p white and gleaming in all its brave finery of
stucco, conservatories, and ornamental lake, amid a pleasant wood not
far from a main road. It is such a house as you might find round about
Guildford or Hindhead. There are many in this fair countryside, but
few are inhabited now, and none by their rightful owners. They are all
marked on the map, and the Boche gunners are assiduous map-readers.
Hush Hall has got off comparatively lightly. It is still habitable,
and well furnished. The roof is demolished upon the side most exposed
to the enemy, and many of the trees in the surrounding wood are broken
and splintered by shrapnel. Still, provided the weather remains
passable, one can live there. Upon the danger-side the windows are
closed and shuttered. Weeds grow apace in the garden. No smoke emerges
from the chimneys. (If it does, the Mess Corporal hears about it from
the Staff Captain.) A few strands of barbed wire obstruct the passage
of those careless or adventurous persons who may desire to explore
the forbidden side of the house. The front door is bolted and barred:
visitors, after approaching stealthily along the lee of a hedge,
like travellers of dubious _bona fides_ on a Sunday afternoon, enter
unobtrusively by the back door, which is situated on the blind side of
the chateau. Their path thereto is beset by imploring notices like the
following:--

THE SLIGHTEST MOVEMENT DRAWS SHELL
FIRE. KEEP CLOSE TO THE HEDGE

A later hand has added the following moving postscript:--

WE LIVE HERE. YOU DON'T!

It was the Staff Captain who was responsible for the rechristening of
the establishment.

"What sort of place is this new palace we are going to doss in?"
inquired the Machine-Gun Officer, when the Staff Captain returned from
his preliminary visit.

The Staff Captain, who was a man of a few words, replied--

"It's the sort of shanty where everybody goes about in felt slippers,
saying 'Hush!'"

* * * * *

Brigade Headquarters--this means the Brigadier, the Brigade Major, the
Staff Captain, the Machine-Gun Officer, the Signal Officer, mayhap
a Padre and a Liaison Officer, accompanied by a mixed multitude of
clerks, telegraphists, and scullions--arrived safely at their new
quarters under cover of night, and were hospitably received by the
outgoing tenants, who had finished their evening meal and were girded
up for departure. In fact, the Machine-Gun Officer, Liaison Officer,
and