listen breathlessly for a moment, then sit and shudder at the equally appalling silence by which he was now surrounded.  As he could not sleep he preferred to move about; he wandered aimlessly among the rooms, taking care to avoid that in which his mother was sitting by the colonel’s bedside, for the steady gaze with which she watched him as he tramped nervously up and down had finally had the effect of disconcerting him.  Twice he returned to see if Henriette had not awakened, and he paused an instant to glance at his wife’s pretty face, so calmly peaceful, on which seemed to be flitting something like the faint shadow of a smile.  Then, knowing not what to do, he went downstairs again, came back, moved about from room to room, until it was nearly two in the morning, wearying his ears with trying to decipher some meaning in the sounds that came to him from without.

This condition of affairs could not last.  Delaherche resolved to return once more to the Sous-Prefecture, feeling assured that all rest would be quite out of the question for him so long as his ignorance continued.  A feeling of despair seized him, however, when he went downstairs and looked out upon the densely crowded street, where the confusion seemed to be worse than ever; never would he have the strength to fight his way to the Place Turenne and back again through obstacles the mere memory of which caused every bone in his body to ache again.  And he was mentally discussing matters, when who should come up but Major Bouroche, panting, perspiring, and swearing.

“Tonnerre de Dieu! I wonder if my head’s on my shoulders or not!”

He had been obliged to visit the Hotel de Ville to see the mayor about his supply of chloroform, and urge him to issue a requisition for a quantity, for he had many operations to perform, his stock of the drug was exhausted, and he was afraid, he said, that he should be compelled to carve up the poor devils without putting them to sleep.

“Well?” inquired Delaherche.

“Well, they can’t even tell whether the apothecaries have any or not!”

But the manufacturer was thinking of other things than chloroform.  “No, no,” he continued.  “Have they brought matters to a conclusion yet?  Have they signed the agreement with the Prussians?”

The major made a gesture of impatience.  “There is nothing concluded,” he cried.  “It appears that those scoundrels are making demands out of all reason.  Ah, well; let ’em commence afresh, then, and we’ll all leave our bones here.  That will be best!”

Delaherche’s face grew very pale as he listened.  “But are you quite sure these things are so?”

“I was told them by those fellows of the municipal council, who are in permanent session at the city hall.  An officer had been dispatched from the Sous-Prefecture to lay the whole affair before them.”