Priest and youth
are friends by the memory of the dead soldier of the Confederacy.
Armand writes to New Orleans and obtains full details of the death,
in the hour of victory, of the gallant Californian. His correspondent
says, briefly, "Colonel Henry Peyton, who succeeded your relative
in command of the regiment, left here after the war, for Mexico
or South America. He has never been heard from. He is the one man
who could give you the fullest details of the last days of your
kinsman--if he still lives."
Thundering war rolls nearer the gates of Paris. The horrible days
of approaching siege and present danger, added to the gloom of the
national humiliation, make the little household a sad one. Padre
Francisco finds a handsome invalid officer one day at the artist's
home. Raoul Dauvray, severely wounded, is destined to months of
inaction. There is a brother's bond between the two younger men.
Padre Francisco lends his presence to cheer the invalid. Father and
mother are busied with growing cares, for the siege closes in.
The public galleries are now all closed. The days of "decheance"
are over. France is struggling out of the hands of tyranny under
the invaders' scourge into the nameless horrors of the Commune.
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