Eagle and Dove. A tale of the Franco-Prussian War, etc

Front matter

An Inexorable Official pas' or- Eagle and Dove Rosy's Messenger Page SS- T. NELSON AND SONS London, Edinburgh, and New York Eagle and Dove A 7 ale of the Franco-Prussian War ifoun&eO on ffact BY M. E. CLEMENTS AUTHOR OF "THE STORV OF THE BE/KCON-FIRE, "SHELTERING ARMS, etc. etc. " Vet with the woes of sin and strife The world has suffered long ; Beneath the angel-strain have rolled Two thousand years of wrong ; And men at war with men hear not The words of peace they bring. Oh ! listen now, ye men of strife. And hear the angels sing!" THOMAS NELSON AND SONS London, Edinburgh, and New York preface. The public events one has lived through always seem more real than other history ; and we sometimes fail to bear in mind that those which are among our own most vivid personal recollections can be to any one who is grown up only the dim hearsay matters that the wars of the first Napoleon are to us.

And yet since the tragedies of 1870 were enacted a young generation has already grown up to the age that Rose and I had reached when we took our little part in them. To this young generation, especially to its girls, I have addressed the following tale, hoping that the recital of our experiences may help to illuminate for them that blood-stained page of modern history that is so fresh in the memory of their seniors. Contents. — ♦♦ — I. MY SCHOOL-FELLOW, ... ... ... ... ... 7 II. A CHEVALIER OF THE LEGION OF HONOUR, ... ... ... 18 III. THE GATHERING OF THE STORM, ... ... ... ... 29 IV. AN IMPERIAL ENTRY, ... ... ... ... ... 42 V. THE STORM BREAKS, ... ... ... ... ... 55 VI. THE ORCHESTRA OF WAR, ... ... ... ... ... 68 VII. BELEAGUERED, ... ... ... ... ... ... 74 VIII. AN UNHEEDED RUMOUR, ... ... ... ... ... 84 IX.

THE RUMOUR CONFIRMED, ... ... ... ... ... 94 X. M. GASCON'S ADIEU, ... ... ... ... ... 104 XI. LOVE AND WAR, ... ... ... ... ... ... 113 XII. THE SURRENDER— HOW I ENCOUNTERED THE ENEMY, ... 125 XIII. VOICES OF PEACE, ... ... ... ... ... ... 139 XIV. A GIRL'S PERPLEXITIES, ... ... ... ... ... 149 XV. CONCLUSION, ... ... ... ... ... ... EAGLE AND DOVE.

Chapter I. My School-fellow

MADAME, I beg you to grant me a favour." " Ask, then, little one," said madame encour agingly. " It is not so often our Englishwoman asks favours, that one may not at least listen patiently — that is, she asks not for herself," she added, remem bering, no doubt, certain occasions on which I had been deputed by my school-fellows to plead for some coveted indulgence for all. " Neither is this for myself, madame, but for a lonely little new arrival, who is very far from her home, which she has now left for the first time, and who is trying her best to be cheerful and not to weep." " Oh, you know not how to ask favours, you ! For shame, then, to work so upon the emotions of madame, whose tender heart you know so well how to touch ! " I was pretty sure then of gaining my point, and so I ventured to uncover the wicker-cage which I had carried into the room, and to exhibit two pretty doves, nestling their little throbbing sides close to gether for comfort and mutual support, after the alarms of their recent journey.

It was indeed a further appeal to the emotions of madame, who, like almost all the French women I have ever met, was excessively fond of pretty pets. " Voila, madame ! Are they not little darlings ? " "They are indeed pretty; but who has brought them here ? " " They belong to our new school-fellow, the German girl, Rose Breimar ; but she did not know, until the cage was delivered here, that it had been sent at all, and she says that her twin-brother, who was incon solable at her departure, must have put it into the train with her luggage. She begs madame to believe that she would never willingly have brought it without having first asked permission, and she desires to make her apologies for having inadvertently taken such a liberty." " This, then, is what you wish to ask, Nelle, that I shall pardon this liberty — is it not ?

Yes, you may without delay convey my forgiveness to Mademoiselle Rose, who no doubt is in despair until she receives it. I perceive she waits only for that to return the pretty pigeons with all despatch to her twin-brother, who is inconsolable at her departure." The sly raillery which French people know so well how to use was tempered on this occasion by a certain twinkle in my guardian's eyes which emboldened me to answer, — " Ah, madame, there is indeed more that I would ask — it is that Rose may keep the pigeons. No one else has ever fed or tended them ; and they are so tame, and have such pretty, engaging ways. When she calls them they will come and perch on her shoulder, and feed from her hand. Think, madame, what a pretty picture — in our garden where the apple-trees are already almost in blossom !

