we must now begin upon the preserved meat. We are a
long way from rats yet, though I believe they are really hunted and
eaten in great numbers in the poorer quarters."

"And there is no talk of surrender?"

"No talk at all; they say we can hold on for another month yet."

"What is the news from the provinces?"

"Everywhere bad. Bourbaki has been obliged to take refuge in Switzerland
and his force has been disarmed there. Chanzy has been beaten badly near
New Orleans, and the Prussians have probably by this time entered Tours.
Faidherbe has gained some successes in the north, but as the Germans
are pushing forward there, as well as everywhere else, that does not
make very much difference to us."

"Then what on earth's the use of holding out any longer," he said. "It
is sheer stupidity. I suppose the Parisians think that, as they can't
fight, they will at least show that they can starve. What is the weather
like? I felt very cold last night though I had plenty of blankets on."

"It is terribly cold," she said. "The snow is deep on the ground--it is
one of the coldest winters that has been for years."

"What is the day of the month?"

"The 26th."

"Then yesterday was Christmas Day."

"Yes," she said, "not a merry Christmas this year to any of us--no roast
beef, no plum-pudding, no mince-pies--and yet, Cuthbert, I had every
reason to be thankful, for what a much more unhappy Christmas it might
have been to me."

He nodded.

"I know what you mean. Yes, you would have missed me, child, cut off as
we are from the world here. I am, as it were, the sole representative of
your family. Of course, you have not heard from them."

She shook her head.

"I don't suppose they trouble much about me," she said, a little
bitterly, "I am a sort of disappointment, you know. Of course I have
been away now for nearly two years, except for the fortnight I was over
there, and even before that I scarcely seemed to belong to them. I did
not care for the things that they thought a great deal of, and they had
no interest in the things I cared for. Somehow I don't think I have got
on well with them ever since I went up to Girton. I see now it was
entirely my own fault. It does not do for a girl to have tastes
differing from those of her family."

"I felt that, Mary. I felt it very much. I have told myself ever since
the day of dear old father's death that I have been a brute, and I wish
with all my heart I had put aside my own whim