"Then I trust in your honour. One man more or less can make no
difference in a struggle between great armies, and to take you
back as a prisoner would be to condemn you to death. Depart,
sir, and show your gratitude not to me, but to the first French
officer who falls into your hands."
When he was gone I drew my paper from my pocket.
"Now, Sophie," said I, "I have done what you asked me, and all
that I ask in return is that you will give me a lesson in
Russian."
"With all my heart," said she.
"Let us begin on this," said I, spreading out the paper before
her. "Let us take it word for word and see what it means."
She looked at the writing with some surprise. "It means," said
she, "if the French come to Minsk all is lost." Suddenly a look
of consternation passed over her beautiful face. "Great
Heavens!" she cried, "what is it that I have done? I have
betrayed my country! Oh, Etienne, your eyes are the last for
whom this message is meant. How could you be so cunning as to
make a poor, simple-minded, and unsuspecting girl betray the
cause of her country?"
I consoled my poor Sophie as best I might, and I assured her that
it was no reproach to her that she should be outwitted by so old
a campaigner and so shrewd a man as myself.
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