All the girls are charmed with the idea ; they are consumed with anxiety that I shall obtain your permission." " And if I should not permit, what then becomes of these pretty playthings which have arrived so opportunely, without the knowledge of our young friend ? " " Alas ! madame, if you will not permit we shall all be in despair. Rose, however, knows what is due to madame, and in that case, she will without delay send the pigeons home again either by rail, as they have come, or if she should let them fly, she has no doubt they would find their own way safely." " Tiens ! " exclaimed madame — and I could see that the watchfulness which French teachers often overdo was aroused on behalf of her new pupil, — " they are voyageurs, then. Look at me, my English woman, look me straight in the eyes and tell me, has mademoiselle spoken altogether the simple truth about these pigeons ?

" " Truly, madame, I believe she has ; she looks very innocent and child-like, and as truthful as — " Here I grew confused. " Well, mademoiselle, as what ? " " As an English girl," I said, blushing furiously, for I knew madame would quiz me. " Oui ! but I knew what you would say, little con ceited one. So there is no truthfulness but in our own nation — bah ! You are too stupid, you English, for a little ruse, and you wish one to believe it is because you are too good ; is it not ? " " Truly, madame, you should know best ; you have lived in England more years than I have." " Well, we will let that pass. Enough of jesting ; I become serious. Listen to me, Nell6, and remember what I say. You know that I am unwilling to doubt the word of any of my pupils ; — that is a custom which I acknowledge to have learned in England.

I will believe, then, that our pretty new arrival has not willingly taken this liberty. I am also willing that she shall keep her pigeons, on condition that she shall never let them fly without my permission, and unless I shall see them start. If Mademoiselle Rose disobeys me in this, she shall herself start by the next train which crosses the Rhine, and we shall see who shall first arrive, mademoiselle or her voyageurs. I desire you to make this very plain to her. Now you may go." She spoke now as if she were very much in earnest; and I knew that if my new school-fellow should ever venture to disregard this prohibition, there would be no reprieve for her. But I could not help wondering why our good-natured guardian should suddenly be come suspicious of pretty Rose Breimar, and all because of a pair of white doves, as gentle and innocent-looking as herself.

What secret communications or other nefarious purposes did she suppose the young girl might use her pets for ? This, however, was but the thought of a moment, and answering quickly, " Thank you, madame ; all the school thanks you, and Rose Breimar will be entirely consoled," I ran back to the garden, where my school-fellows were taking their recreation. I found Rose in the midst of her new companions, who seemed to be vieing with one another to divert her from the low spirits natural to a young girl who finds herself for the first time far from her home and surrounded by strangers. I noticed that some of the elder girls very considerately took pains to speak slowly and distinctly, that she might not be bewildered by their unfamiliar language. If English school-girls would but take a lesson from their sisters across the Channel in this kind reception of new arrivals, how much less heart-breaking many a child's first night at school might be.

" Be consoled, mademoiselle," cried one. " See, here comes our good Nelle, who is all but the daughter of madame. No doubt she has succeeded. See, there is good news in her face !" I delivered madame's message, much to the satis faction of the circle. As for Rose Breimar, her joy and gratitude were unbounded, and from that day she was my devoted friend. The prohibition (which I conveyed to her in private) with regard to sending the pigeons away seemed to be no drawback to her satisfaction. She had no wish, she said simply, to part with them, and would only take them home when she was going herself, which was not to be for a whole year. Owing to madame's English training and her prefer ence for English methods in this matter, we were to a great extent free from that jealous, unresting surveill ance which receives nothing and does not even pretend to receive anything on the word of a pupil, and which is so vexatious to the soul of English youth when under the guardianship of foreigners.

The imported system worked well, quickly developing a sense of honour and responsibility among the pupils ; and the feeling of the school was decidedly against any girl who tried to deceive " the good madame, who confides so in one." During our hours of recreation we were allowed to stroll freely about the garden, where we might amuse ourselves with any of the quiet, pretty games which French girls affect. We might sit under the trees with our tatting or embroidery, singing our simple chansons ; or two might roam about together with arms close linked, exchanging the confidences that girls delight in, for madame, remembering perhaps the sacredness of a certain life-long friendship of her own, would allow no one to persuade her that two girls who sought each other's company continually, and always found something confidential to say to each other, must needs be doing each other mischief.

