EDINBURGH: PRINTED BY THOMAS AND ARCHIBALD CONSTABLE,

PRINTERS TO THE QUEEN, AND TO THE UNIVERSITY.

PREFACE.

THE following Tale is so entirely 'founded upon facts,' that the story has merely been introduced to connect real incidents with the history of the time. For history, that of M. Sarcey has been consulted, as also some of the newspapers of 1870-71.

The incidents here related came under the observation of the Author, and that of her relatives or intimate friends, whose letters and journals, written on the spot and at the time, have communicated much of these details of the Siege of Paris and the days of the Commune.

The Author, with her family, spent the summer of 1870 on the Continent, and travelled for some

days with the Garde Mobile, leaving Paris the week before the surrender of the army at Sedan. An attempt has been made in this tale to show the benefit bestowed by the courageous efforts of those who have been endeavouring to spread the gospel of peace through the afflicted city of Paris.