ing on the grass, I'm
sure they are British.'"

It was ten o'clock. The aide-de-camp poured out a whisky and soda for
his general. A silence ensued, and in the kitchen close by the
orderlies were heard singing the old war ditties, from "Tipperary" to
"The Yanks are coming," as was their nightly custom. They made a fine
bass chorus, in which the officers joined unconsciously.

The singing excited Dundas, who began to yell "view-halloos" and
smack a whip he took down from the wall. The doctor found a Swiss
cowbell on the mantelpiece and rang it wildly. Colonel Parker took up
the tongs and began rapping out a furious fox-trot on the
mantelshelf, which the general accompanied from his armchair with a
beatific whistle.

Of the end of the evening Aurelle had but a blurred remembrance.
Towards one o'clock in the morning he found himself squatting on the
floor drinking stout beside a little major, who was explaining to him
that he had never met more respectable women than at Port Said.

Meanwhile Dundas started to chant a ditty about the virtues of one
notorious Molly O'Morgan; Colonel Parker repeated several times,
"Aurelle, my boy, don't forget that if Englishmen can afford to make
fools of themselves, it is only because England is such a devilishly
serious nation;" and Dr. O'Grady, who was getting to the sentimental
stage, sang many songs of his native land in a voice that was full of
tears.

CHAPTER XVII

LETTER FROM COLONEL PARKER TO AURELLE

"Tout homme de courage est homme de parole."--Corneille

Stapleton Hall, Stapleton, Kent.
_April --, 1920._

My Dear Aurelle,--Much water has passed beneath the bridges since
your last letter. For one thing, I have become a farmer. When I left
my staff job I thought of rejoining my old regiment; but it wasn't
easy, as the battalion is crammed full of former generals who are
only subalterns.

They are treating the army very unfairly here. Our damned Parliament
refuses to vote it any money; very little is required of it, it's
true--it has merely to maintain order in Ireland and to guard the
Rhine, Mesopotamia, India, Egypt, Turkey, Palestine, Silesia, the
Caucasus and a few other countries the names of which I can't
remember! All I can say is, God help England!

We farmers also can do with His help. April is the month for sowing,
and fine weather is necessary. As far as I am concerned, I had a
hundred acres of potatoes to sow, and I had made detailed
prepa