MOBILE DIGITAL LIBRARY - SOCIETY OF YOUNG NIGERIAN ...

I found the child's grief very touching. Daughter and granddaughter of a soldier (herfather was on Mac Mahon's[267-1] staff), the sight of this splendid old man stretched outbefore her had suggested to her another scene, no less terrible. I did all I could to reassureher, but in my own mind I was not any too hopeful. There was no question that the strokehad been apoplectic, and that is the sort of thing from which at eighty one does notrecover. As it turned out, the sick man remained in a state of coma for three days.Meanwhile, the news of the battle of Reichshoffen reached Paris. You will remember inwhat form that news reached us first. Until evening we all believed that we had won agreat victory, with 20,000 Prussians killed and the Crown Prince captured. Through somemiracle, some magnetic current, an echo of this national rejoicing must have reached thesufferer, deaf and speechless and unable to move though he was. That evening when Iwent to his bedside, I found a different man. His eye was clear, his tongue was no longerthick, and he had strength enough to smile at me and to stammer, "Vic-to-ry!""Yes, Colonel, a great victory!"And the more details I gave him of Mac Mahon's brilliant success, the more his facerelaxed and brightened.As I left, I found the little girl waiting for me outside the door. She was pale and was