STATE OF SIEGE.
It was a ministerial decree placing four departments in La Vendée under martial law.
Petit-Pierre went up to the notice and read it through from end to end tranquilly, in spite of Mary's entreaties to go as quickly as possible to the house where she was expected. Petit-Pierre very justly remarked that the matter was of such importance to her that she was right in obtaining a thorough knowledge of it.
Presently, however, the two women went their way into the dark and narrow streets of the old Breton city.