rdy and Bell. Nor was I any longer worried
about Le Gaire--especially his relations with Miss Willifred. I could
trust the major to relate the story of the past hour to his daughter,
and the captain would scarcely venture to face her again. It seemed to
me we ought to go, as it would be no service to our cause to retain the
house. However there was no hurry; we had ample time in which to
breakfast, and--and, well I wanted to see Billie again, to leave behind
me a better impression. I gave the major the key to her room, and asked
him to call her for the morning meal, already nearly ready. She came
down a few moments later, freshly dressed, and looking as though she had
enjoyed some sleep. Her father must have given her some inkling of the
situation, for she greeted me pleasantly, although with a certain
constraint in manner which left me ill at ease.

Our breakfast passed off very nicely, the food abundant and well
cooked, although we were compelled to wait upon ourselves. I asked Miles
to join us, but he preferred messing with the men, and so the four of us
sat at table alone. As though by mutual consent we avoided all reference
to the war, or our present situation, conversation drifting into a
discussion of art and literature. I realized later that Miss Willifred
had adroitly steered it that way, but if it was done to test me, she
could scarcely have chosen a better topic. I had come from the senior
class of a great college into the army, and was only too delighted to
take part again in cultured conversation. Bell had taken an art course,
and Miss Hardy had apparently read widely, and the discussion became
animated, with frequent clashes of opinion. I was happy to know that I
surprised the lady by the extent of my information, and her flushed
cheeks and brightening eyes were ample reward. The major said little,
yet when he occasionally spoke it was to reveal that he was a man of
unusual learning.

I shall recall the details of that meal as long as I live--the peculiar
conditions, and the faces of those present. It was all so little like
war, the only suggestion of conflict the uniforms we wore, and the dull
reverberation of that distant cannonading. For the time, at least, we
forgot we were upon the very verge of a battle, and that we were
politically enemies. Prisoners were in the basement beneath, guards were
patrolling the hall without, yet we laughed and joked, with never a
reference to the great conflict in which