left Paris directly
this affair began, but now it is impossible: no tickets are issued by
the railways except to old men, women and children, no one is allowed to
pass through the gates without a permit from the Commune, and even if
one could manage to get on to the wall and drop down by a rope one
might be taken and shot by the Communist troops outside, or, if one got
through them, by the sentries of the army of Versailles. What would you
advise us to do, Cuthbert?"

"I am afraid I can't give you any advice whatever, Rene, it is certainly
horribly unpleasant being obliged to fight in a cause you detest, but I
don't think there will be a very great deal of fighting till an assault
is made on the city, and when that begins, I should say the Communists
will be too busy to look for absentees from the ranks."

"We shall be in double danger then," Pierre Leroux put in. "We run the
risk of being shot by the Communists for not fighting at the barricades,
and if we escape that, we have a chance of being shot by the Versaillais
as Communists. It is a horrible position to be placed in."

"Well, I should say, Pierre, keep your eyes open and escape if you
possibly can before the assault takes place. I should think some might
manage to get out as women, but, of course you would have to sacrifice
your mustaches. But if you did that, and borrowed the papers of some
young woman or other, you might manage it. No doubt it would be awkward
if you were found out, but it might be worth trying. If I cannot leave
before the assault takes place I mean to go to one of the English hotels
here, Meurice's or the Dover, and establish myself there. During such
fighting as there may be in the streets, there will be very few
questions asked, and one might be shot before one could explain one was
a foreigner, but the hotels are not likely to be disturbed. Seriously I
should say that the best thing you can all do when the fighting begins
in the streets, is to keep out of the way until your battalion is
engaged, then burn anything in the way of uniform, get rid of your rifle
somehow, and gather at Goude's. He could vouch for you all as being his
pupils, and as being wholly opposed to the Commune. His name should be
sufficiently well known, if not to the first officer who may arrive, at
least, to many officers, for his testimony to be accepted. Still, I do
think that the best plan of all will be to get out of the place when you
get a chance."

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