I
This was in the first months after the war. The old Frenchman was still
in uniform. His round-topped, gold-braided cap lay on the table at his
elbow, beside the open box of cigarettes, and the half-empty glass. The
breast and the sleeve of his tunic bore testimony to his honorable
service. He was a short man, a heavy man, with a large stomach, and
solid shoulders; and his head hunched forward in a leonine fashion. His
eyes were blue; and his hair was thick, and coarse, and white as snow.
He was in New York on some business of reconstruction.... And while the
other men had been exchanging reminiscences, he had stared with
thoughtful eyes at a large, framed print upon the wall before him.
This print was a reproduction of a painting thoroughly familiar. It
portrayed an old man, a man of middle age, a boy, a fife, a drum and a
flag.... And one who looked at it could feel the brush of the wind
through the banner’s waving folds, and hear the scream of shrill fifes
piping in the air....
Hinchcliffe, who knew the Frenchman better than the others, observed
this scrutiny, and asked a question, softly. The Frenchman smiled.
“I was thinking, sir,” he told Hinchcliffe, “That I have witnessed a
scene like that, in my time.”
His words came in a little pause in the conversation of the others, so
that they all heard, and waited for him to continue. And Hinchcliffe
ventured to urge quietly: “Tell us.”
The Frenchman lifted his hand in a deprecating fashion; they insisted.
He sipped at his glass, and in the end he nodded. Barton lighted a fresh
cigar. Hinchcliffe shifted to a more comfortable position in his chair.
Hughes beckoned the nearest attendant with a silent forefinger. The
Frenchman began to speak. His tone was level and unemotional; his
articulation was precise. Only an odd construction of sentences now and
then betrayed his unfamiliarity with the tongue. His eyes were on the
framed print upon the wall; and they seemed to look through it, and
beyond....