Here he stopped writing, and rang for his orderly.
The latter, who was in waiting in the tap-room, at once appeared in the dining-room before the lieutenant.
"How are the prisoners going on?" asked Von Bleichroden.
"Very well, sir; they are just now playing billiards, and are quite cheerful."
"Give them some bottles of wine, but of the weakest kind. Has nothing happened?"
"What strange people these Frenchmen are! The three franc-tireurs whom I have just mentioned, and who possibly (I say possibly for I still hope for the best) may be condemned to death in a few days, are just now playing billiards in the room next to mine and I hear their cues striking the balls. What happy contempt of the world! It is really splendid to go hence in such a mood; or rather, it shows that life is worth very little if one can part from it so easily--I mean when one has not such dear ties binding one to existence as I possess. Of course you won't misunderstand me and believe that I think I am tied Ah! I don't know what I am writing, for I have not slept for several nights and my head is so----"
At the lieutenant's "Come in!" the door opened and the curé of the village entered. He was a man of about fifty, with a friendly and melancholy yet firm expression of face.
"I come, sir," he began, "to ask you for permission to speak with the prisoners."
The lieutenant rose and put on his coat, while he offered the curé a seat on the sofa. But when he had buttoned up the coat tightly and felt the stiff collar close round his neck, it seemed as though his nobler organs were compressed, and as though his blood stood still in coursing through secret channels to his heart. Placing his hand on the copy of Schopenhauer, and leaning against the writing-table, he said: "I am at your service, Monsieur le Curé, but I do not think the prisoners will pay you much attention, for they are busy playing billiards."
"I think, sir," answered the curé, "that I know my people better than you do. One question. Do you intend to have these young fellows shot?"
"Naturally," answered Von Bleichroden, quite prepared to assume his rôle. "It is the states which wage war, Monsieur le Curé, not individuals."
"Pardon me, sir, are you and your soldiers not individuals?"