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Chapter 40

Paris rejoiced. Freed from the invader's plundering grip, the city rushed back to normal. The dead and the wounded had been cleared from the streets. The tri-colored banner of the Republic waved proudly atop all the government buildings. Dress salons, which during the occupation, had been operating for a German clientele, French collaborationists, including easy-living cocottes, hurriedly changed the tone of their advertisements, underlining their patriotism in the new fashion, which combined economy and elegance, and called it "victory style." Artists dusted off their hidden canvases and feverishly began preparations for the Autumn exhibit in the Grand Palais-which they had christened "Victory Salon." Victory was being put on a cash basis, like idols brought to market.

Due to the cosmetics shortage, the Parisiennes exhibited their pretty faces to the Autumn sun-thus demonstrating their miraculous ability for adapting themselves to every circumstance. Working women, like hungry crows, besieged the empty stores of Belleville, clenched their fists, and cursed the black market with its profiteers. Politicians wrangled as to how France could salvage her prestige as a world power! The state, too, returned to its cash counter, counting the bloody coins of trade and empire.

In the company of gay midinettes, American soldiers filled

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