Read "The Great Invasion of 1813-14" by Erckmann-Chatrian online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
At the end of the dark walk was the court-yard of the farm, down to which you descended by five or six worn steps. On the left were the barn and the wine-press; on the right, the stables and pigeon-house, the gable roof of which stood out in strong and black relief against the dark and cloudy sky, while exactly opposite the door was the wash-house.
No sound from without reached this spot. Hullin, after so many scenes of tumult, was struck by this perfect and profound silence. He surveyed the trusses of straw suspended among the beams of the barn up to the very roof, the wheelbarrows, the carts -- these latter standing in the shadow of the outhouses -- with a feeling of calm and indefinable complacency. A cock was strutting about on the ground in the midst of his hens, who were sleeping all along the wall. A large cat flew by like lightning, and disappeared through a hole in the cellar. Hullin felt as if awakening from a dream. After a few moments of this silent contemplation, he was proceeding slowly towards the wash-house, the three windows of which were shining like stars in the midst of the darkness.