Page:The grandmother; a story of country life in Bohemia.pdf/65

Rh foreman sprang from his bench, Grandmother almost screamed from fright, and the miller, shaking his snuff box at the children, exclaimed: "By Gemini! let me come there, I'll{—" and turning his box he smiled, but not so that the children could see him.

"That reprobate of ours surely was to blame!" said Grandmother. "I must take them home before the whole house is torn down!"

This, however, the miller's wife would not allow; they had not finished their conversation about the French war and those three potentates. Grandmother knew them all; she had had great experiences, she understood army life,—every one believed her.

"Grandmother, who were those three ice warriors that the Russian sent against Bonaparte?" asked a handsome youth with a pleasant face.

"I should think you could guess that," quickly replied the foreman. "They were the three months, December, January, and February. In Russia, it is so cold that people are obliged to wear some covering over their faces to keep their noses from freezing off. The French soldiers, not being accustomed to this cold, froze to death as soon as they came. The Czar, knowing this, drew them on into the country, until they could not return. Oh, he is a crafty one, that Czar!"

"Grandmother," asked another," you knew the Emperor Joseph personally, did you not?"

"Of course I did! Why I spoke with him, and he gave me this dollar with his own hand," she replied as she showed them the dollar that hung on the string of garnets around her neck.