As Gambetta rolled forth his sentences, superb in their rhetoric and all ablaze with that sort of intense feeling which masters an orator in the moment of his triumph, the face of the lady in the gallery responded to him with wonderful appreciation.  She was no longer calm, unmoved, and almost severe.  She flushed, and her eyes as they met his seemed to sparkle with living fire.  When he finished and descended from the rostrum he looked at her, and their eyes cried out as significantly as if the two had spoken to each other.

Then Gambetta did what a person of finer breeding would not have done.  He hastily scribbled a note, sealed it, and called to his side one of the official pages.  In the presence of the great assemblage, where he was for the moment the center of attention, he pointed to the lady in the gallery and ordered the page to take the note to her.

One may excuse this only on the ground that he was completely carried away by his emotion, so that to him there was no one present save this enigmatically fascinating woman and himself.  But the lady on her side was wiser; or perhaps a slight delay gave her time to recover her discretion.  When Gambetta’s note was brought to her she took it quietly and tore it into little pieces without reading it; and then, rising, she glided through the crowd and disappeared.

Gambetta in his excitement had acted as if she were a mere adventuress.  With perfect dignity she had shown him that she was a woman who retained her self-respect.

Immediately upon the heels of this curious incident came the outbreak of the war with Germany.  In the war the empire was shattered at Sedan.  The republic was proclaimed in Paris.  The French capital was besieged by a vast German army.  Gambetta was made minister of the interior, and remained for a while in Paris even after it had been blockaded.  But his fiery spirit chafed under such conditions.  He longed to go forth into the south of France and arouse his countrymen with a cry to arms against the invaders.

Escaping in a balloon, he safely reached the city of Tours; and there he established what was practically a dictatorship.  He flung himself with tremendous energy into the task of organizing armies, of equipping them, and of directing their movements for the relief of Paris.  He did, in fact, accomplish wonders.  He kept the spirit of the nation still alive.  Three new armies were launched against the Germans.  Gambetta was everywhere and took part in everything that was done.  His inexperience in military affairs, coupled with his impatience of advice, led him to make serious mistakes.  Nevertheless, one of his armies practically defeated the Germans at Orleans; and could he have had his own way, even the fall of Paris would not have ended the war.

“Never,” said Gambetta, “shall I consent to peace so long as France still has two hundred thousand men under arms and more than a thousand cannon to direct against the enemy!”