“I cannot help you!” cried Clovis. “Look to yourself!”
“I am beside myself with fright!” the woman cried.
Clovis seized her by the hand.
“Quick, then, this way!” and with difficulty they reached the street where they were safe.
Clovis asked her companion where she would go, where were her friends and home.
“I have neither friends nor home!” was the reply. “He has perished in the flames! Let me go with you!”
Together they went, and thus it happened that Cassandra kept about her the woman known to the world as “Kitty who laughs.”
She was seated, that Sunday night, on a low stool, dressed in white and blue. A bowl of water, in which were a number of beautiful flowers, stood beside her. She was making a wreath and humming a tune.
The flowers were to adorn their rooms next day, should Cliquot win.
“What folly!” said Clovis. “Toss away the blossoms!”