, sure as
skittles. I wonder, Mas'r Dick, if a feller who courted a girl in good
faith, and arter a few years found she were Prime Minister of
England--would that constitoot grounds for divorce?'

But Dick was asleep, and dreaming of days when happiness was in the air
one breathed; when brother and sister had revelled in nature's carnival
of seasons. After several minutes' contemplation of the uncertainty of
married life, the old groom followed him into a slumber which was
unattended by dreams, but did not lack a sonorous serenade.

II.

The night was streaked with tragedy as the fugitives stole to the road.
The drum-fire of the guns had grown to a roar, through which there came
the blast and the crash of siege artillery, shaking the earth to its very
foundations, as if the gases of hell had ignited and were bursting
through. As though by lightning striking low, the night was lit with
flashes illuminating the fields and the roads about; and shells were
screaming and whining through the air, winged, blood-sucking monsters
crying for their prey. Across a yellow moon broken clouds were driven on
a gale that whipped the dust of the roads into moaning whirlpools.

Dense traffic moved sullenly on, the ghostly figures of drivers astride
horses that whinnied in terror of the night. Not a light was shown.
There were only the glimpses of the sickly moonlight and the flame-red
flashes of the guns; and, unnoticed, Durwent and the groom followed
beside a lorry.

Once, as they strode forward in the roar and horror of the dark, they
heard the explosion of a shell that, by a trick of ill-luck, had found
the road. There followed the shriek of wounded horses, quick commands
penetrating the darkness. Corpses of men, dead horses, and shattered
vehicles were drawn aside, and the long line that had been halted for
four minutes closed the gap and moved on.

When they reached the turn in the road, they left the shadowy procession
and made for the river by following a soft wagon-path that cut across the
fields. For two hours they hurried on through the night's madness. More
than once they were almost thrown to the ground by the terrific explosion
of heavy guns that had taken up positions by the path; and by the flashes
in the fields they could see the weird figures of the gunners toiling at
their work of death.

As they neared the river they caught a glimpse of coloured flares not far
ahead, and there came a momentary lull in