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TRAPPED IN WAR-STRICKEN EUROPE PLUCKY
AMERICAN GIRL FOUGHT HER WAY
itae de JMathunn and up and down
CHAPTER II FIFTEEN CENTIMES
IN HER PURSE
i By Louise Townsend Nicholl.
Perhaps he did not know how iron
ical he was for in my purse were 15
centimes and two twenty-dollar
checks of Mercantile Marine value. If
he could not cash them, no one could.
And he .could not.
Across the street, at 'the American
express office, my companion had had
no better luck. Some of her checks
were American Express and there
was still a chance of their being cash
ed, but the banking department was
closed until 'nine o'clock Monday
morning. The only thing left for us
to do was to stay in the hotel until
Monday morning, get some money
and take the next train and boat for
England.
There I could catch my Philadel
phia and my companion could try to
change her passage for a boat late
in the summer to ihe first one she
could get And so we waited.
When we got back to our hotel,
only the East Indian met us. The
French porters had gone to ttie war.
The weeping maid was serving dinner
to the few remaining guests. The
Russian came in from police head
quarters. -
"Tomorrow, at noon, I shut down,"
he said. "I have to leave the country
at once. Stay tonight, if you will, but
have all out of here ..tomorrow at
twelve."
"Well, anyway, I belong to. the
Don't. JVorry Club," said one of the
two American women in the hotel,
gayly,-as we went up to our room.
I shall always believe that that
woman had more than 15 centimes in
cash in the black moire bag she car
ried. That was the wildest night of my
life. Some of the time, I tried to'sleep,
but wild, feverish dreams made sleep
impossible, and finally we sat'by the
the street to the corners where car
riages and machines tore past, all
nigh, crowded with soldiers.
Americans'and all other foreigners
were leaving in great numbers, whole
families together, hurrying along,
sometimes talking in shrill voices,
sometimes keeping a hurried silence,
which was worse. They were all on
foot, for no one but soldiers could ride
in machines and almost all the horses
were taken for the army.
No one could take baggage with
him when he could not carry him
self, and the pebnle's arms and hands
were full. Often two men carried a
trunk between them. All night long
the life Of Paris streets went on, and
fragments of it floated up to us in
sight and sound. The cafes were full
of men. Women of the street plied
their trade diligently.
One of these women, a large, dark,
strange creature, I can never forget.
Her large hat and flowered, ample,
silk waist gleamed up at me every
time she sauntered under a street
light So unconcernedly she strolled
along at midnight, and still when the
dawn came, always with furtive eyes,
always, flirting .the tiny, 'glittering
white fan she carried in her pudgy,
be-ringed fingers.
At one o'clock a great coach-load
of Americans drove up to our door.
The red-coated driver took down all
the luggage and rang the bell. Then
he beat upon the door, and roared at
the top of his voice.
They had engaged rooms, but the
Russian would not take them in. He
put his head out of the door and said
ma'ny things to them. They answered
him also many things and the red
coated driver piled the luggage on the
coach-top again and drove them
away.
And so that first night wore on.
The soldiers dashed by in motor cars,
windows and looked down into the and the foreigners, flocked pu$$ptliQ
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