“Bergère legère, je crains tes appas, Mon ame s’enflame, mais tu n’aimes pas!” Le Pont thought of her only as a naughty little girl. Dear Cécile, her heart was sad; yet she could do nothing but work on her tapestry and pray for her loved ones who were in peril. But she, Marie Josephine, was going away alone to a great city, into the heart of a revolution! She was going in the spring! CHAPTER XIV WHAT LISLE PUT IN THE CAKE “Tell me some more, please. See, I will blow the fire and make a blaze.” Vivi spoke pleadingly, as she picked up some pieces of a broken basket and put them on the low fire in the tiny, rusty grate. “You tell me something, Vivi. I’ve talked and talked, and now I want to know about you. Have you always lived here in the alley? Let’s sit close together to keep warm, and let’s talk.” Rosanne drew the velvet table cover close about them and they hitched the cot as near the fire as they could without getting up. Vivi shook her head. “What is there for me to tell, Mademoiselle? It is you who have done everything. I have done nothing. I have lived with my father always, here in the alley. Winter and summer I have lived here. In the summer I go out and play in the streets. There is always some fun about the gates. We used to catch rides on the market carts, and that was the most fun of all. Sometimes we would ride way out into the country. But those times are over, for now no one may go in and out of the city without a pass, and there is always shouting and fighting around the gates.” It was a fortnight since Humphrey Trail had brought Rosanne to Vivi. Their acquaintance had progressed by leaps and bounds. Shut in from the winter cold and terrors of the city, it was small wonder that they were drawn together. The days had been long, the only excitement being the arrival of Humphrey with food and good cheer. But he always had to shake his head when Rosanne asked for news of Lisle. He did not let her see how he himself was worried to distraction over the boy; instead he always had a word of encouragement. They would have a clue soon. He was probably safe enough. Yet all the while, night and day, he was going over in his mind the few things that he knew about Lisle. Where was he? How to find him? These were the grave questions always before Humphrey Trail! This particular February night he was feeling discouraged, and for that reason pretended to be more than usually cheerful before the two girls. He found them sitting on the cot close to the fire and spoke to them merrily. “What would tha say to a bit o’ sweet cake! Humphrey Trail will bring tha some. Tha shall see!” Vivi smiled delightedly. “A real cake from a bakery shop; one with cherries,” she pleaded. “Bring news of Lisle, Humphrey Trail,” Rosanne said. Her brown eyes looked very big in her small, white face.