"In an interval of wakefulness we discussed our plans, and concluded to spend the night at some hotel near the station, the next morning looking up our friends (several of whom we knew to be in town) and consulting them about our future proceedings, feeling that a midnight visit from us would scarcely be welcome to any one. Annie recalled a fine-looking hotel just opposite the terminus, and, having made our selection in its favor, we dozed off again very comfortably. "I think we had been on the way some four hours when the welcome lights began to appear--first in the sky above the city, as if the earth in this favored spot threw out rays like the sun; next through the darkness over the country below; and then we plunged tunnel-wise into the earth under the busy streets and fortifications, to emerge at the end of our route. "We gathered up our bundles in haste, thanking the stars that we had accomplished our ride so safely, and were walking off to the hotel when we suddenly thought of the trunks. Another consultation was held, and we decided to leave them in the baggage-room until morning. "'But we must go and see that they are safe,' suggested Annie. "'Where is the baggage-room?' I asked of a porter. "'This way, mademoiselle.' "'Madame!' I ventured to correct in a weak voice. "'Vos clefs, s'il vous plait,' said a polite official as we entered the door, and another laid hands on the satchels we carried, to examine them. "We had entirely forgotten the octroi officers. 'Oh my! this affair may keep us another half hour,' thought I, 'and I am so sleepy!' I have often found (I confide this to you as an inviolable secret) that to be unreasonable is a woman's strongest weakness: it is a shield against which man's sharpest logic is invariably turned aside. The next thing to there not being a necessity, is not seeing a necessity, and this I prepared in the most innocent manner to do. "'Gracious me!' I exclaimed--or its French equivalent, which I suppose is 'Mon Dieu'--'you don't mean to detain us here opening those bags, and we so tired, and they packed so full that we could scarcely shut them; and if you _do_ open them, we cannot get all the things into them again, and shall have no end of trouble!' Then I looked as injured as if they had been thieves or highway-men. "Had a man made this speech they would have mistrusted him, but as women have a reputation for shallowness, such talk is never thought suspicious in them. "'What do they contain?' asked the officer, hesitating. "'I don't know what all: we have been at the sea-side, and they are full of trash. There are some shells and an old hat in mine, and--and things.' "He tried to conceal a smile, and looked toward the other, who nodded, and we saw the welcome 'O' put on in chalk, upon which the bags were given back to us. "'Now the trunks,' said the first who had spoken, holding out his hand for the keys.