ties. Would not the strongest among them come in
collision and neutralize one another amid the clashing ideas which they
represented? But on the day when the ceremony of the inauguration of
the Commune took place before the Hotel de Ville, amid the thunder
of artillery and trophies and red banners floating in the air, his
boundless hopes again got the better of his fears and he ceased to
doubt. Among the lies of some and the unquestioning faith of others, the
illusion started into life again with renewed vigor, in the acute crisis
of the malady raised to paroxysmal pitch.

During the entire month of April Maurice was on duty in the neighborhood
of Neuilly. The gentle warmth of the early spring had brought out the
blossoms on the lilacs, and the fighting was conducted among the bright
verdure of the gardens; the National Guards came into the city at night
with bouquets of flowers stuck in their muskets. The troops collected
at Versailles were now so numerous as to warrant their formation in two
armies, a first line under the orders of Marshal MacMahon and a reserve
commanded by General Vinoy. The Commune had nearly a hundred thousand
National Guards mobilized and as many more on the rosters who could be
called out at short notice, but fifty thousand were as many as they
ever brought into the field at one time. Day by day the plan of attack
adopted by the Versaillese became more manifest: after occupying Neuilly
they had taken possession of the Chateau of Becon and soon after of
Asnieres, but these movements were simply to make the investment more
complete, for their intention was to enter the city by the Point-du-Jour
soon as the converging fire from Mont-Valerien and Fort d'Issy should
enable them to carry the rampart there. Mont-Valerien was theirs
already, and they were straining every nerve to capture Issy, utilizing
the works abandoned by the Germans for the purpose. Since the middle
of April the fire of musketry and artillery had been incessant; at
Levallois and Neuilly the fighting never ceased, the skirmishers blazing
away uninterruptedly, by night as well as by day. Heavy guns, mounted
on armored cars, moved to and fro on the Belt Railway, shelling Asnieres
over the roofs of Levallois. It was at Vanves and Issy, however, that
the cannonade was fiercest; it shook the windows of Paris as the siege
had done when it was at its height. And when finally, on the 9th of
May, Fort d'Issy was obliged to succumb and fell in