Weekly expositor. (Brockway Centre, Mich.) 1882-1894, 1893-12-15
CHAPTER v.


No, there had been no victory. That out
burst of patriotic fervor had wasted itself
upon an idle dream. Paris awoke in very
savage humor on Sunday morning; and
then came laughter and cynical jests.
Everybody accused his neighbor of having
eagerly swallowed the lie. Everybody de-
clared that he, for his own part, lad never
believed the news so greedily accepted by
the mob.
But IN those two new homes in the Rue
Git le CUur there was bliss, whether the
arms OF France were victorious or otherwise
far away in those unknown lands which
the PariSians were picking out with pins
upon gaily-colored maps sticking up tiny
flags here and there on the map to show
where the French troops were, the very spot
where great battles might be expected mo-
mently, great victories-a new Auerstadt,
second Jena.
What do little birds, in their nests on st.
Valentines Day care what battles the big
eagles, the hawks, and the vultures are
fighting far away among Scottish noun
tains, on Alpine SUBMITS? The birds have
their nestI, and each to each is the world in
little.
Let the world slide, we shall never be
younger" said CASTOR, who knew Shaks-
Z. 81
He and his young wife were utterly hap
by. If there We're dark clouds impending
they could not see them. Is not love blind
blind to all things except the beloved?
The faintest shadow on GastOn's brow
troubled Kathleen, but not those signs of
tempestwhich we've gathering round France.
The new home was full OF smiles. kath-
leen and CASTOR had smartened the Old
furniture by some modest additions bought
before their marriages. Writng-tabe, a
cabinet, bookcase filed with GaSton'S
books, the accumulation of the last ten
years, a few Cd meZzo-tints pickcdup from
time to time at the print-ShOps on the quay
Kathleen and Rose had tOlcd for months to
make both homes complete and pretty.
Curtains and chair-cJycrs were all the work
of those two pairs of industrious hands.
Durand, who was richer than MOrtemar,
had taken the lower floor for his own men
age. In the Rue Git lc CGur that second
floor ranked as n rather important suite of
rooms.
The apartment consisted of salon, fifteen
feet 10y twelve, with two easement window
commanding the shabby little courtyard; q
bedroom somewhat smaller; a little room
which would serve rs workshop for DIrand,
who did good deal of artistic cab. net-worN
on his own account after business hours /;
and tiny kitchen. Durand'S skiful hands
had made all the best of the furniture in the
dead watches of the night, when other men
were sleeping or dissipating; so the home
of Rose and Philip was furnished i'm style
worthy of q man who stood high in the syn.
dictate Of cabinet-makers.
But while life was so full Of happiness
for the newly-married, the sky was darken-
ing outside. An army of undeniable valor,
but in number terribly inferior to the foe,
and led by generals of scandalous incapac-
ity, was brought face to face with the whole
of Germany, in arms as one man, burning
to avenge the agony and shame Of sixty
years ago. On the 4th of August came the
defeat of General Douay, beaten and slain
ut WiSsembourg; and on the 9th the still
more deplorabe Teverses of MacMahon at
Worth, at Ere schwiller and at ReichshOf.
fen. BY the breach thus opened the enemy
poured into France like a torrent. They
came, the teteS cdyrecsl There was no long
er room for seltdeception. This was in
vasion.
And now far off dimly as in adream, Paris
beheld the pale spectre Of siege and famine.
The Parisians knew hardly anything of the
truth, which came to them only in garbled
fragments. They knew not that upon the
heels Of these three or four hundred thou
sand men let loose upon France would FOL
low hundreds of thousands more; yes near
ly all the male population OF the OLD Ger
man Empire.
Dark rumors Of evil without the walls
only drew those two households nearer 10
each other, made home joys sweeter, love
closer. But now Kathleen learnt the mean
ing of fear. She was full of morbid terror'
when her husband was away from her. She
pictured an advance guard falling upon
him in the street; a shell from the enemy S
artillery bursting at his feet. And CASTOR
went every day to the Office Of the Drdpedu
Rouge. He had leaders TO write, tdrttRcS'
letters, patriotic articles breathing warllke
fire, every full stop seeming like smell.
France beaten, France invaded? An, but
there was nothing in this world so unlikely,
so near the impossble; and yet, while he
wrote, French arms We're flung down, French
soldiers were ilyiug-a wild rabble-from
before the face of the foe and the invader S
foot was on the soil, tramping onward
steadily, gigantic, invincibe. like some
mighty force OF Nature, slow, cumulative
pitiless. But say that the soldiers of France
had fed; say that Achilles himself had
flung down his sword and shield, and taken
to his heels; whose was the fault? why
naturally, IL was the government that was
TO blame, shrieked the Red Flag. Dow
with the MinistersI Let us have new Min
listers, and our arms will be victorious. Mac
Mahon and Bazaine will unite their forces
and the tide Of victory will roll backward
across those advancing herds of Huns ant
Pandours, and sweep the savages back u
their native pine-woods, their desert waste
beside the Danube.
There was n sudden shuttle OF cards In tn
political game. Gramont AMI Olivier re
tired. driven out by vote Of ccnsure, AM