Vivie explained to the officer what had occurred.

He bowed and saluted: seized the soldier-spitter by the collar and kicked him so frightfully that Vivie had to implore him to cease.
Moreover the Red Placards of von Bissing were of increasing frequency.

As a rule Vivie only heard what other people said of them, and that wasn't very much, for German spies were everywhere, inviting you to follow them to the dreaded Kommandantur in the Rue de la Loi--a scene of as much in the way of horror and mental anguish as the Conciergerie of Paris in the days of the Red Terror.
But some cheek-blanching rumour she had heard on a certain Monday in October caused her to look next day on her way home at a fresh Red Placard which had been posted up in a public place.

The daylight had almost faded, but there was a gas lamp which made the notice legible.

It ran: CONDAMNATIONS Par jugement du 9 Octobre, 1915, le tribunal de campagne a prononce les condamnations suivantes pour trahison commise pendant l'etat de guerre (pour avoir fait passer des recrues a l'ennemi): 1 deg.