Through the clear air, loud shouts were resounding, “Vive le Wilson! Vive le Wilson!”
A tall man, holding a top hat in his hand, and with his hair almost white, smiled and bowed. A moment later he also disappeared up the steps of the French Foreign Office.
Ten minutes after, at exactly three o’clock in the afternoon, the French President Poincaré made his appearance.
When he entered the Foreign Office the outside doors were closed.
Almost immediately the crowds in the streets began to disperse.
The French President was to make an address of welcome to the visiting delegates. It might be hours before the famous guests to the French capital would again reappear in the streets.
“Do you think we had best wait here sometime longer until the way is clear, Aunt Patricia?” Mrs. Burton inquired. ”All of us have a number of important matters to attend to before we return to Versailles, but I am always afraid of crowds!”
“Then you should never have set foot in Paris today. I told you that you were not strong enough,” Miss Patricia returned unsympathetically. “So far as I am concerned I am obliged to be off at once. Sally, I believe you wish to come with me. Bettina, you and Alice Ashton and Vera are to go with Marguerite Arnot to meet several of her friends. I believe, Peggy, that you and Mary Gilchrist are to remain with Yvonne and have tea with some acquaintances of hers. Polly, as usual you have an appointment alone. Remember you are to be responsible for three of the girls and I will meet the others. We are all to be at home for dinner in Versailles this evening at seven o’clock.”
As if she were a Major-General, having issued her command Miss Patricia, followed by Sally Ashton, departed.
A few moments later the others went down into the street together, but separated beyond the bridge. Mrs. Burton, Yvonne, Peggy and Mary drove away in one direction, while the other girls, climbing into an ancient horse cab, moved off toward one of the poorer neighborhoods of the city.