“Are you Sarah Bernhardt?”
“Yes,” I answered.
“And this young lady is with you?”
“Yes.”
“And you think you are going to cross easily?”
“I hope so.”
“Well, then, you are mistaken, and you had better stay inside Paris.”
“No, I want to leave. I see myself what may happen, but I want to leave.”
He shrugged his shoulders, called an officer, said something I did not understand in German, and then went out, leaving us alone without our passports.
We had been there about a quarter of an hour when I suddenly heard a voice I knew. It was one of my friends, René Griffon, who had heard of my departure, and had come after me to try to dissuade me. The trouble he had taken was all in vain, though, as I was determined to leave. The general returned soon after, and Griffon was anxious to know what might happen to us.