I had my two aunts living at The Hague, but the question was, Were they there at this time? I no longer knew, and from that moment I never ceased suffering the most anxious and torturing mental distress. I was doing all in my power just then to have some wood for burning. Comte de Kératry had sent me a large provision before his departure to the provinces, in a balloon, on the 9th of October. I was now very short, and I would not allow the stock we had in the cellars to be touched, so that we should not be quite without fuel in case of an emergency. I had all the little footstools belonging to the theater used for firewood, all the wooden cases in which the accessories were kept, a good number of old Roman benches, armchairs, and curule chairs that were stowed away under the Odéon, and, indeed, everything which came to hand. Finally, taking pity on my despair, pretty Mlle. Hocquigny sent me about twenty thousand pounds’ weight of wood, and I then took courage again. I had been told about some new system of keeping meat, by which the meat neither lost its juices nor its nutritive quality. I sent Mme. Guérard to the Council House, in the neighborhood of the Odéon, where such provisions were distributed, but some brute answered her that when I had removed all the Buddhistic images from my _ambulance_ I should receive the necessary food. M. Herisson, the mayor, with some functionary holding an influential post, had been to inspect my _ambulance_. The important personage had requested me to have the beautiful white Virgins, which were on the mantelpieces and tables, taken away, as well as the Divine Crucified One, hanging on the wall of each room in which there were any of the wounded. I refused in a somewhat insolent and very decided way to act in accordance with the wish of my visitor; whereupon, the famous republican turned his back on me, and gave orders that I should be refused everything at the Council House. I was very determined, however, and I moved heaven and earth until I succeeded in being included for the distribution of food, in spite of the orders of the chief. It is only fair to say that the mayor was a charming man. Mme. Guérard returned after her third visit, with a child pushing a hand barrow containing ten enormous bottles of the miraculous meat. I received the precious consignment with infinite joy, for my men had been almost without meat for the last three days; and the beloved _pot-au-feu_ was an almost necessary resource for the poor wounded fellows. On all the bottles were directions as to opening them: “Let the meat soak so many hours, etc., etc.” Mme. Lambquin, Mme. Guérard, and I, together with all the staff of the infirmary, were soon grouped, anxiously and inquisitively, around these glass receptacles.