d I noticed that Tish regarded him with a contemplative
eye, and from, that time on she spent at least a part of every day with
him. He paid no attention at all to Hilda from that time on, and one
morning while Tish and Mr. Burton were walking by her chair she dropped
a book. But he did not seem to see it, and that evening the captain
moved over to her table, and Mr. Burton was very gay, but ate hardly any
dinner.

We all went in the same train to Paris, and he had a sort of revenge
then. For the captain could not speak French, and she had to ask Mr.
Burton to order her dinner for her. But he ordered only one, and the
captain was furious, naturally.

"Look here, Burton," he said, "I'm here, you know."

"Why, so you are," said Mr. Burton coldly. "I hadn't noticed you."

"How the devil can I make that woman understand that I'm hungry?"

Mr. Burton reflected.

"I'll tell you," he said. "You might open your mouth and point down your
throat. Most of these French know the sign language."

He turned away then, and I saw a gleam of triumph in Tish's eye. She
leaned over to him.

"She's furious that he can't speak French," she said. "Talk to me in
French, and don't mind what I say. The only thing I can remember is a
list of a hundred nouns. I'll string them together somehow."

There was a French officer near us, and I saw him watching Tish
carefully as the conversation went on. She said afterward that as near
as she could make out, Mr. Burton was telling the history of the country
we went through, and that when he paused she would say in French:
"Handkerchief, fish, trunk, pencil, book, soup," or some such list.

But it impressed Hilda; I could see that.

It was some time before we got out of Paris, and the news we had of
Charlie Sands was that he was at the Front, near V----, which was held
by the enemy. Tish went out and bought a map, and decided that she
would be sent in that direction or nowhere. But for several weeks
nothing happened, and she found the ambulance had come and was being
used to carry ice cream to convalescent hospitals round Paris. What was
more, she could not get it back.

For once I thought our dauntless Tish was daunted. How true it is that
we forget past success in present failure! But after a number of
mysterious absences she came into my room after Aggie had gone to bed
and said: "I've found where they keep it."

"Keep what?"

"My ambulance."

I was putting my hair on wavers at the ti