Besieged Paris was in the throes of famine. Even the sparrows on the roofs and the rats in
As Monsieur Morissot, watchmaker by profession and idler for the nonce, was strollingalong the boulevard one bright January morning, his hands in his trousers pockets andstomach empty
he suddenly came face to face with an acquaintance--Monsieur Sauvage, afishing chum.
Before the war broke out Morissot had been in the habit, every Sunday morning, of settingforth with a bamboo rod in his hand and a tin box on his back.