CHAPTER X.

TROUBLES APPROACH OUR HOME.

T this moment our parents made their appearance, mother weeping; also Clémence, who had heard our exclamations, came out, asking—

'What is it then? What means all this criaillerie?'

'We have been deceived, betrayed by our officers,' replied my father, passionately.

'What else had we to expect,' cried Clémence, except deceit; we have been deceived for years, made fools of; I have always said so. But what is it now?'

'It is this,' replied my father, solemnly, 'General M'Mahon has been defeated at Worth, his army cut to pieces; he is dangerously wounded.'

'Quite right, if he has betrayed France,' said

Clémence, who was the only person among us who had power to utter a word.

'You shall judge of it,' said my father, bitterly. 'He has ordered our splendid body of cuirassiers, some thousands in number, to advance into the great hop-gardens, where their horses have become entangled among the tall poles, in so hopeless a manner, that the enemy has had nothing to do but to shoot them all. Yes, I say; all; men and horses.'

Clémence uttered an exclamation of horror, throwing her bare arms up over her head

'Yes, truly; betrayed in the field; deceived in the city! What a fine emperor; what splendid commanders are ours! I have said it often.'

'And now you triumph in the truth of your wisdom, no doubt,' observed Désiré, who had come in seeking his breakfast; he spoke in bitter, ironical tones. Clémence only replied by a look of withering scorn; and then she retired to tell the news to M. Brunel.

We were accustomed to such passages between our brother and Clémence; these two persons seldom met without some interchange of defiance and scorn. It was unaccountable to us; it was the one breach in the harmony of the little house of the quartier SaintMarcel. Only once had we seen a feeling of cordial kindness between them, and it was when they joined in the refrain of the Marseillaise at the Opera.

Jacqueline now drew me aside, and whispered to me with such an expression of angry triumph in her usually gentle countenance, And, Aurée, our Marie is revenged! Yes!-young Monsieur de

is among the dead; he was, you know, an officer of the Cuirassiers.'

'Just Heaven!' I cried, with a mingled feeling of pity and satisfaction; 'he has deserved his fate; but others, alas!'

'Ah! that reminds me,' said she, 'I have promised the poor Madame to return quickly, and help to amuse her children, they cry so bitterly. I shall take them to sail their little ships on the pond at the Luxembourg.'

So saying, she ran off quite gaily, as if there was no affair to think of but the pleasure of seeing the orphans sail their boats.

'Monsieur de Bazaine and his two hundred thousand men will soon have retrieved this disaster,' said my father hopefully to Sister Célestine, as she took her departure; and, full of this assurance, we entered the salle-à-manger, and eat our cold veal, salad, and peaches with good appetite.

For the next few days our parents engaged us to remain near home, for the streets were very unquiet. Crowds of indignant citizens from Montmartre and Belleville, and other abodes of uneasy spirits and red Republicans, gathered in front of the public buildings

or thronged the Boulevards; many arrests of disloyal persons and of German spies had taken place; orders were given to get the fortifications into readiness for a siege; the railway bridges were blown up, and replaced by drawbridges. Ah! this was indeed overwhelming news for us Parisians, who had expected our army to be in Berlin by this time! Cerise and I were a good deal frightened when we heard all this; but our friends assured us M. de Bazaine and the provinces would prevent any real occasion for all this placing of guns and breaking down of obstacles to their full command.

'Let them come, these foolhardy Prussians!' cried Désiré. 'We shall teach them what it is to venture into the lion's den. We shall show them why our generals suffered themselves to be defeated, when they have swallowed the bait and advanced past help. Of course we knew what we were about when we drew them all away from their own country and their resources, into ours.'

'Let them come to Paris if they will,' echoed Clémence, and they shall find that although we have a traitor of an Emperor and traitors in his minions, his M'Mahons; our republicans, our men of Belleville, of Montmartre, our Rocheforts, our Favres, our Perres, will know how to welcome the Huns and Vandals and Pandours.'

'That is because they are so like themselves,' replied Désiré; 'birds of a feather, in fact.'

'If it pleases you to think so of your fellowcitizens, you are welcome to your own opinion,' said Clémence, with a toss of her head.

I heard a laugh behind me, and turning, I saw Julie hanging out some table-napkins which she had just washed. She left off on seeing me look at her, and approaching to where I sat at my sewing, she said gaily

'Has not Mademoiselle Aurée heard of the good news of yester-evening-of our revenge? Yes, Mademoiselle, I assure you it is a fact. A great battle has been fought at Gravelottes; the victory is ours; we have our revenge. All Paris rejoices.'

Désiré looked astonished, and he took up his straw hat that he might go and make inquiries. Our father had not yet come in for déjeuné; he usually conveyed to us the first news of the day. Presently the wicket thrown open without

in our large wooden gate was

any ringing of the bell. I thought I should see my father enter, and rose up, eager to meet him and relate to him Julie's good news.

How I opened my eyes and stared at the sight I beheld! I called to Cerise to come. She was inside the open window of the salle-à-manger, arranging the fruit prettily on the dishes.