mother and
daughter raced up and down in the lift and on the stairway, trying
vainly to join one another.

A young lieutenant home on leave, at length took pity on them and
finally united the two exhausted creatures who fell into each other's
arms shrieking hysterically:

"If we must die--let us die together!"

The concierges and the servants began arranging chairs and camp stools
around the furnace; the different tenants introduced themselves and
their guests. Almost every one was still about when the signal was
given, and this cellar where the electric lamps burned brightly soon
took on the aspect of a drawing-room, in spite of all. One lone man,
however, stood disconsolate, literally suffocating beneath a huge
cavalry cape, hooked tight up to his throat. As the perspiration soon
began rolling from his forehead, a friend seeking to put him at his
ease, suggested he open up his cloak.

The gentleman addressed cast a glance over the assembled group,
broadened out into a smile, and exclaimed--

"I can't. Only got my night shirt underneath."

The hilarity was general, and the conversation presently became bright
and sparkling with humorous anecdotes.

The officers held their audience spellbound with fear and admiration;
the women talked hospital and dress, dress and hospital, finally
jesting about the latest restrictions. One lady told the story of a
friend who engaged a maid, on her looks and without a reference, the
which maid shortly became a menace because of her propensity for
dropping and breaking china.

One day, drawn towards the pantry by the sound of a noise more terrible
than any yet experienced, she found the girl staring at a whole pile of
plates--ten or a dozen--which had slipped from her fingers and lay in
thousands of pieces on the floor.

The lady became indignant and scolded.

"Ah, if Madame were at the front, she'd see worse than that!" was the
consoling response.

"But we're not at the front, I'll have you understand, and what's more
neither you nor I have ever been there, my girl."

"I beg Madame's pardon, but my last place was in a hospital at Verdun,
as Madame will see when my papers arrive."

General laughter was cut short by the sound of two explosions.

"They're here. They've arrived. It will soon be over now," and like
commentaries were added.

A servant popped the cork of a champagne bottle, and another passed
cakes and candied fruit.

An elderly man who wore a dec