Panna was to be brought before the examining magistrate for the first
time on the following morning. When the jailer opened the door of the
cellar cell, he started back in horror. From the grating in the little
window, high up in the stone wall, dangled a rigid human form. Panna
had hung herself in the night by tying the strings of her skirt
together.
PRINCE AND PEASANT.
The first regiment of dragoon-guards had been waiting idly behind a
screen of low bushes in a shallow hollow for more than an hour, to
receive the order to advance.
It was an interesting point in the spacious battle-field of Metz, and
an important period in that day of August 16th, 1870, which paved the
way for the ultimate prevention of Bazaine's breaking through to
Verdun. By rising in the stirrups, or ascending one of the numerous
shallow ridges which intersected the meadow, a charming view appeared.
A few hundred paces in the rear lay the little village of Vionville
with its slender church-steeple, from whose top floated the flag of the
red cross. Several roads bordered with poplars diverged from the
hamlet, crossing in straight lines the broad, undulating meadow.
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