Shoot! He is your enemy. Kill
him! . . . Kill him!"
PART III
CHAPTER I
AFTER THE MARNE
At the end of October, the Desnoyers family returned to Paris. Dona
Luisa could no longer live in Biarritz, so far from her husband. In vain
la Romantica discoursed on the dangers of a return. The Government was
still in Bordeaux, the President of the Republic and the Ministry making
only the most hurried apparitions in the Capital. The course of the war
might change at any minute; that little affair of the Marne was but
a momentary relief. . . . But the good senora, after having read
Don Marcelo's letters, opposed an adamantine will to all contrary
suggestions. Besides, she was thinking of her son, her Julio, now a
soldier. . . . She believed that, by returning to Paris, she might in
some ways be more in touch with him than at this seaside resort near the
Spanish frontier.
Chichi also wished to return because Rene was now filling the greater
part of her thoughts. Absence had shown her that she was really in love
with him. Such a long time without seeing her little sugar soldier!
. . . So the family abandoned their hotel life and returned to the
avenue Victor Hugo.
Since the shock of the first September days, Paris had been gradually
changing its aspect. The nearly two million inhabitants who had been
living quietly in their homes without letting themselves be drawn into
the panic, had accepted the victory with grave serenity.
Pages:
461
462
463
464
465
466
467
468
469
470
471
472
473
474
475
476
477
478
479
480
481
482
483
484
485