She was alone with the dead woman.
The last tramp of footsteps, the last rumbling of the wagon wheels, died away in the distance.

No renewal of firing from the position occupied by the enemy disturbed the silence that followed.

The Germans knew that the French were in retreat.

A few minutes more and they would take possession of the abandoned village: the tumult of their approach should become audible at the cottage.

In the meantime the stillness was terrible.