I had therefore plenty of opportunity of learning the personal and family history of my new friend, Rose Breimar. I very soon discovered that she was the only sister in a large family of brothers, — indeed, I never knew any one girl endowed with so many male relations of every degree, all of whom seemed to have some kind of military standing, past or present. I used to get dreadfully bewildered at first among the " Maxes," and " Fritzes," and " regulars," and " reserve," and " Landwehr " of the first and of the second call, and " Landsturm" which seemed to be of no call what ever. Not so long afterwards, when the ranks of the " Maxes " and " Fritzes " had been deplorably thinned, I learned to know more of this nation of soldiers. There was one fact which before long she confided to me that was an answer to two questions which had puzzled me on the day of her arrival.

One of these questions was why this pretty, budding woman had come to school at a period of life when most of the girls of her nation are brought home to be instructed in the domestic lore so dear to the heart of German women ; for Rose was certainly not backward in any of the ordinary branches of a school-girl's knowledge. The other question was why madame had been aroused to such sharp and unwonted watchfulness in the matter of the carrier-pigeons. Child-like as was her face, and, indeed, many of her ideas, Rose Breimar had a lover ; and before her scholarly and somewhat absent-minded father could be aroused to the fact that his only daughter — one of the two " little youngest ones," whom he persisted in regarding as mere children — was actually sought in marriage, she had irrevocably given away her woman's heart.

According to Rose, her Max, even from her father's point of view, was all that he could desire in a son-in law ; it was the extreme youth of the pair that he objected to. Max was still performing his military service, and Rose — the little Roschen — that was indeed absurd. It seemed to him but the other day that she and her twin-brother were born ; — sad day that it was for him, for their mother had died in giving them birth. Alas ! how should he know how to bring up a young maid who was motherless ? In his perplexity the Herr Doctor consulted some of the most discreet matrons of his acquaintance, and learned to his distress that these eood ladies had lonar been scandalized at the way in which the Fraulein Rose had been allowed to run wild with her brothers and meet freely all their companions, " for all the world like an English maiden !

" they said in horror, and they had always prophesied that no good could come of it. For my part, the good that I observed to have come of it was that Rosy was as natural and unembarrassed in the society of men, old or young, as any English or American girl who has grown up among a family of brothers. But this was an ad vantage which the German ladies were little likely to appreciate ; and they said it was indeed fortunate that such a mistaken system of education had resulted in nothing worse than a proposal of marriage from Max Meyer, whom every one allowed to be a young man of promise. Some among them counselled the Herr Doctor to consent to his daughter's immediate betrothal, and so transfer the guardianship for which he had shown himself so unfitted to the hands of a young Brcmtigam. Others gently hinted at the advisability of giving the Fraulein Rose a judicious stepmother.

But one who was both wise and sym pathetic suggested that the little Roschen should be sent to a distant boarding-school for a year or two, at the end of which time, if the young people were still in the same mind, they might be betrothed, but in the meanwhile no communication should be allowed be tween them. Of all the advice which Dr. Breimar had received this plan most commended itself to his judgment ; and so, having exacted from his daughter a promise to hold no communication with her lover until he had given her permission, and laid upon the young man the same injunction, he sought and found for her a suitable French pension, and escorted her thither himself. It seems that Master Albrecht, the twin-brother, in a high state of indignation at the whole proceeding, had accompanied them to the railway station to look after the luggage, which the Herr Papa would assuredly have forgotten.

Max Meyer was Albrecht's hero, and he held that the family should have deemed itself ennobled by the proposed connection with him. He at least could see no just impediment to Rose's immediate betrothal, the more so as while it would make the admirable Max one of the family, it would leave Rose for some time in her old home. Moreover, he felt it to be an almost intolerable indignity that his twin-sister, a young lady who had just received a proposal of marriage, should be sent to school like a mere child. He had even darkly hinted to her that if she should find her position unendurable, and should desire to plan an elope ment, she should have the means of communicating with him secretly, and would find him quite at her service. Albrecht was given to the reading of romances, and was altogether very unlike the matter-of-fact Rose.

There was no reason why she should not send any message she desired to convey to her twin-brother through the surer medium of the post-office, but that would not have suited his romantic turn so well as the use of the travellerpigeons which he had, no doubt for that purpose, smuggled in with her luggage. Some idea of this kind in connection with them must also have occurred to madame, to whom Dr. Breimar had confided something of the difficulty he found himself in with regard to his daughter. She need not have feared, for Rose had given her promise to a father whom she loved and honoured with all her heart, and though she sighed a little over the long, long time that must elapse before she could either see or hear from her young lover, she yet was resolved to make the best of it. She would improve herself diligently during this year of school life, and strive to make herself more worthy of Max's love.

