waiters at the cafe brought us the gazette every
night at seven o'clock, just as we rose from the table. We were happy
always when we heard him coming up the stairs, and we would say, "There
comes the gazette."

Catherine would hurry off the cloth and I would put a big bullet of
wood in the stove, and Mr. Goulden would draw his spectacles from their
case, and while Catherine spun and I smoked my pipe like an old
soldier, and watched the blaze as it danced in the stove, he would read
us the news from Paris.

You cannot imagine the happiness and satisfaction we had in hearing
Benjamin Constant and two or three others maintain the same opinions
which we held ourselves. Sometimes Mr. Goulden was forced to stop to
wipe his spectacles, and then Catherine would exclaim:

"How well these people talk. They are men of good sense. Yes, what
they say is right--it is the simple truth."

And we all approved it. Sometimes Father Goulden thought that they
ought to have spoken of this or that a little more, but that the rest
was all very well. Then he would go on with his reading, which lasted
till ten o'clock, and then we all went to bed, reflecting on what we
had just heard. Outside the wind blew, as it only can blow at
Pfalzbourg, and vanes creaked as they turned, and the rain beat against
the walls, while we enjoyed the warmth and comfort, and thanked God
till sleep came, and we forgot everything. Ah! how happily we sleep
with peace in our souls, and when we have strength and health, and the
love and respect of those whom we love.

Days, weeks, and months went by, and we became, after a manner,
politicians, and when the ministers were going to speak, we thought:

"Now the beggars want to deceive us! the miserable race! they ought to
be driven out, every one of them!"

Catherine above all could not endure them, and when Mother Gredel came
and talked as before about our good King, Louis XVIII., we allowed her
to talk out of respect, but we pitied her for being so blind to the
real interests of the country.

It must be remembered, too, that these emigres, ministers, and princes,
conducted themselves in the most insolent manner possible toward us.
If the Count d'Artois and his sons had put themselves at the head of
the Vendeeans and Bretons, and marched on Paris and had been
victorious, they would have had reason to say, "We are masters, and
will make laws for you." But to be driven out at first, and to be
brought bac