in a
battalion of sharpshooters, he did duty at the advanced posts. And,
as to Mme. Favoral and Mlle. Gilberte, they spent the day trying to
get something to live on. Rising before daylight, through rain or
snow, they took their stand before the butcher's stall, and, after
waiting for hours, received a small slice of horse-meat.

Alone in the evening, by the side of the hearth where a few pieces
of green wood smoked without burning, they started at each of the
distant reports of the cannon. At each detonation that shook the
window-panes, Mme. Favoral thought that it was, perhaps, the one
that had killed her son.

And Mlle. Gilberte was thinking of Marius de Tregars. The accursed
days of November and December had come. There were constant rumors
of bloody battles around Orleans. She imagined Marius, mortally
wounded, expiring on the snow, alone, without help, and without a
friend to receive his supreme will and his last breath.

One evening the vision was so clear, and the impression so strong,
that she started up with a loud cry.

"What is it?" asked Mme. Favoral, alarmed. "What is the matter?"

With a little perspicacity, the worthy woman could easily have
obtained her daughter's secret; for Mlle. Gilberte was not in
condition to deny anything. But she contented herself with an
explanation which meant nothing, and had not a suspicion, when
the girl answered with a forced smile,

"It's nothing, dear mother, nothing but an absurd idea that crossed
my mind."

Strange to say, never had the cashier of the Mutual Credit been for
his family what he was during these months of trials.

During the first weeks of the siege he had been anxious, agitated,
nervous; he wandered through the house like a soul in trouble; he
had moments of inconceivable prostration, during which tears could
be seen rolling down upon his cheeks, and then fits of anger
without motive.

But each day that elapsed had seemed to bring calm to his soul.
Little by little, he had become to his wife so indulgent and so
affectionate, that the poor helot felt her heart touched. He had
for his daughter attentions which caused her to wonder.

Often, when the weather was fine, he took them out walking, leading
them along the quays towards a part of the walls occupied by the
battalion of their ward. Twice he took them to St. Onen, where the
sharp-shooters were encamped to which Maxence belonged.

Another day he wished to take them to visit M.