"What shame," retorted Colette, "to run away like a troop of rabbits! I had never thought you were such cowards!"
The others repeated with one accord:
"And if mother was taken as a hostage? The Germans are capable of anything; they have already committed many atrocities."
Our perplexity was great.
About ten o'clock there dropped from the sky three new surgeons, and, pressing on them a cup of coffee, we renewed our anxious questions. They told us plainly that the Germans were gaining ground, and that we were sure to see them.
"What do you advise us to do?" cried my mother-in-law.
"Madam," Dr. Seseman declared—he was bearded, jovial, and fatherly—"Madam, if you were relations of mine, I should urge your departure."
"Well, the die is cast, we shall go," declared Mme. Valaine.
"Yes," I said, "but the house is not in order."
A few days ago, as I went to Mme. Lantois to buy some eggs, the farmer's wife told me with great satisfaction: