极度痛苦，烦恼 | |
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virile
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| adj.男性的；有男性生殖力的；有男子气概的；强有力的 | |
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salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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germinated
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| v.（使）发芽( germinate的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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sentries
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| 哨兵，步兵( sentry的名词复数 ) | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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meditation
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| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
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petrified
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| adj.惊呆的；目瞪口呆的v.使吓呆，使惊呆；变僵硬；使石化(petrify的过去式和过去分词) | |
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12
tableau
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| n.画面，活人画（舞台上活人扮的静态画面） | |
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solely
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| adv.仅仅，唯一地 | |
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inquiries
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| n.调查( inquiry的名词复数 )；疑问；探究；打听 | |
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tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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obstreperous
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| adj.喧闹的，不守秩序的 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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lamented
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| adj.被哀悼的，令人遗憾的v.（为…）哀悼，痛哭，悲伤( lament的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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salutes
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| n.致敬，欢迎，敬礼( salute的名词复数 )v.欢迎，致敬( salute的第三人称单数 )；赞扬，赞颂 | |
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patrimony
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| n.世袭财产，继承物 | |
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haughty
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| adj.傲慢的，高傲的 | |
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pensive
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| a.沉思的,哀思的,忧沉的 | |
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laborious
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| adj.吃力的，努力的，不流畅 | |
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recurred
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| 再发生，复发( recur的过去式和过去分词 )； 治愈 | |
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26
ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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enchantment
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| n.迷惑，妖术，魅力 | |
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destined
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| adj.命中注定的；(for)以…为目的地的 | |
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crumble
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| vi.碎裂，崩溃；vt.弄碎，摧毁 | |
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brutal
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| adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的 | |
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31
champagne
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| n.香槟酒；微黄色 | |
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32
superfluous
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| adj.过多的，过剩的，多余的 | |
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33
intimidation
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| n.恐吓，威胁 | |
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literally
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| adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实 | |
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35
artillery
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| n.(军)火炮，大炮；炮兵(部队) | |
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36
galloped
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| （使马）飞奔，奔驰( gallop的过去式和过去分词 )； 快速做[说]某事 | |
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gasping
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| adj. 气喘的, 痉挛的 动词gasp的现在分词 | |
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regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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39
longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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40
touching
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| adj.动人的，使人感伤的 | |
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41
lieutenant
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| n.陆军中尉，海军上尉；代理官员，副职官员 | |
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42
misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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43
depicted
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| 描绘，描画( depict的过去式和过去分词 )； 描述 | |
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evacuated
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| 撤退者的 | |
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45
devoted
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| adj.忠诚的，忠实的，热心的，献身于...的 | |
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46
ravages
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| 劫掠后的残迹，破坏的结果，毁坏后的残迹 | |
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47
beacons
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| 灯塔( beacon的名词复数 )； 烽火； 指路明灯； 无线电台或发射台 | |
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48
penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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49
presentiment
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| n.预感，预觉 | |
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50
apprehension
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| n.理解，领悟；逮捕，拘捕；忧虑 | |
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51
attachment
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| n.附属物，附件；依恋；依附 | |
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52
shutters
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| 百叶窗( shutter的名词复数 )； （照相机的）快门 | |
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53
vow
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| n.誓(言)，誓约；v.起誓，立誓 | |
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54
melancholy
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| n.忧郁，愁思；adj.令人感伤（沮丧）的，忧郁的 | |
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