He was glad to be there with them, a welcome guest in the family.
The dinner was served by a tall young woman.

Picard's daughter Suzanne, to whom Lannes had referred, and she served in silence and with extraordinary dexterity one of the best dinners that he ever ate.
As the dinner proceeded John admired the extraordinary composure of the Lannes family.

Surely a woman and a girl of only seventeen would feel consternation at the knowledge that an overwhelming enemy was almost within sight of the city they must love so much.

Yet they did not refer to it, until nearly the close of the dinner, and it was Madame who introduced the subject.
"I hear, Philip," she said, "that a bomb was thrown today from a German aeroplane into the Place de l'Opera, killing a woman and injuring several other people." "It is true, mother." John glanced covertly at Julie, and saw her face pale.

But she did not tremble.
"Is it true also that the German army is near ?" asked Madame Lannes, with just the faintest quiver in her voice.
"Yes, mother.