“You shall be supplied above and beyond all your wishes,” said the prefect. “There is food in the palace which was being stored by the unfortunate Empress. She had prepared enough for months and months. I will have all you want sent to you, except meat, bread, and milk, and as regards these I will give orders that your ambulance shall be included in the municipal service, although it is a military one. Then I will give you an order for salt and some other things, which you will be able to get from the Opera.”
“From the Opera!” I repeated, looking at him incredulously. “But it is only being built, and there is nothing but scaffolding there yet.”
“Yes; but you must go through the little doorway under the scaffolding opposite the Rue Scribe; you then go up the little spiral staircase leading to the provision office, and there you will be supplied with what you want.”
“There is still something else I want to ask,” I said.
“Go on, I am quite resigned, and ready for your orders,” he replied.
“Well, I am very uneasy,” I said, “for they have put a stock of powder in the cellars under the Odéon. If Paris were to be bombarded and a shell should fall on the building, we should all be blown up, and that is not the aim and object of an ambulance.”
“You are quite right,” said the kind man, “and nothing could be more stupid than to store powder there. I shall have more difficulty about that, though,” he continued, “for I shall have to deal with a crowd of stubborn bourgeois, who want to organize the defense in their own way. You must try to get a petition for me, signed by the most influential householders and tradespeople in the neighborhood. Now are you satisfied?” he asked.
“Yes,” I replied, shaking hands with him cordially with both hands. “You have been most kind and charming. Thank you very much.”
I then moved toward the door, but I stood still again suddenly, as though hypnotized by an overcoat hanging over a chair. Mme. Guérard saw what had attracted my attention, and she pulled my sleeve gently:
“My dear Sarah,” she whispered, “do not do that.”