The latter lived in a little village ten miles back of the lines so de Marnac's journey was long enough.
He did not arrive, until darkness had fallen, at the farm which served as headquarters of the boche general.
The general was at dinner when they presented our young man to him. He received him courteously and spoke French to him, but with difficulty.
And turning toward the young girl who served him, he added, "Mademoiselle, will you place another cover for the lieutenant? Monsieur, I listen."
"General, I am the interpreter for General Coutanceau, Governor of Verdun, and have come to present his excuses for an event that occurred to-day.
"This morning, in course of the attack at Consenvoie Wood, a French battalion major ordered his soldiers to cut the suspenders of all German prisoners they might take and to bring him the trousers, in return for which they would receive a dollar.
"Matters happened this way: our soldiers cut numerous suspenders, removing quite a few trousers from your infantrymen----
"The Governor General charges me to tell you he deplores this act as being unchivalrous and to present to you his excuses and his regards."
The boche general turned crimson because he had misunderstood de Marnac and when the latter had spoken of "cut suspenders" he certainly imagined some enormous thing----
He showed by his nervousness the lack of linguistic knowledge he possessed. He called an interpreter and it was explained to him.
He found then that the reason for the truce was very decent and his face flushed with pleasure.
During all this scene the little girl, who incessantly busied herself about the table and who had not lost a word, bit her lips to keep from giggling.
Dinner over, de Marnac requested of the German general that he be allowed to retire.
He got up and the general charged him with a thousand pleasant sentiments for me----
At the moment when he stepped out the door the little girl was lying in wait for him and whispered in his ear:
On leaving the German general's headquarters, his eyes were bandaged and he and his bugler were led back into our lines.
Having reached his post, he made out a complete report of what had taken place and forwarded it to me by the usual channels.