she briefly explained her project, gave it his
approval.

"Cousin Dubreuil has always been a good friend to us. He will be of
service to you."

Then an idea of another nature occurred to him. Lieutenant Rochas was
greatly embarrassed as to what disposition he should make of the flag.
They all were firmly resolved to save it--to do anything rather than
allow it to fall into the hands of the Prussians. It had been suggested
to cut it into pieces, of which each should carry one off under his
shirt, or else to bury it at the foot of a tree, so noting the locality
in memory that they might be able to come and disinter it at some future
day; but the idea of mutilating the flag, or burying it like a corpse,
affected them too painfully, and they were considering if they might not
preserve it in some other manner. When Maurice, therefore, proposed to
entrust the standard to a reliable person who would conceal it and, in
case of necessity, defend it, until such day as he should restore it to
them intact, they all gave their assent.

"Come," said the young man, addressing his sister, "we will go with you
to the Hermitage and see if Dubreuil is there. Besides, I do not wish to
leave you without protection."

It was no easy matter to extricate themselves from the press, but they
succeeded finally and entered a path that led upward on their left. They
soon found themselves in a region intersected by a perfect labyrinth
of lanes and narrow passages, a district where truck farms and gardens
predominated, interspersed with an occasional villa and small holdings
of extremely irregular outline, and these lanes and passages wound
circuitously between blank walls, turning sharp corners at every few
steps and bringing up abruptly in the cul-de-sac of some courtyard,
affording admirable facilities for carrying on a guerilla warfare; there
were spots where ten men might defend themselves for hours against a
regiment. Desultory firing was already beginning to be heard, for the
suburb commanded Balan, and the Bavarians were already coming up on the
other side of the valley.

When Maurice and Henriette, who were in the rear of the others, had
turned once to the left, then to the right and then to the left again,
following the course of two interminable walls, they suddenly came out
before the Hermitage, the door of which stood wide open. The grounds,
at the top of which was a small park, were terraced off in three broad
terraces, on one of