I transacted my business
quickly--saw only one person, which was wiser than I knew then, and
caught the four o'clock train back--we were almost the only passengers.
I had told Pere not to come after us--it was so uncertain when we could
get back, and I had always been able to get a carriage at the hotel in
Esbly.
We reached Esbly at about six o'clock to find the stream of emigrants
still passing, although the roads were not so crowded as they had been
the previous day. I ran over to the hotel to order the carriage--to be
told that Esbly was evacuated, the ambulance had gone, all the horses
had been sold that afternoon to people who were flying. There I was
faced with a walk of five miles--lame and tired. Just as I had made up
my mind that what had to be done could be done,--die or no die,--Amelie
came running across the street to say:--
"Did you ever see such luck? Here is the old cart horse of Cousine
Georges and the wagon!"
Cousine Georges had fled, it seems, since we left, and her horse had
been left at Esbly to fetch the schoolmistress and her husband. So we
all climbed in. The schoolmistress and her husband did not go far,
however.
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