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Page:The Mystery of Madeline Le Blanc (1900).djvu/90

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THE MYSTERY OF MADELINE LE BLANC.

and went toward the Rue Saint Honoré. The streets were crowded with people. The pavements were still torn up from the dreadful war. I saw the barricades where men killed one another. I had never dreamed of such things in my life. My aunt said that everybody seemed happy; but I thought they seemed frightened. My uncle tried to explain things to me about the king and the government that I could not understand. I walked between them. We turned into the Rue Saint Honoré and stopped at the great market and drank from the fountain. There were so many people that I had now to walk in front. The Rue Saint Honoré was brilliantly lighted—almost like day;—for the first time, my uncle said, since the soldiers had broken all the street lamps. I saw many faces. I never dreamed there were so many people on earth—thousands! I felt bewildered. Lights, rolling carriages, brilliant windows, horses, people—it was like a dream. Now I come to the point! [She grew almost white in the face, arose, and walked to the center of the room.] As I stand here now, my aunt and uncle behind me, so we