There was no fighting to-day. The positions taken were fortified.
December 2.--Louise Michel has been released. She came to thank me.
Last evening M. Coquelin called to recite several pieces from _Les
Châtiments_.
It is freezing. The basin of the Pigalle fountain is frozen over.
The cannonade recommenced at daybreak.
11.30 A.M.--The cannonade increases.
Flourens wrote to me yesterday and Rochefort to-day. They are coming
round to me again.
Dorian, Minister of Public Works, and Pelletan came to dine with me.
Excellent news to-night! The Army of the Loire is at Montargis. The
Army of Paris has driven back the Prussians from the Avron plateau. The
despatches announcing these successes are read aloud at the doors of the
mairies.
Victory! The Second of December has been wiped out!
December 3.--General Renault, who was wounded in the foot by a splinter
from a shell, is dead.
I told Schoelcher that I want to go out with my sons if the batteries
of the National Guard to which they belong are sent to the front. The
batteries drew lots. Four are to go. One of them is the 10th Battery, of
which Victor is a member. I will go out with that battery. Charles does
not belong to it, which is a good job; he will stay behind, he has two
children. I will order him to stay. Vacquerie and Meurice are members of
the 10th Battery. We shall be together in the combat. I will have a cape
with a hood made for me. What I fear is the cold at night.
I made some shadows on the wall for Georges and Jeanne. Jeanne laughed
delightedly at the shadow and the grimaces of the profile; but when she
saw that the shadow was me she cried and screamed. She seemed to say:
“I don’t want you to be a phantom!” Poor, sweet angel! Perhaps she has a
presentiment of the coming battle.
Yesterday we ate some stag; the day before we partook of bear; and the
two days previous we fared on antelope. These were presents from the
Jardin des Plantes.
To-night at 11 o’clock, cannonading. Violent and brief.
December 4.--A notice has been posted on my door indicating the
precautions to be taken “in case of bombardment.” That is the title of
the notice.
There is a pause in the combat. Our army has recrossed the Marne.
Little Jeanne crawls very well on her bands and knees and says “papa”
very prettily.
December 5.--I have just seen a magnificent hearse, draped with black
velvet, embroidered with an “H” surrounded by silver stars, go by to
fetch its burden. A Roman would not disdain to be borne in it.
Gautier came to dine with me. After dinner Banville and Coppée called.
Bad news. Orleans has been captured from us again. No matter. Let us
persist.
December 7.--I had Gautier, Banville and François Coppée to dinner.
After dinner Asselineau came. I read _Floréal and L’Egout de Rome_ to
them.
December 8.--The “Patrie en Danger” has ceased to appear. In the absence
of readers, says Blanqui.
M. Maurice Lachâtre, publisher, came to make me an offer for my next
book. He has sent me his _Dictionary and The History of the Revolution_
by Louis Blanc. I shall present to him Napoleon the Little and _Les
Châtiments_.
December 9.--I woke up in the night and wrote some verses. At the same
time I heard the cannon.
M. Bondes came to see me. The correspondent of the “Times,” who is at
Versailles, has written him that the guns for the bombardment of Paris
have arrived. They are Krupp guns. They are awaiting their carriages.
They have been arranged in the Prussian arsenal at Versailles side by
side “like bottles in a cellar,” according to this Englishman.