without her help. She and my little girl, who is six years old, are in hiding in another room in the attic of this house. Years ago when I was a child I used to come here to play with friends who then owned this place. I suppose that is why I thought of our hiding here when the crisis came," Madame Carton explained quietly. "Now if I return to Brussels perhaps Paul may be cared for. But you know what else would happen. It would be inevitable! Even if I were not shot I must go to prison. Can't you help me? Can't you think of some way to save us all?" [Pg 44] [Pg 44] The older woman took hold of Eugenia's hands and clung to them despairingly. "I know I am asking what looks like an impossible thing of you, and you a complete stranger! Yet you look so strong and fine," Madame Carton's voice broke, but Eugenia's touch was reassuring. "If only a doctor could come to us, perhaps with your advice I might manage the nursing myself," she continued. Eugenia shook her head. "When Dr. Le Page asked me to see you and gave me the directions, he said it was only because he dared not visit you himself," Eugenia explained kindly, but with her usual avoidance of anything but the truth. "He insists that, although he is an American, he is suspected of feeling too much sympathy for the Belgians. After warning you to escape he was questioned and believes he is still being watched. That is why he confided you to me, asking me to do the little I can to aid you. So if he should attempt to reach you out here, it would mean his arrest as well as yours. I am sorry," the girl ended. [Pg 45] [Pg 45] Her words were simple enough in the face of so great a calamity. Yet there was no mistaking their sympathy. Madame Carton appeared to surrender her judgment and her problem to Eugenia for solution. "Tell me, Miss Peabody, what do you think I should do?" she asked. "It is not worth while for me to say that I care little what becomes of me. Shall I return to Brussels and give us all up to the authorities?" Eugenia did not answer immediately. When she spoke again she offered no explanation of her own meaning. "Please wait a while, Madame Carton,
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