"
"Poor Laurent!" said the major.
"Laurent? Was he in the 5th chasseurs?"
"Yes."
"Then he was my cousin. Oh, well, this dog's life isn't happy enough
to waste any joy in grieving for him."
The carriage could not be raised; the horses were taken out with
serious and, as it proved, irreparable loss of time. The shock of the
overturn was so violent that the young countess, roused from her
lethargy, threw off her coverings and rose.
"Philippe, where are we?" she cried in a gentle voice, looking about
her.
"Only five hundred feet from the bridge. We are now going to cross the
Beresina, Stephanie, and once across I will not torment you any more;
you shall sleep; we shall be in safety, and can reach Wilna easily.
-- God grant that she may never know what her life has cost!" he
thought.
"Philippe! you are wounded!"
"That is nothing."
Too late! the fatal hour had come. The Russian cannon sounded the
reveille. Masters of Studzianka, they could sweep the plain, and by
daylight the major could see two of their columns moving and forming
on the heights. A cry of alarm arose from the multitude, who started
to their feet in an instant. Every man now understood his danger
instinctively, and the whole mass rushed to gain the bridge with the
motion of a wave.
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