in a Louis XV pastel. "My
grandson Jean's fiancee is a very clever young woman: in my time no
young girl would have been so sure of herself, so cool and quick. After
all, there is something to be said for the new way of bringing up girls.
My poor daughter-in-law, at Yvonne's age, was a bleating baby: she is so
still, at times. The convent doesn't develop character. I'm glad Yvonne
was not brought up in a convent." And this champion of tradition smiled
on me more intensely.

Little by little I got from her the story of the German approach: the
distracted fugitives pouring in from the villages north of Rechamp, the
sound of distant cannonading, and suddenly, the next afternoon, after a
reassuring lull, the sight of a single spiked helmet at the end of the
drive. In a few minutes a dozen followed: mostly officers; then all at
once the place hummed with them. There were supply waggons and motors in
the court, bundles of hay, stacks of rifles, artillery-men unharnessing
and rubbing down their horses. The crowd was hot and thirsty, and in a
moment the old lady, to her amazement, saw wine and cider being handed
about by the Rechamp servants. "Or so at least I was told," she added,
correcting herself, "for it's not my habit to look out of the window. I
simply sat here and waited." Her seat, as she spoke, might have been a
curule chair.

Downstairs, it appeared, Mlle. Malo had instantly taken her measures.
_She_ didn't sit and wait. Surprised in the garden with Simone, she had
made the girl walk quietly back to the house and receive the officers
with her on the doorstep. The officer in command--captain, or whatever
he was--had arrived in a bad temper, cursing and swearing, and growling
out menaces about spies. The day was intensely hot, and possibly he had
had too much wine. At any rate Mlle. Malo had known how to "put him in
his place"; and when he and the other officers entered they found
the dining-table set out with refreshing drinks and cigars, melons,
strawberries and iced coffee. "The clever creature! She even remembered
that they liked whipped cream with their coffee!"

The effect had been miraculous. The captain--what was his name? Yes,
Chariot, Chariot--Captain Chariot had been specially complimentary on
the subject of the whipped cream and the cigars. Then he asked to see
the other members of the family, and Mlle. Malo told him there were only
two--"two old women!" He made a face at that, and said all the same he