Caroline did dressmaking by the day at Mme. Guérard’s and she had offered her services to me as lady’s maid. She was agreeable and rather daring, and she now accepted my offer at once. But as it would not do to arouse the suspicions of the _concierge_ it was decided that I should take her dresses in my trunk, and that she should put her linen into a bag that _ma petite dame_ should lend her. Poor, dear Mme. Guérard had given in. She was quite conquered and soon began to help in my preparations, which certainly did not take me long. The next thing was that I did not know how to get to Spain. “You go through Bordeaux,” said Mme. Guérard. “Oh, no!” exclaimed Caroline, “my brother-in-law is a skipper and he often goes to Spain by Marseilles.” I had saved nine hundred francs and Mme. Guérard lent me six hundred. It was perfectly mad, but I felt ready to conquer the world and nothing would have induced me to give up my plan. Then, too, it seemed to me as though I had been wishing to see Spain for a long time. I had got it into my head that my Fate willed it, that I must obey my star, and a hundred other ideas, each one more foolish than the other, strengthened me in my plan. I was destined to act in this way, I thought. I went downstairs again. The door was still ajar. With Caroline’s help I carried the empty trunk up to Mme. Guérard’s, and Caroline emptied my wardrobe and drawers and then packed the trunk. I shall never forget that delightful moment. It seemed to me as though the world was about to be mine. I was going to start off with a woman to wait on me. I was about to travel alone, with no one to criticise what I decided to do. I should see an unknown country about which I had dreamed, and I should cross the sea. Oh, how happy I was! Twenty times I must have gone up and down the staircase which separated our two flats. Everyone was asleep and the flat was so constructed that not a sound of our going in and out could reach my mother. I could go through the kitchen from my bedroom without any difficulty.