The doctor tossed his head, and smiled an incredulous smile.
"Hum, hum, it can't be denied there is something wrong with her heart," ... and, taking a pen, he signed the slip which I so much desired. What a relief! Geneviève would not be left, seriously ill, among strangers.
"And I, what am I to do?" Antoinette moaned.
"Ah! you must go."
There was nothing else to do. On the way home I tried to encourage her, miserable as she was at going away alone.
The next day I left Geneviève, burning with fever, in Mme. Charvet's care, and went to see the convoy start, heart-broken.
The sun lit up the scene; everybody was in a flutter of excitement. Villagers had been requisitioned, with carts and horses, to convey the children, the infirm, and the luggage. The crowd set out, under the conduct of the soldiers, amid calls and shouts. Many emigrants were crying:
"Where are we going to? Whither shall we be taken?"
Several families were severed one from another, for about fifteen men had been thought too strong to leave the invaded territory. They might turn soldiers, and fight against the Germans!
The charity children, delighted at the prospect, flocked around me.