“You will have to tell Paulette.”

“How do you know I will? I’m not afraid of Paulette. She is not a Boche.”

“And are you afraid of a Boche?”

Victor laughed and took from his pocket a letter which he handed to Paulette. “It is from Captain Du Bois,” he said.

Paulette took it with an air of importance and went to the window to read it, a slow process with her.

“You have seen my father, then, Victor?” said Lucie. “Do tell me how he looks.”

“Fit as a fiddle. We had a long talk and he charged me with this letter to Paulette.”

“And have you none for me?”

“No, but I have a message from Pom Pom.”

Lucie looked wistfully over at Paulette, whose lips were moving as she laboriously read the words before her. “I think I might see the letter, too,” she said.