Page:The Mystery of Madeline Le Blanc (1900).djvu/90

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
90
THE MYSTERY OF MADELINE LE BLANC.

and went toward the Rue Saint Honoré. The streets were crowded with people. The pavements were still torn up from the dreadful war. I saw the barricades where men killed one another. I had never dreamed of such things in my life. My aunt said that everybody seemed happy; but I thought they seemed frightened. My uncle tried to explain things to me about the king and the government that I could not understand. I walked between them. We turned into the Rue Saint Honoré and stopped at the great market and drank from the fountain. There were so many people that I had now to walk in front. The Rue Saint Honoré was brilliantly lighted—almost like day;—for the first time, my uncle said, since the soldiers had broken all the street lamps. I saw many faces. I never dreamed there were so many people on earth—thousands! I felt bewildered. Lights, rolling carriages, brilliant windows, horses, people—it was like a dream. Now I come to the point! [She grew almost white in the face, arose, and walked to the center of the room.] As I stand here now, my aunt and uncle behind me, so we