mistake, the old man began to feel ashamed of his
former doubts. The nation was quivering with life; France was a grand
nation; appearances had deceived him as well as many others. Perhaps the
most of his countrymen were of a light and flippant character, given to
excessive interest in the sensuous side of life; but when danger came
they were fulfilling their duty simply, without the necessity of the
harsh force to which the iron-clad organizations were submitting their
people.

On leaving home on the morning of the fourth day of the mobilization
Desnoyers, instead of betaking himself to the centre of the city, went
in the opposite direction toward the rue de la Pompe. Some imprudent
words dropped by Chichi, and the uneasy looks of his wife and
sister-in-law made him suspect that Julio had returned from his trip. He
felt the necessity of seeing at least the outside of the studio windows,
as if they might give him news. And in order to justify a trip so at
variance with his policy of ignoring his son, he remembered that the
carpenter lived in the same street.

"I must hunt up Robert. He promised a week ago that he would come here."

This Robert was a husky young fellow who, to use his own words, was
"emancipated from boss tyranny," and was working independently in his
own home. A tiny, almost subterranean room was serving him for dwelling
and workshop. A woman he called "my affinity" was looking carefully
after his hearth and home, with a baby boy clinging to her skirts.
Desnoyers was accustomed to humor Robert's tirades against his fellow
citizens because the man had always humored his whimseys about the
incessant rearrangement of his furniture. In the luxurious apartment in
the avenue Victor Hugo the carpenter would sing La Internacional while
using hammer and saw, and his employer would overlook his audacity of
speech because of the cheapness of his work.

Upon arriving at the shop he found the man with cap over one ear, broad
trousers like a mameluke's, hobnailed boots and various pennants and
rosettes fastened to the lapels of his jacket.

"You've come too late, Boss," he said cheerily. "I am just going to
close the factory. The Proprietor has been mobilized, and in a few hours
will join his regiment."

And he pointed to a written paper posted on the door of his dwelling
like the printed cards on all establishments, signifying that employer
and employees had obeyed the order of mobilization.

It had never oc