sed marriage and been declined, had not the courtesy to
renew his suit. Also it was good to speak one's own tongue again, and
although at present there were but few men to be seen in the
neighborhood under sixty, there were military hospitals in the nearby
villages. Moreover, there was always the prospect of the return of some
gallant French _poilu_ for his holiday from the trenches. So Marie
was unable to feel entirely wretched even while undergoing the hardships
of an existence within a half-demolished farm house on the Aisne.

As a matter of fact, the old farm house was not in so unfortunate a
condition as the larger number of French homes, which had been wrecked
by the enemy before he began his "strategic retreat."

Only a portion of the left wing of the house had been demolished.

This had comprised a large kitchen, a pantry and the dining room.
However, a sufficiently large amount of space remained for the uses of
the Camp Fire unit.

In the center the house was divided by a long hall. On one side were two
comfortably large rooms. The back one was chosen for the dining room and
the front for the living room. The pantry was restored so that it could
serve for the kitchen; as the old stove had been destroyed, a new one
was ordered from Paris. This developed into a piece of good fortune, as
it required far less fuel than the old, and fuel was one of the greatest
material problems in France, coal selling at this time for $120 a ton.

A single long room occupied the other side of the hall; this room had a
high old-fashioned ceiling and was paneled in old French oak as
beautiful as if it had adorned a French palace.

Mere Antoinette explained that the farm house had been the property of
Madame de Mauprais, a wealthy French woman who had lived in the chateau
not far away. It had been occupied by her son, who had chosen to
experiment in scientific farming for the benefit of the small peasant
farmers in the neighborhood.

The war had banished Monsieur de Mauprais and whatever family he may
have possessed, so that Mrs. Burton had been able to rent his farm for a
small sum through an agent who lived in the nearest village.

It is possible that the farm house had been spared in a measure by the
German soldiers because of their greater pleasure in the destruction of
the old chateau which was only about half a mile away. At the present
time the chateau appeared only as a mass of fallen stone.

This single spacious room