Probably no quarter of the city could have suited Lucie and Paulette better than the one to which good fortune guided them. Paulette, while always declaring that she hated Paris and that she counted the days till she could again return to her own home, nevertheless soon became accustomed to the neighborhood and hobnobbed with dames of her own degree, becoming as canny a _femme de ménage_ as any, doing her marketing with an eye to the main chance and learning where one could best shop for this or that commodity. With her usual good sense she had looked for work of such kind as she could best do, and was engaged by two families to do a certain amount of work, buy the food and cook the midday meal, this employment occupying only her mornings, so that Lucie would not be left alone the entire day. Many were the charges given to the little girl when Paulette went off to her work. She was not to leave the room on any pretext. She was not to open to any one. She was not to play with fire. At this last order Lucie always laughed. “One would think me a baby,” she would declare. “One cannot be too careful,” was Paulette’s invariable reply. “You are ambitious, and some day you may attempt to cook the meal, and then what?” In her secret heart Lucie did cherish such an ambition in order that she might surprise Paulette by having the meal ready upon the good woman’s return, so she never had a response ready. “I will tell that Mathilde, below there, to let no one up,” said Paulette as usual, one morning as she went out. “But supposing it should be grandfather or one of my parents,” returned Lucie. “That is another thing. Mathilde would understand, yet I do not expect she will have so good news to tell me when I return, for it is ill news we are having now. This morning I hear that the town where that excellent Mons. Carriere lives has fallen into the hands of the Germans.” “Oh!” Lucie was startled. “What do you suppose will happen to him?” “Who knows? With the Boches nearing Paris it is as much as one can do to keep faith and hope alive.” “Oh, Paulette, will they really get here, do you think?” “They have moved the government to Bordeaux.” “How fearful! But the people will not let them in, will they?” Paulette compressed her lips to a hard line. “Not till they have killed every _poilu_ on the way. Do not distress yourself, my little one. They are not here yet. It is merely as a precaution that the government removes itself. Now I go. Do not leave the place nor let any one in the door.” And picking up her baskets she went out.