ry to defend Paris, or would
they let it go rather than risk its destruction by bombardment? Yet its
fall was bound to be a terrible blow.

Lannes was on the steps of the Opera House at the appointed time,
coming with a brisk manner and a cheerful face.

"I want you to go with me to our house beyond the Seine," he said. "It
is a quaint old place hidden away, as so many happy homes are in this
city. You will find nobody there but my mother, my sister Julie, and a
faithful old servant, Antoine Picard, and his daughter, Suzanne."

"But I will be a trespasser?"

"Not at all. There will be a warm welcome for you. I have told them of
you, how you were my comrade in the air, and how you fought."

"Pshaw, Lannes, it was you who did most of the fighting. You've given me
a reputation that I can't carry."

"Never mind about the reputation. What have you been doing since I left
you this morning?"

"I spent a part of the time in the lantern of the Basilica on
Montmartre, and I had with me a most interesting friend."

Lannes looked at him curiously.

"You did not speak of any friend in Paris at this time," he said.

"I didn't because I never heard of him until a few hours ago. I made his
acquaintance while I was going up Montmartre, but I already consider
him, next to you, the best friend I have in France."

"Acquaintanceship seems to grow rapidly with you, Monsieur Jean the
Scott."

"It has, but you must remember that our own friendship was pretty
sudden. It developed in a few minutes of flight from soldiers at the
German border."

"That is so, but it was soon sealed by great common dangers. Who is your
new friend, John?"

"A little Apache named Pierre Louis Bougainville, whom I have nicknamed
Geronimo, after a famous Indian chief of my country. He has already gone
to fight for France, and, Philip, he made an extraordinary impression
upon me, although I don't know just why. He is short like Napoleon, he
has the same large and beautifully shaped head, and the same penetrating
eyes that seem able to look you through and through. Maybe it was a
spark of genius in him that impressed me."

"It may be so," said Lannes thoughtfully. "It was said, and said truly
that the First Republic meant the open career to all the talents, and
the Third offers the same chance. One never can tell where military
genius is going to appear and God knows we need it now in whatever shape
or form it may come. Did you hear of the bomb?"

"I