By that Saturday, already, writes the
Abbe Dourlent:
"There was something changed in the attitude of the enemy. What had
become of the brutal arrogance, the insolent cruelty of the first days?
For three days and nights, the German troops, an army of 300,000 men,
defiled through our streets. It was not the road to Paris, now, that
they asked for--it was the way to Nanteuil, Ermenonville, the direction
of the Marne. On the faces of the officers, one seemed to read
disappointment and anxiety. Close to us, on the east, the guns were
speaking, every day more fiercely. What was happening?"
All that the Cure knows is that in a house belonging to persons of his
acquaintance, where some officers of the rear-guard left behind in
Senlis are billeted, two of the young officers have been in tears--it is
supposed, because of bad news. Another day, an armoured car rushes into
Senlis from Paris; the men in it exchange some shots with the German
soldiers in the principal _place_, and make off again, calling out,
"Courage! Deliverance is coming!"
Then, on the 9th, just a week from the German entry, there is another
fusillade in the streets.
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