Then it occurred to him that when he found a conveyance he had scant language with which to direct the chauffeur. He was going to the University Union, once the Palais Royal Hôtel, now taken over by American universities and colleges as both club and hotel for American university men in the army.... A tiny taxicab rattled up to the curb—all Paris taxicabs rattle in this way—and he approached it with some embarrassment. “University Union,” he said to the chauffeur. “_Comment?_” “U-ni-versity Union,” said Kendall, speaking very slowly and distinctly. “_Comment?_” repeated the chauffeur, waggling his head. Out of the crowd stepped a Frenchman, smiling. “What is it monsieur desires? May I be of assistance to monsieur?” “I want to go to the University Union, and I don’t know how to tell this man.” “The University Union? I do not know it. Is it that it is an hotel, monsieur? Do you know its location?” Kendall searched for a note-book and read the address. “Number eight rue Richelieu,” he said. “_Huit rue Richelieu_,” the Frenchman said to the chauffeur. “Thank you,” Kendall said, and took the hand which the Frenchman extended cordially. “It makes nothing, monsieur. I am delighted to serve _Monsieur l’Officier Américain.... Bon soir, monsieur! Bonne chance!_” Kendall’s heart was warmed by the little courtesy. It was a sort of welcome to him. It surprised him, rather, for in America one does not expect assistance to leap to one from a crowd of strangers. He was soon to learn that it was different in France; that all Paris seemed to be on the lookout to be of service to American soldiers, on the lookout almost to the point of embarrassment. He was to discover that the heart of France had a very special niche set aside for Americans. Even though it had already a saying, “_Tous les Américaines sont fous_,” it loved them for their very madness.... The little taxi rattled and strained at breath-taking speed around the corner, across the Pont Royale, under the arches which allow a street to pass through the Louvre (though he did not know it was the Louvre), past the Comédie Française, and finally brought up with a lurch before the building that had been the Palais Royal Hôtel before the coming of the Americans.