appear, half dressed; he pursues them, but they fly
away, and one of them drops a sash, which is all he gets."

"This is very interesting," said the general, much excited. "Wind up
the gramophone, Messiou, and give us the disc over again; I want to
see the half-dressed nymphs. Make a sign to me at the right moment."

Once again the instrument filled the rustic dug-out with the wistful
grace of the Prelude. Aurelle murmured in a low voice:

"Ce nymphes, je les veux perpetuer, si clair
Leur incarnat leger qu'il voltige dans l'air
Assoupi de sommeils touffus...."

"Bravo, Messiou!" said the general, when the last notes rang out. "I
like it better already than I did the first time. I'm sure I'll get
used to it in the end."

"I shan't," said Colonel Parker. "I shall always prefer 'God Save the
King.'"

"Yes," replied the doctor; "but your children will hum 'Pelleas,'
and your grandchildren will say, 'Do you know that old tune that used
to be the rage in grandfather's time?' What you never can get used
to, colonel, is finding yourself in the presence of a somewhat more
complex work of art than the childish productions to which you are
accustomed. Nature is not simple; she takes the theme of a fox-trot
and makes a funeral march out of it; and it is just these
incongruities that are the essence of all poetry. I appeal to you for
an opinion, Aurelle, as a citizen of the country which has produced
Debussy and Mallarme."

"Have you ever heard the excellent saying of Renoir, the old French
painter: 'Don't ask _me_,' he said, 'whether painting ought to be
subjective or objective; I confess I don't care a rap.'"

"Ah, Messiou," sighed the general, "the confounded fellow was quite
right too!"

CHAPTER X

PRIVATE BROMMIT'S CONVERSION

"Paris vaut bien une messe."--Henri IV.

Aurelle was wakened every morning by Colonel Parker's orderly, a
tough, thick-set, astute old soldier, who expounded the unwritten
laws of the army for the benefit of the young Frenchman as he
dexterously folded his clothes.

"You know, sir," he said, "'as 'ow the British Tommy 'as to go to
church in peace-time every blessed Sunday. When the time for p'rade
comes along, the orficer on dooty gives the order to fall in
accordin' to religions, an' the Church of England men, an' the
Presbyterians an' the Cath'lics is marched up to their services,
rifles an' all.

"The orficer takes charge of one of the detachments, an' in the
other