difficulty in finding a place to suit them. The rooms were
purposely taken in a large house, with a staircase common to a
number of families living on different floors; so that anyone going
in or out would be less likely to be noticed than in a smaller
house. They were also careful in choosing rooms so placed that they
could go in and out of the door on to the staircase, without being
noticed by the people with whom they lodged.

Ralph's arm was now extremely painful, the long march having
inflamed the wound. He had, therefore, on reporting himself, begged
that a surgeon might attend him; and had also asked, as a great
favor, that his servant--the hussar Doyle--might be allowed to
remain with him; stating that, in that case, he would pay for his
lodgings and provide him with food. As the prison in which the
private soldiers were confined was, at the time, crowded; the
request was complied with.

For the next week Ralph suffered greatly with his arm, and had to
keep his room. After that the inflammation subsided; and in another
fortnight he was able to dispense, for the first time since he
received his wound, with a sling. In the meantime he had made the
acquaintance of the people with whom he lodged; who were very kind
to their wounded lodger, and whose hearts he completely won by
being able to chat to them in their native tongue, like one of
themselves. The family consisted of a father, who was away all day
at the railway station, where he was a clerk; the mother, a
garrulous old woman; and a daughter, a pretty blue-eyed girl of
about Ralph's age, who assisted her mother to wait upon them. She
had a lover, away as a soldier in the army besieging Paris; and the
thought that he might be wounded, or taken prisoner, made her very
pitiful to the young officers.

Ralph Barclay had--for some days--been intending to sound her as to
her willingness to aid them when she, herself, began it one day.
She had cleared away their dinner, and was standing--as she often
did--talking with them, when she lowered her voice, so as not to be
overheard by her mother in the next room:

"I wonder you don't try to get away. Lots of French officers have
done so."

"That is just what we are thinking of, Christine. We have only been
waiting till my arm was out of a sling, and we want you to help
us."

"How can I help you?" the girl asked.

"In the first place, you can buy us clothes. It would excite
suspicion if we were to buy them, ours