to learn.



CHAPTER XV. PARIS IN THE SIEGE.

"And Uncle Joe is in France, where the fathers and brothers of those
little Prussian boys have been fighting. I wish I could see it."

There was a thunder and a whizzing in the air and a sharp rattling
noise besides; a strange, damp unwholesome smell too, mixed with
that of gunpowder; and when Lucy looked up, she found herself down
some steps in a dark, dull, vaulted-looking place, lined with stone,
however, and open to the street above. A little lamp was burning
in a corner, piles of straw and bits of furniture were lying about,
and upon one of the bundles of straw sat a little rough-haired girl.

"Ah! Madamoiselle, good morning," she said. "Are you come here to
take shelter from the shells? The battery is firing now; I do not
think Mamma will come home till it slackens a little. She is gone
to my brother who is weak after his wounds. I wish I could offer
you something, but we have nothing but water, and it is not even
sugared."

"Do you live down her?" asked Lucy, looking round at the dreary
place with wonder.

"Not always. We used to have a pretty little house over this, but
the cruel shells came crashing in, and flew into pieces, tearing
everything to splinters, and we are only safe from them down here.