As if Paris had blessed her childhood with pleasure, instead of having starved and beaten her and degraded her to the level of beasts!
"Where on earth are all of these people going?" she asked herself.
There were now and then cries of "Vive l'armée!" "Vive la république!" and "Vive la France!" while the excitement seemed to grow as they reached the Porte St. Denis.
"What is it, monsieur?" she finally asked the man at her side.
"It is the 25th of October," said he.
"But, monsieur, what is the matter?"
He looked over his shoulder at the young girl rather resentfully, though his doubts as to her sincerity vanished in a smile.
"It is the rentrée of the Chambers," he answered.
"Oh," she said, "is that it?"
But she knew no more now than she had known before. Presently her curiosity again got the better of her timidity.