friendship with these three men afterwards, but later on Albert Delpit became my enemy. All three are now dead; Albert Delpit died a disappointed man, for he had tried everything, and succeeded in nothing; the Dutch baron died in a railway accident, and Felix Faure as President of the French Republic. The young woman, on hearing my name, introduced herself in her turn: “I think we are slightly related,” she said. “I am Mme. Laroque....” “Of Bordeaux?” I asked. “Yes.” My mother’s brother had married a Mlle. Laroque of Bordeaux, so that we were able to talk of our family. Altogether the journey did not seem very long, in spite of the heat, the overcrowding, and our thirst. The arrival in Paris was more gloomy. We shook hands warmly with each other. The stout lady’s husband was awaiting her with a telegram in his hand. The unfortunate woman read it, and then, uttering a cry, burst into sobs and fell into his arms. I gazed at her, wandering what sorrow had come upon her. Poor woman, I could no longer see anything ridiculous about her! I felt a pang of remorse at the thought that we had been laughing at her so much, when misfortune had already singled her out. On reaching home I sent word to my mother that I should be with her sometime during the day. She came at once, as she wanted to know how my health was. We then arranged about the departure of the whole family, with the exception of myself, as I wanted to stay in Paris during the siege. My mother, my little boy, and his nurse, my sisters, my Aunt Annette, who kept house for me, and my mother’s maid, were all ready to start two days later. I had taken rooms at Frascati’s, at Hâvre, for the whole tribe. But the desire to leave Paris was one thing, and the possibility of doing so, another. The stations were invaded by families like mine, who thought it more prudent to emigrate. I sent my manservant to engage a compartment, and he came back three hours later with his clothes torn, after receiving various kicks and blows. “Madame cannot go into that crowd,” he assured me. “It is quite impossible. I should not be able to protect her. And then, too, madame will not be alone; there is madame’s mother, the other ladies, and the children. It is really quite impossible.”