What I have seen! I have seen Paris under the Teutonic shadow cast
from the north. Three days, on opening my windows at dawn, I anxiously
listened for the expected rumble of the cannonading. Nothing....
It will be soon, this evening, to-morrow, I said. Everything in my
threatened city became sacred to me. For me to die, that was nothing.
But for Paris to be destroyed; my Paris! the city that cannot be
described; cannot be explained! I couldn't stand that. I burst out
weeping in the deserted streets, leaning perchance against a humble and
old house. This mere relic had feelings, regrets, like the most sublime
monuments.
The gravest day dawned. Those who only stayed in Paris for the pleasure
they receive from it, and those who have children to take care of,
were hastening toward the stations or crowding into automobiles. I
stayed there. My heart wrung with agony, I drifted through my ordinary
occupations. Then the unbelievable happened. As I was crossing the
Place de la Madeleine, in a semi-dazed condition, a little boy, about
five or six years old, ran up to me and gave me a slip of paper. I saw
distractedly that he was decently dressed and had large blue eyes. I
automatically opened the paper. The following unheard of phrase was
typewritten on it: "_France is invincible_."