In the meantime, she said, they would be true to each other ; the father had never forbidden that. I don't think it occurred to Rose to ask herself what opportunity sho was likely to have of being false to her lover in a French pension de jeunes demoiselles. " After all, Rosy," I said to her one day when we had been talking over the matter, " perhaps the father may consent sooner than you expect — at least to some communication between you. ' Nothing is certain but the unexpected.' " A natural and not very original remark of mine ; and yet to this day Rose builds upon it a theory that I am occasionally gifted with a supernatural insight into the future. (131)

Chapter II

A CHEVALIER OP THE LEGION OF HONOUR. And now I must briefly account for my own position in Madame Briey's establishment, and how it hap pened that I was described by my school-fellows as being almost the daughter of madame. Many years ago a certain lonely little foreigner at an English boarding-school formed a warm and tender friendship with one of her school-fellows ; and ever since then, through all the changes of their several lives, they never ceased to exchange frequent letters, to see each other when possible, and always to help each other in the hour of need. The English girl was my mother, the little foreigner was madame. The latter, when her own school-days were over, had taught for some years in England, and during the early married life of my parents she had spent her vacations at their home.

Both women were now widows, and both had known much sorrow. Madame Briey's married life was short, and when her husband died, she, with her only child, a boy, established herself in Metz, where she soon found herself the very efficient head of a flourishing pension de jeunes files. She told me once that when she first began my parents helped her with money, of which she had then but little. When bereavement — sudden, unexpected, terrible, complicated with heavy pecuniary loss — came upon my mother, it left her with three children, of whom I was the eldest, totally unprovided for. Then the friend of her girlhood, who herself had lately lost her only child, hastened to her side; and when a situation had been found for my mother, Madame Briey offered to take me to her home, and educate me to be her assistant, and eventually her successor.

I was then but twelve years old, and from that time she had been to me as a mother, watching care fully over my progress, supplying me liberally with all that I needed, and openly speaking of me as her adopted daughter. During the early years of my residence in Metz, I took all this as a matter of course — as if madame were indeed my mother ; but latterly I had awakened to a sense of my indebtedness to her, and it was a great satisfaction to me to find myself, now in my eighteenth year, called upon to render substantial services in the school. I thoroughly enjoyed my new responsibilities, and strove with all my heart to be worthy of the confidence which this true friend re posed in me. I still received lessons with some of the senior classes, and the elder girls continued to regard me as one of themselves ; but when a holiday or other in dulgence was desired, I was generally deputed to ask for it, because, they said, " Nelle (so they called my English name of Nelly) could always prevail with madame."

I had not much difficulty, a few days after Rose Breimar's arrival, in prevailing with madame to allow her to share the sleeping-room which, since my promotion, was called mine, although it contained a second bed which it was understood should be occupied when the house was full. I could see that if Rose was to have a friend and confidante, madame preferred that it should be me. The only thing, how ever, that she said to me on the subject was to counsel me to take the opportunity to improve myself in con versational German. " One," she said, " who can speak fluently and write correctly in three European lan guages need never be without a means of living, and one must be prepared for all possibilities." And so I became every day more intimately ac quainted with this German girl, and every day was drawn to love her more tenderly, as, indeed, every one must to whom she opened her warm true heart.

I never knew any one better named than my Rosy. I always preferred to call her by this English version of her name, for the " Mademoiselle Rosette " of her French school-fellows sounded far too prim; and at .1 CHEVALIER OF THE LEGION OF HONOUR. 21 that time I could not attempt " Roschen " without provoking her to a fit of pretty, dimpling laughter that was so infectious I must needs laugh too. Fresh, sweet, pure, daintily attractive, always pleasant to look upon, — a veritable Rose was she. Easter was but just over when Rosy came to us in that memorable year 1870. Those were the days of the Second Empire, the days of France's great material prosperity — Madame Briey used to add, of her luxury and degeneracy, and many were the lectures she read her pupils on the evils of luxury and extravagance.

These lectures were repeated with emphasis by madame's great-uncle, Colonel Crevy, who was a frequent visitor at her house. This old gentleman used really to mourn over what seemed to him the degeneracy of the age. He held that material wealth and effeminate ways of living were weakening and demoralizing the manhood of his country, and making her women frivolous spend thrifts, instead of the thrifty housewives of his early days ; and he feared that if the mischief went on un checked, it would yet bring fair France very low. Colonel Crevy was a much decorated old soldier who had served when yet a mere boy under Napoleon the First. There was a curious mixture of courtliness and fatherliness in his bearing towards us girls, at once punctiliously ceremonious and playfully affectionate, and I think when two or three of us were allowed out under his chaperonage, he was not less pleased with the charge than we were delighted to go.

