. .
Desirous of saving the remainder, she besought her master to make
complaints, as though he could prevent the individual and stealthy
robberies. The orderlies and followers of the Count were pocketing
everything they could lay their hands on, saying smilingly that
they were souvenirs. Later on the woman approached Desnoyers with a
mysterious air to impart a new revelation. She had seen a head officer
force open the chiffoniers where her mistress was accustomed to keep her
lingerie, and he was making up a package of the finest pieces, including
a great quantity of blonde lace.
"That's the one, Master," she said soon after, pointing to a German
who was writing in the garden, where an oblique ray of sunlight was
filtering through the branches upon his table.
Don Marcelo recognized him with surprise. Commandant Blumhardt, too!
. . . But immediately he excused the act. He supposed it was only
natural that this official should want to take something away from the
castle, since the Count had set the example. Besides, he took into
account the quality of the objects which he was appropriating. They were
not for himself; they were for the wife, for the daughters. . . . A good
father of his family! For more than an hour now, he had been sitting
before that table writing incessantly, conversing, pen in hand, with his
Augusta and all the family in Cassel.
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