A year or two previously, moreover, my stepmother had formed a close friendship with one of the chief French families of the town. The father, a retired officer of the French naval service, was to have commanded a local Marching Battalion, but he unfortunately sickened and died, leaving his wife with one daughter, a beautiful girl who was of about my own age. Now, this family had been joined by the wife's parents, an elderly couple, who, on the approach of the Germans to Paris, had quitted the suburb where they resided. I was often with these friends at Saint Servan, and on arriving there from Paris, our conversation naturally turned on the war. As the old gentleman's house in the environs of the capital was well within the French lines, he had not much reason to fear for its safety, and, moreover, he had taken the precaution to remove his valuables into the city. But he was sorely perturbed by all the conflicting news respecting the military operations in the provinces, the reported victories which turned out to be defeats, the adverse rumours concerning the condition of the French forces, the alleged scandal of the Camp of Conlie, where the more recent Breton levies were said to be dying off like rotten sheep, and many other matters besides. Every evening when I called on these friends the conversation was the same. The ladies, the grandmother, the daughter, and the granddaughter, sat there making garments for the soldiers or preparing lint for the wounded--those being the constant occupations of the women of Brittany during all the hours they could spare from their household duties--and meanwhile the old gentleman discussed with me both the true and the spurious news of the day. The result of those conversations was that, as soon as my father had betaken himself to England, I resolved to go to the front myself, ascertain as much of the truth as I could, and become, indeed, a war-correspondent on "my own." In forming that decision I was influenced, moreover, by one of those youthful dreams which life seldom, if ever, fulfils. IX THE WAR IN THE PROVINCES First Efforts of the National Defence Delegates--La Motte-Rouge and his Dyed Hair--The German Advance South of Paris--Moltke and King William-- Bourges, the German Objective--Characteristics of Beauce, Perche, and Sologne--French Evacuation of Orleans--Gambetta arrives at Tours--His Coadjutor, Charles Louis de Saulces de Freycinet--Total Forces of the National Defence on Gambetta's Arrival--D'Aurelle de Paladines supersedes La Motte-Rouge--The Affair of Chateaudun--Cambriels--Garibaldi--Jessie White Mario--Edward Vizetelly--Catholic Hatred of Garibaldi--The Germans at Dijon--The projected Relief of Paris--Trochu's Errors and Ducrot's Schemes--The French Victory of Coulmiers--Change of Plan in Paris--My Newspaper Work--My Brother Adrian Vizetelly--The General Position.