little battered image of St. Joseph, and although St.
Joseph is one of the patron saints of marriage, Miss Patricia accepted
her gift with warm appreciation.

An hour later, when she received the first intimation of what had
occurred, Miss Patricia was standing in the little yard in front of
their hut with Grand'mere and Elise.

There was no restraint about Grand'mere's conversation now that her
granddaughter was restored to her; indeed, she was pouring forth such a
flood of rapid speech that Miss Patricia had the sensation of drowning
in a sea of words of which she could understand about one in fifty.

Nevertheless, it was pleasant to glance now and then toward Elise, who
was as charmingly pretty as her neighbors and friends had described her.
From her weeks of enforced imprisonment and something nearly approaching
starvation, the young French girl was thin and haggard. Yet as nothing
more terrible had happened, she was too rejoiced over her return not to
show delight and gratitude in every expression of her vivid face.
Moreover, after being allowed to cross the borderland from Germany into
France, she really had a meeting of a few moments with Mrs. Burton, who
had given her the money and the information necessary for her
homecoming.

At the moment when one of Elise's friends ran into the yard from an
unexpected direction, Miss Patricia's first sensation was that of
relief. At least she could enjoy a short respite from her position of
exclusive audience to Grand'mere. The woman appeared so excited and so
full of some story she undoubtedly had come to tell, that immediately
she became the center of attention. Moreover, a dozen other persons soon
followed her until in a few seconds the little yard was crowded with
gesticulating figures.

Miss Patricia was about to withdraw when a single word arrested her
attention. The word was of course pronounced in French fashion, yet in
the past few weeks Aunt Patricia had learned to recognize its peculiar
French intonation. The word was Mrs. Burton's name.

Through guessing, through intuition and also through the united efforts
of her new friends, soon after Miss Patricia learned as much of the
woman's tale as it was desirable for her to hear at the present time.

This story had spread through the village. A French ambulance bearing
the sign of the _croix de rouge_ had just driven through the town
en route to the farm house on the Aisne, the present home of the Camp
Fire gi