sion of the three watchers at this instant khaki-clad
figures were marching slowly forward with their faces turned toward the
east. Behind them down the long road ammunition and supply trains were
lumbering; cannons and big guns were groaning their way onward as in
time of war. But although it was not war, but the vanguard of peace,
nevertheless the American soldiers were prepared for war, should the
armistice be ended at any moment. Overhead observation balloons were
floating, which were to move more rapidly than the army and form a part
of the advance guard.

"We are scheduled to enter Virton some time tomorrow, Miss Thompson.
Virton is the first town across the Belgian border, then Briey and
Longwy and then the little Duchy of Luxemburg. It is a great trek and I
am glad to be allowed to join it. Yet somehow I wish we were sending our
nurses in dirigibles so as to make the journey more quickly and safely.
We have suffered so much from German treachery in the past that I can't
quite trust them on this march. Yet personally I wish I could have gone
with the soldiers."

The young American doctor spoke slowly and solemnly. He was a tall
slender fellow with sandy hair and a rather finely cut face, a little
Roman in type. His manner was also slightly dictatorial, as if he were a
much older and wiser person than his feminine audience, although he was
scarcely twenty-five.

Theodosia Thompson paid no attention to his remarks although he seemed
to be addressing her; however Ruth Carroll listened as interestedly as
any one could have desired.

Dr. Raymond had not been as friendly with the Red Cross nurses at the
Chateau-Thierry hospital as one might naturally have expected,
considering the fact that they had worked and dreamed and prayed under
the same roof during the last thrilling months before the close of the
war. But he was supposed not to care for women or girls, either because
he was too shy, or because he suffered from an undue sense of
superiority. Notwithstanding, he apparently made a mild exception in
favor of Ruth Carroll, although for her intimate friend and companion,
Thea Thompson, ordinarily he had to make an effort to conceal his
dislike.

Over the French country this morning the snow of a few days before had
hardened and been beaten down into a frost covered layer of mud, yet the
wind had become a little quieter and not so piercingly cold.

"Don't you think we had best go back to the hospital in a few m