"Why don't we move, Lieutenant?" he made bold to ask. "What are we
waiting for?"

Rochas made a gesture, which the other interpreted to mean that no
orders had been received. Presently he asked:

"Has anybody seen the captain?"

No one answered. Jean remembered perfectly having seen him making for
Sedan the night before, but to the soldier who knows what is good for
himself, his officers are always invisible when they are not on duty.
He held his tongue, therefore, until happening to turn his head, he
caught sight of a shadowy form flitting along the hedge.

"Here he is," said he.

It was Captain Beaudoin in the flesh. They were all surprised by the
nattiness of his appearance, his resplendent shoes, his well-brushed
uniform, affording such a striking contrast to the lieutenant's
pitiful state. And there was a finicking completeness, moreover, about
his toilet, greater than the male being is accustomed to bestow upon
himself, in his scrupulously white hands and his carefully curled
mustache, and a faint perfume of Persian lilac, which had the effect
of reminding one in some mysterious way of the dressing room of a
young and pretty woman.

"Hallo!" said Loubet, with a sneer, "the captain has recovered his
baggage!"

But no one laughed, for they all knew him to be a man with whom it was