one of the three, the man, had returned to his native land before the
commencement of the siege; but the two women had remained. They
supported themselves now as they could on the meagre rations accorded by
the Government. Still Isaura attended the ambulance to which she was
attached. From the ladies associated with her she could readily have
obtained ample supplies: but they had no conception of her real state of
destitution; and there was a false pride generally prevalent among the
respectable classes, which Isaura shared, that concealed distress lest
alms should be proffered.

The destitution of the household had been carefully concealed from the
parents of Gustave Rameau, until, one day, Madame Rameau, entering at the
hour at which she generally, and her husband sometimes, came for a place
by the fireside and a seat at the board, found on the one only ashes, on
the other a ration of the black nauseous compound which had become the
substitute for bread.

Isaura was absent on her duties at the ambulance hospital,--purposely
absent, for she shrank from the bitter task of making clear to the
friends of her betrothed the impossibility of continuing the aid to their
support which their son had neglected to contribute; and still more from
the comment which she knew they would make on his conduct, in absenting
himself so wholly of late, and in the time of such trial and pressure,
both from them and from herself. Truly, she rejoiced at that absence so
far as it affected herself. Every hour of the day she silently asked her
conscience whether she were not now absolved from a promise won from her
only by an assurance that she had power to influence for good the life
that now voluntarily separated itself from her own. As she had never
loved Gustave, so she felt no resentment at the indifference his conduct
manifested. On the contrary, she hailed it as a sign that the annulment