He took us sometimes to a morning concert, and sometimes for a walk, when he always had something interesting to show or to tell us. I remember very distinctly, one beautiful spring morning in that year that Rosy came to us, we went with him to see one of those detached forts which surround the strong town of Metz, and which, after having remained for some time in an unfinished state, were then being rapidly pushed forward towards completion. It was a long walk for us, but Monsieur le Colonel held that young people ought to be able to walk, and he kept tempting us on with cherries. " You, mademoiselle," he said to me, " you English know how to walk ; even your ladies can march. They are right — the good God made our feet that ws might walk on them ; but we spoil his work some times, clo we not ?

Mais oui ! those English are powerful fellows. I remember in the Crimea — " Here followed one of those reminiscences of camp life that we were always eager to hear. " Yes," he said in conclusion, " they are fine men ; but they were wasteful in those clays, and mismanaged some of their affairs, and so they wanted often. Ah, but it was cruel to see such brave men starve ! " " Tell us then, monsieur ! " cried the girls, pressing round him, forgetting fatigue in their interest ; and the recitals continued till we arrived at the fort. There monsieur explained to us the design of the new A CHEWiLIER OF THE LEGION OF HONOUR. 23 works and the proposed mode of defence, which he pronounced to be admirable. Like the old war-horse that hears again the bugle call, the colonel for a while forgot his surroundings; for once he overlooked the fact that his audience were young girls, and neglected to explain to us the techni cal or military terms that he used, so that our interest flagged.

But on our homeward way he was again our dear old " Papa Crevy," as the little ones some times called him. "It is good," he said, "it is all excellently planned; yes, a country situated as France is must look to her fortifications. But remember, my dear young ladies, the true strength of a nation consists not in admirably planned fortifications, nor yet in improved firearms, but rather in brave and honourable men, and in wise and virtuous women. Soyez sage done, mes enfants," he concluded, " soyez sage; nous avons grand besoin de bonnes femmes." Colonel Crevy 's great popularity among us school girls may have been due in some degree to his being a liberal provider of bon-bons — not a very good way perhaps of enforcing his warnings against luxury and self-indulgence ; but far more was it due to the histories he could tell us of his old campaigns, to the cross of the Legion of Honour that, when in full dress, he wore over his stout old heart, and to the fact that he was one of the connecting links — even then rapidly disappearing — with what we believed to be the glorious days of the First Empire.

I have often since wondered why it is that tales of war have such an attraction for tender young girls, why it is that the successful soldier must always be the hero whom they admire and even emulate. I have heard girls — who would implore an old gar dener's protection against the terrible onslaught of a turkey-cock, and weep over a bird with a broken wing — reproach the hard fate which had decreed that they should be women and not men, who might face the enemy and win blood-stained laurels on the field of death. Talk of the bellicose propensities of our masculine youth ! It is your school-girl that appears to have the true thirst for blood — that is, so long as she has never seen the carnage, never listened in terror to the death-dealing din, nor smelt the filthy and stifling smoke of battle.

I do not think that this passion for war in the abstract is peculiar to the girls of any nation, but perhaps French school-girls in this matter excel their sisters; and certainly nothing could be more calculated to strengthen and develop the tendency than the military atmosphere of a great garrison like Metz. Every day we saw troops marching through the streets, and with an opera-glass we could watch from an upper window the manœuvres on one of the exercising grounds ; and all day long — from the A CHEVaVLIER OF THE LEGION OF HONOUR. 25 reveille to tattoo — the bugle-call and the drum beat, and the martial music and the measured tread of armed men, were familiar to our ears. Surrounded by all this attractive military parade, the dullest must be drawn into a certain sympathy with the soldier's calling, and French girls are neither dull nor un sympathetic.

Certainly with all my French school-fellows at that time the first Napoleon was of all history the hero of heroes ; and through the glamour of his martial glory they looked on his successor, and were one and all firmly convinced that the then reigning emperor, and the child whom they called the emperor of the future, were destined to carry out the traditions of the family, and to make and keep France the first of all nations. Whoever in France may have been at that time dis contented with the rule of Napoleon the Third, or displeased at the means by which he had obtained imperial power, Metz was for the most part true to him ; and within Metz the very wildest enthusiasm of loyalty was to be found in Madame Briey's pension de jeunes demoiselles. Not that madame herself and our dear Colonel Crevy were by any means enthusiastic Buonapartists.