fabrics. Who knows? And what are you going to do,
Pierre?"

"I suppose I shall just go on raising silkworms," was the quiet reply.
"It is hard work, but I see nothing else ahead for me. However, when my
father and uncle return from the war there will be time enough for me to
think what I will do."

"Ah, but you have a plan already; I can see that!" Henri cried.

Pierre nodded gravely.

"Yes, I have a plan--or perhaps I better call it a dream. I should like
to go to America. One can earn more money there. My mother's brother is
at Paterson, New Jersey, which is in America, and I have some young
cousins there also."

"Yes, yes, I know," exclaimed Henri eagerly. "There are great silk mills
at Paterson where they make fine silks and ribbons--some of them as
beautiful as any we make in France. Maybe some day you will go there."

"I'm afraid not," returned Pierre. "Even should the war end and my
father and uncle come home again I have no money to go to America."

"Don't give up so easily," Henri said, placing a hand on the younger
boy's shoulder. "We never can tell what will happen. My mother says that
if we do the best we can every day sometimes the thing we wish most will
come to us; if not, Le Bon Dieu will send something else which may be
even better."

"I am trying to do my best," Pierre answered bravely. "And anyway so
long as my father and uncle are safe nothing else really matters."

The boys exchanged a smile and passed on into the filature, as the
factory where the reeling was done was called.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER IX

HENRI MAKES A SUGGESTION

"It is now dry weather, and as this is the best time to reel silk we are
working very hard," explained Henri as they went along. "Every machine
we have is running overtime. But before we inspect the reels themselves
suppose we see how the cocoons are soaked and made ready. The important
thing is to get the gum which the silkworm has blended with the silk out
of it, and for this purpose we use soft water, having found that it
loosens the filament better than anything else. That is what they are
doing here. They begin by raising the water to the boiling point, and
afterward reduce its temperature by means of cold water if they find it
necessary. Care must be taken to submerge each cocoon evenly so that its
entire surface will be covered; otherwise one end will be softened and
the other end remain hard, in which case it cannot be reeled off."

"But