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CHAPTER VIII.
I was there, thoughtful. I looked on these fields, these ravines, these
hills, shuddering. I would willingly have insulted this terrible place.
But sacred horror held me back.
The station-master of Sedan came to my carriage, and explained to me
what I had before my eyes. I seemed to see, through his words, the pale
lightnings of the battle. All these distant cottages, scattered about
and charming in the sun, had been burnt; they were rebuilt; Nature, so
quickly diverted, had repaired everything, had cleaned everything, had
swept everything, had replaced everything. The ferocious convulsion of
men had vanished, eternal order had resumed its sway. But, as I have
said, the sun was there in vain, all this valley was smoke and darkness.
In the distance, upon an eminence to my left, I saw a huge castle; it
was Vandresse. There lodged the King of Prussia. Halfway up this height,
along the road, I distinguished above the trees three pointed gables; it
was another castle, Bellevue; there Louis Bonaparte surrendered to
William; there he had given and delivered up our army; it was there
that, not being immediately admitted, and requested to exercise a little
patience, he had remained for nearly an hour silent and wan before the
door, bringing his disgrace, and waiting until it should please William
to open the door to him; it was there that before receiving it the King
of Prussia had made the sword of France dangle about in an ante-chamber.
Lower down, nearer, in the valley, at the beginning of a road leading to
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