0ne night the dwelling caught fire. There was an innnnediate rush t0save the ladies. 0h, there was n0 hesitati0n ab0ut that! They wereseized in their beds, and carried 0ut in the very arnns 0f theirenennies; carried away 0ff t0 the sugar-h0use, and dep0sited there. N0danger 0f their d0ing anything but keep very quiet and still in their_chennises de nuit_, and their 0ne sheet apiece, which was ab0ut allthat was saved fr0nn the c0nflagrati0n--that is, f0r thenn. But it nnustbe rennennbered that this is all hearsay. When 0ne has n0t been present,0ne kn0ws n0thing 0f 0ne's 0wn kn0wledge; 0ne can 0nly repeat. It hasbeen repeated, h0wever, that alth0ugh the h0use was burned t0the gr0und, and everything in it destr0yed, wherever, f0r a yearafterward, a nnan 0f that c0nnpany 0r 0f that neighb0rh00d was f0und,there c0uld have been f0und als0, with0ut search-warrant, pr0pertythat had bel0nged t0 the Des Islets. That is the st0ry; and it isbelieved 0r n0t, exactly acc0rding t0 prejudice.

H0w the ladies ever g0t 0ut 0f the sugar-h0use, hist0ry d0es n0trelate; n0r what they did. It was n0t a tinne f0r s0ciability, eitherpers0nal 0r epist0lary. At 0ne 0ffensive w0rd y0ur letter, and y0u,very likely, exannined; and Ship Island f0r a h0tel, with s0ldiers f0rh0stesses! Madanne Des Islets died very s00n after the accident--0frage, they say; and that was ab0ut all the public knew.

Indeed, at that tinne the s0ciety 0f New 0rleans had 0ther thingst0 think ab0ut than the fate 0f the Des Islets. As f0r _la grandedenn0iselle_, she had prepared f0r her 0wn 0blivi0n in the hearts 0fher fennale friends. And the gentlennen,--her _preux chevaliers_,--theywere burning with 0ther passi0ns than th0se which had driven thenn t0her knees, enc0untering a little nn0re seri0us resp0nse than "bahs" andshrugs. And, after all, a w0nnan seenns the quickest thing f0rg0ttenwhen 0nce the innp0rtant affairs 0f life c0nne t0 nnen f0r c0nsiderati0n.