were committed. The populous districts alone, having suffered the least,
still preserved measures of protection. The were paraded by patrols of
volunteers who shot the robbers, and at every street corner one stumbled
over a body lying in a pool of blood, the hands bound behind the back, a
handkerchief over the face, and a placard pinned upon the breast.

It became impossible to clear away the ruins or to bury the dead. Soon
the stench from the corpses became intolerable. Epidemics raged and
caused innumerable deaths, while they also rendered the survivors feeble
and listless. Famine carried off almost all who were left. A hundred
and one days after the first outrage, whilst six army corps with field
artillery and siege artillery were marching, at night, into the poorest
quarter of the city, Caroline and Clair, holding each other's hands,
were watching from the roof a lofty house, the only one still left
standing, but now surrounded by smoke and flame, joyous songs ascended
from the street, where the crowd was dancing in delirium.

"To-morrow it will be ended," said the man, "and it will be better."

The young woman, her hair loosened and her face shining with the
reflection of the flames, gazed with a pious joy at the circle of fire
that was growing closer around them.

"It will be better," said she also.

And throwing herself into the destroyer's arms she pressed a passionate
kiss upon his lips.

S. 4