The count uttered several rather risky witticisms, but so tactfully were they said that his audience could not help smiling. Loiseau in turn made some considerably broader jokes, but no one took offence; and the thought expressed with such brutal directness by his wife was uppermost in the minds of all: 'Since it's the girl's trade, why should she refuse this man more than another?'

In the cold light of the morning they almost bore a grudge against the girl for not having secretly sought out the Prussian, that the rest of the party might r…

They held up to admiration all those women who from time to time have arrested the victorious progress of conquerors, made of their bodies a field of battle, a…

At the end of a short time, once the first terror had subsided, calm was again restored. In many houses the Prussian officer ate at the same table with the fam…