A huge group of girls met at an old café. A good 30 were there in the first 20 minutes, and some young men joined them.

"Quiet!" Gaétane La Branche yelled over the noise. Julienne Lavalle shushed some of the younger girls who were twittering insanely. A hush fell over the tiny, cramped room.

"All right," Gaétane began. "You all know how horrible the conditions are here. Food and clothing are ridiculously scarce. It should not be this way in any city, ever."

"Then tell us something we don't know!" Sandrine Giraud frowned. "What can we do about it? We have little money of our own. That is stolen."

"It is stolen because there is no work!" Pascal Coudray interjected loudly. "The bourgeoisie sit in their fancy houses and care nothing about us. The government gives jobs to people who do not need them because of dowries and inheritances. We are the working people, we built Paris, and we are considered scum. Nothing is good here!"

Murmurs of agreement from all except a small gamine. "Monsieur Fauchelevent is an exception, but then again the only one."

"Danae Farjeon, even though you are correct, we are still with nothing. We cannot leave, go forward or back. We are stuck," Silvestre Meyet noted.

"Join with one of the societies then, do something," Giselle Bailleul said.

"So many, though."

"And, Gérald Cédolin? Split up. But be sure to add to all of them," Gaétane ordered.

"The Leader of the ABC Society dislikes females." Eugénie Pelay looked upset.

"Then just have the men go there. The others accept us," Zéphyrine Fassin suggested.

"I'm going anyway," another small, but particularly well-known gamine said.

"Denise Pontmercy? Oh, it is because of Marius, non?" Romain Latour asked.

She nodded. "And Marcelin is going to find out about us, in due time."

Denise received approval.

"Just you. More and they would suspect something right away," Gaétane decided.

"Dismissed!"

Everyone filed out slowly.

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