ruits and
flowers, and plenty to eat, and no sound of cannon, and no talk of wars.
We fought out our war ten years ago."

"It sounds nice, Arnold, very nice, but it will be strange not to work."

"You won't want to work there," he said; "in the day it is so hot that
you will be glad to sit indoors in a darkened room and do nothing. I
shall paint a good deal, and when you have the fancy, you can sit as my
model again."

"And is it a large city, Arnold? It seems to me now that I could not
live in the country, I should soon get dreadfully tired of it."

"It is a large city," he said, "though, of course, not so large as
Paris. There are theatres there and amusements of all sorts."

"I should be content with you, Arnold. It does not seem to me that I
could want anything else, but after all this excitement it will seem
strange to have nothing to do."

"I shall be glad to be out of it," he said. "Your father and the others
are quite right--the rich have too much and the poor too little. The
manufacturers gain fortunes, and the men whose work enriches them remain
poor all their lives. Still I fear that they will go too far, and that
troubles me."

She made a quick movement as if about to speak, but checked herself for
a moment, and then said, quietly--

"You know the proverb, Arnold, 'One cannot make an omelette without
breaking eggs.'"

"That is true," he said, "as to an omelette, but a change of Government
can be carried out without costing life, that is unless there is
resistance, and I hope there will be none here. The incapables over
there will slink away. Why, Flourens and a few hundred men were enough
to snatch the government out of their feeble hands. If the people
declare that they will govern themselves, who is to withstand them. I
hope to see the triumph and then to go. You know I am not a coward,
Minette; our corps have shown that they can fight, but I long for my
quiet home again, with its gardens and flowers, and balmy air, and I
like handling a paint-brush much better than a rifle, and above all to
see you mistress of my home, but I know there is a good deal to go
through first. Trochu's plans may be carried out any day."

"Ah! Those Prussians!" she exclaimed, in a tone of the deepest hate,
with a gesture of defiance towards Versailles. "They will dare to fire
at you!"

"Yes, I imagine they will do that, Minette," he said with a laugh, "and
pretty hotly, too."

"Well, if they kill you," she said,