THE GAME OF BILLIARDS 33

inaction. There is nothing to be done.
They await orders. Justso! But orders
are not needed for dying, and the men
fall by hundreds behind the bushes, in
the ditches, in front of the great voice-
less castle. Even as they lie fallen, the
grape-shot tears them, and through
their open wounds flows noiselessly the
generous blood of France. . . . Up
there, in the billiard-room, matters are
very hot too; the Marshal has recovered
his advance, but the little captain
defends himself like a lion.

Seventeen! eighteen! nineteen !
There is hardly time to mark* the
points. The noise of the battle grows
nearer. The Marshal has only one
more turn. Already the shells have
reached the park; one has just burst
above the lake. The pure mirror is
stained, and a swan swims, terrified,
amid a whirl of bloody feathers. It is
the last move.

Now, complete silence. Nothing

but the rain which falls on the lime-
D