until we were thrown into solitary prisons, I remained with him. A surgeon dressed his wounds, but did not venture to say anything about his state. The General still shewed no sign of recovery from his swoon. They removed him into a large room on the first floor, where I remained by his bedside weeping, a grenadier being posted at each door within the hall. Towards evening, Fersen wanting this apartment for his dinner and council, the invalid was once more removed into a room above the cellar. The night which succeeded that unfortunate day was the most painful in my life. While I lay on a heap of straw, my mind was suffering a thousand times more than my body. Immediately after the host of officers, who filled all the house, had retired to bed, the confused voices, and immoderate laughter of this multitude, gave place to the groanings and imprecations of the dying and wounded. It must be understood that towards the end of the battle, or rather the slaughter, one hundred soldiers of Dzialyn-
Page:Julian Niemcewicz - Notes of my Captivity in Russia.djvu/58
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