," she said
calmly. "At any rate, the Germans are gone. I gathered as much from
chance words of the generals--never before have so many generals
gathered under the Poiret roof, and it will never happen again--but I
wished to hear it from one who had seen with his own eyes."

"We saw them withdrawing, Madame, with these two pairs of eyes of ours,"
said Lannes.

"And then Poiret can go back to his work with the vines. Whether it is
war or peace, men must eat and drink, Monsieur."

"But certainly, Madame, and women too." "It is so. I trust that soon the
Germans will be driven back much faster. The house quivers all the time.
It is old and already several pieces of plaster have fallen."

Her anxiety was obvious. With the Germans driven back she thought now of
the Poiret homestead. John, in the new strength that had come to him
from food and drink, had forgotten for the moment that ceaseless quiver
of the earth. He held the little bottle aloft and poured a thin stream
of wine into his glass. The red thread swayed gently from side to side.

"You speak truly, Madame," he said. "The rocking goes on, but I'm sure
that the concussion of the guns will be too far away tonight for you to
feel it."

They offered her gold for the food and wine, but after one longing
glance she steadfastly refused it.

"Since you have come across the sea to fight for us," she said to John,
"how could I take your money?"

Lannes and John returned to the bit of grass in front of the house,
where the elderly general and other generals were still standing and
using their glasses.

"You are refreshed?" said the general to Lannes.

"Refreshed and ready to take your orders wherever you wish them to go."

John stepped aside, while the general talked briefly and in a low tone
to his comrade. He looked upon himself merely as a passenger, or a sort
of help to Lannes, and he would not pry into military secrets. But when
the two rose again in the _Arrow_, the general and all his suite waved
their caps to them. Beyond a doubt, Lannes had done magnificent work
that day, and John was glad for his friend's sake.

The _Arrow_ ascended at a sharp angle, and then hovered for a little
while in curves and spirals. John saw the generals below, but they were
no longer watching the aeroplane. Their glasses were turned once more to
the battle front.

"Ultimately we're to reach the commander of the central army, if we
can," said Lannes, "but meanwhile we're to be