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Speaker 1: The Mad Woman by Guy de mot Poissint. I can

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tell you a terrible story about the Franco Prussian War.

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Monsieur d'andolin said to some friends assembled in the smoking

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room of Baron de Ravau's chateau. You know my house

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in the Faubourg de Comais. I was living there when

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the Prussians came, and I had for a neighbor a

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kind of mad woman who had lost her senses in

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the consequence of a series of misfortunes. At the age

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of seven and twenty. She had lost her father, her husband,

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and her newly born child, all in the space of

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a month. When death has once entered into a house,

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it almost invariably returns immediately, as if it knew the way,

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and the young woman, overwhelmed with grief, took to her

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bed and was delirious for six weeks. Then a species

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of calm lassitude succeeded that violent crisis, and she remained motionless,

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eating next to nothing, and only moving her eyes. Every

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time they tried to make her get up, she screamed

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as if they were about to kill her, and so

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they ended by leaving her continually in bed and only

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taking her out to wash her, to change her linen,

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or to turn her mattress. An old servant remained with her,

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to give her something to drink or a little cold meat.

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From time to time. What passed in that despairing mind

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no one ever knew, for she did not speak at all.

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Now was she thinking of the dead? Was she dreaming

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sadly without any precise recollection of anything that had happened?

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Or was her memory as stagnant as water without any current,

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But however this may have been. For fifteen years she

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remained thus inert and secluded. The war broke out, and

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in the beginning of December the Germans came to Courmay.

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I can remember it as if it were but yesterday

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it was freezing, hard enough to split the stones, and

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I myself was lying back in an armchair, being unable

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to move on account of the gout, when I heard

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their heavy and regular tread, and could see them pass

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from my window. They defiled past interminably with that particular

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motion of a puppet on wires which belongs to them.

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Then the officers billeted their men on the inhabitants, and

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I had seventeen of them. My neighbor, the crazy woman

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had a dozen, one of whom was the commandant, a regular, violent,

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surly swashbuckler. During the first few days everything went on

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as usual. The officer's next door had been told that

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the lady was ill, and they did not trouble themselves

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about that in the least. But soon that woman, whom

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they never saw, irritated them. They asked what her illness was,

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and were told that she had been in bed for

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fifteen years in consequence of terrible grief. No doubt, they

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did not believe it, and thought that the poor mad

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creature would not leave leave her bed out of pride,

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so that she might not come near the Prussians or

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speak to them, or even see them. The commandant insisted

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upon her receiving him. He was shown into the room

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and said to her roughly, I must beg you to

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come up, madam, and come downstairs, so that we may

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all see you. But she merely turned her vague eyes

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on him without replying, And so he continued, I do

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not intend to tolerate any insolence, and if you do

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not get up of your own accord, I can easily

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find means to make you walk without any assistance. But

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she did not give any signs of having heard him,

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and remained quite motionless. Then he got furious, taking that

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calm silence for a mark of supreme contempt, so he added,

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if you do not come downstairs tomorrow, and then he

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left the room. The next day, the terrified old servant

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wished to dress her, but the mad woman began to

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scream violently and resisted with all her might. The officer

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ran upstairs quickly, and the servant threw herself at his

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feet and cried, she will not come down, monsieur. She

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will not forgive her, for she is so unhappy. The

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soldier was embarrassed, as in spite of his anger, he

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did not venture to order his soldiers to drag her out.

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But suddenly he began to laugh and gave some orders

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in German, and soon a party of soldiers was seen

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coming out, supporting a mattress, as if they were carrying

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a wounded man on that bed which had been unmade.

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The mad woman, who was still silent, was lying quite quietly,

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for she was quite indifferent to anything that went on

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as long as they let her lie behind her. A

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soldier was carrying a parcel of feminine attire, and the

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officer said, rubbing his hands, we will see whether you

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cannot dress yourself alone and take a little walk. And

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then the procession went off in the direction of the

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forest of Mmauville. In two hours, the soldiers came back alone,

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and nothing more was seen of the mad woman. What

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had they done with her? Where had they taken her too?

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No one knew. The snow was falling day and night

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and enveloped the plain and the woods in a shroud

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of frozen foam, and the wolves came and howled at

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our very doors. The thought of that poor lost woman

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haunted me, and I made several applications to the Prussian

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authorities in order to obtain some information, and was nearly

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shot for doing so. When spring returned, the army of

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occupation withdrew, but my neighbour's house remained closed, and the

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grass grew thick in the garden walks. The old servant

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had died during the winter, and nobody troubled any longer

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about the occurrence. I alone thought about it constantly. What

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had they done with the woman? Had she escaped through

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the forest, had somebody found her and taken her to

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a hospital? Without being able to obtain any information, from her.

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Nothing happened to relieve my doubts, but by degrees time

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assuaged my fears well. In the following autumn, the woodcock

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were very plentiful, and as my gout had left me

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for a time, I dragged myself as far as the forest.

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I had already killed four or five of the long

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billed birds when I knocked over one, which fell into

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a ditch full of branches, and I was obliged to

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get into it in order to pick it up, and

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I found that it had fallen close to a dead

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human body. Immediately, the recollection of the mad woman struck

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me like a blow in the chest. Many other people

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had perhaps died in the wood during that disastrous year,

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But though I do not know why, I was sure sure,

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I tell you that I should see the head of

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that wretched maniac. And suddenly I understood. I guessed everything.

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They had abandoned her on that mattress in the cold,

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deserted wood, and faithfully to her fixed idea, she had

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allowed herself to perish under that thick and light counterpane

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of snow without moving either arms or legs. Then the

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wolves had devoured her, and the birds had built their

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nests with the wool from her torn bed, and I

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took charge of her bones. I only pray that our

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funds may never see any wars again. And of the

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mad woman m