s
was made by the troops, and they remained stationary also in the Champs
Elysees, the barriers in front being too strong to be stormed without
frightful loss. These, however, would be turned by the divisions who had
captured Montmartre, and the troops descending by different routes to
the Boulevard des Italiennes, worked their way along as far as the Porte
St. Denis, and this threatened the flank of the defenders of the Place
de la Concorde and the Tuileries.

The roar of fire was unbroken all day, the Forts, that had not yet
fallen into the hands of the troops, bombarded all the quarters that had
been captured, and were aided by powerful batteries at Belleville, at
Vilette, and above all by those on the Buttes du Chaumont, where the
Cemetery of Pere la Chaise had been converted into an entrenched camp,
the positions here being defended by 20,000 of the best troops of Paris.
In the western quarters things had resumed their normal state; the shops
were opened, children played in the streets, and women gossipped at the
doors, there were men about too, for the order for the reassembling of
the National Guard of this quarter had been cancelled, having met with
the strongest opposition in the Assembly at Versailles.

The astronomer downstairs turned out a very useful acquaintance, for
hearing from Cuthbert, that he was extremely anxious to obtain a pass
that would permit him to move about near the scenes of fighting without
the risk of being seized and shot as a Communist, he said that he was an
intimate friend of Marshal McMahon and should be glad to obtain a pass
for him. On going to the quarters where the Marshal had established
himself, he brought back an order authorizing Cuthbert Hartington, a
British subject, to circulate everywhere in quarters occupied by the
troops.

"It is too late to go down this evening, Mary," he said, "but I expect
that to-morrow a great attack upon the positions round the Tuileries
will take place, and I shall try and get somewhere where I can see
without being in the line of fire. I will take care to run no risk,
dear; you see my life is more precious to me now than it was when I
joined the Franc tireurs des Ecoles."

It was difficult to stop quietly indoors when so mighty a struggle was
going on almost within sight, and at ten o'clock in the evening he and
Mary went out to the Trocadero. The flashes of fire from the Loyal and
Communist batteries were incessant. Away on the south side wa