a departed hero, and way
down underneath, neatly separated from all the rest, I feel quite sure
the little family treasure lies hidden. Yes, here is that handful of
stocks and bonds, thanks to which their concierge bows to them with
respect; those earnings that permit one to fall ill, to face old age
and death without apprehension, the assurance the children shall want
for nothing, shall have a proper education--the certitude that the two
little rooms occupied can really be called home; that the furniture so
carefully waxed and polished is one's own forever. Bah! what terrors
can lack of work, food shortage, or war hold for such people? Thus
armed can they not look the horrid spectres square in the face? The
worst will cost but one or two blue bank notes borrowed from the little
pile, but because of the comfort they have brought they will be
replaced all the more gayly when better days shall come.

All this ran through my brain as I watched those hands--big and small,
fat and thin, young and old, clasping their treasure so tightly, and I
couldn't help feeling that gigantic convulsive gesture of thousands of
other women, who all over the great Capital at that same moment were
hugging so lovingly their little all; the fruit of so much toil and so
much virtue.

My reflections were cut short by a deafening noise that roused my
sleeping companions. The children shrieked, and the women openly
lamented.

"That was a close call," commented Monsieur Neu, our concierge.

Five or six boys wanted to rush out and see where the bomb had fallen.
They were dissuaded, but with difficulty.

An elderly man had taken his six year old grandson on to his knee, and
that sleepy little Parisian urchin actually clapped his hands and
crowed over the shock.

"Jiminy, that was a fine one!"

"That's right, my child," pompously exclaimed the grandsire. "Never,
never forget the monsters who troubled your innocent sleep with their
infamous crimes."

"Oh, cut it out, grandpop," was the somewhat irreverent reply. "Aren't
you afraid you might miss forty winks?" and then turning to his mother,
"I say, mamma, if one of them lands on our house, you promise you'll
wake me up, won't you? I want to see everything, and last time and the
time before, I missed it!"

"Yes, darling, of course, but go to sleep, there's a good boy."

A tall, good-looking girl over in one corner openly gave vent to her
sentiments.

"The idiots! the idiots! if th