ttle boys were playing in the back yard, and saw nothing of the raid. When they tried to enter the house again, they found the door fastened and the house empty.
A cobbler opposite called them to him, and delivered to them a paper which "their mother" had left for them. On this paper there was an address:
M. Barge, collector of rents, Rue du Roi-de-Sicile, No. 8.
The proprietor of the stall said to them: "You cannot live here any longer.
Go there.
It is near by. The first street on the left.
Ask your way from this paper."
The children set out, the elder leading the younger, and holding in his hand the paper which was to guide them.
It was cold, and his benumbed little fingers could not close very firmly, and they did not keep a very good hold on the paper.
At the corner of the Rue Clocheperce, a gust of wind tore it from him, and as night was falling, the child was not able to find it again.
They began to wander aimlessly through the streets.
BOOK SIXTH.--LITTLE GAVROCHE
CHAPTER II(1)
IN WHICH LITTLE GAVROCHE EXTRACTS PROFIT FROM NAPOLEON THE GREAT
Spring in Paris is often traversed by harsh and piercing breezes which do not precisely chill but freeze one; these north winds which sadden the most beautiful days produce exactly the effect of those puffs of cold air which enter a warm room through the cracks of a badly fitting door or window.