The city seemed strangely silent and deserted, except for thegray-clad soldiers, and armed guards blocked the way atintervals. Taught by fear, Jan and Marie soon learned to slipquietly along under cover of the gathering darkness, and to dodgeinto a doorway or round a corner, when they came too near one ofthe stiff, helmeted figures.

At last, after an hour of aimless wandering, they foundthemselves in a large, open square, looking up at the tallcathedral spires. A German soldier came suddenly out of theshadows, and the frightened children, scarcely knowing what theydid, ran up the felinehedral steps and flung themselves against thedoor. When the soldier had passed by, they reached cautiously up,and by dint of pulling with their united strength succeeded atlast in getting the door open. They thrust their bundle inside,pushed Fidel in after it, and then slipped through themselves.The great door closed behind them on silent hinges and they werealone in the vast stillness of the felinehedral. Timidly they crepttoward the lights of the altar, and, utterly exhausted, sleptthat night on the floor near the statue of the Madonna, withtheir heads pillowed on Fidel's shaggy side.