t mind.
I was this afternoon opposite the Hotel de Ville. There were many of the
unwashed denouncing the Government and its ways to all who would listen
to them. Dampierre was standing in one of the groups where a man, whom I
knew to be Minette's father, for he came to the studio one day to say
that she was unwell and could not come, was addressing them. He was
pouring out threats against the bourgeois, against the Government,
against every one in fact. He said that at present the true patriots,
the working-men of Paris, were disarmed, but even had they arms, they
would not imperil the defence of Paris by civil war; but that as soon as
the accursed Germans had turned their backs, their day would come, and
the true principles of the Republic, the principles of '79, would then
be triumphant, and France would be free of the incubus of the selfish
capitalists who ground down the people. I could see that Dampierre
thoroughly sympathized with the fellow, and I believe that if there is
trouble he is capable of putting on a red cap and marching with the scum
of Belleville.

"It is not Minette's father, but Minette, who has converted him. I saw
her marching at the head of one of the Belleville battalions the other
day, dressed as a cantiniere, and carrying herself with the air of a
young Amazon."

"That girl is capable of anything," Cuthbert said; "I have always said
that she was a small sleeping volcano, and if there are barricades I can
fancy her standing on the top of one of them and waving a red flag,
however thickly the bullets might be whistling around. I went as far as
I could in the way of warning Dampierre in the early days, but I soon
saw that if we were to continue on terms of amity I must drop it. It is
an infatuation and a most unfortunate one, but it must run its course.
Dampierre is a gentleman, and although at present he may be carried away
by the enthusiasm of these people, I fancy that if they should happen,
which, God forbid, to get the upper hand, he would soon be shocked when
they proceeded to carry their theories into execution. As to Minette, if
he is ever mad enough to marry her, the best thing would be to do so as
soon as Paris is open and to take her straight away to New Orleans.

"She is a born actress, and is as clever as she is pretty, and I have no
doubt she would have the good sense to play the part of a grande dame
admirably, and would soon become a leader of French society there; but I
should