ing;
and the young warrior "in the auxiliary service" told her of his
restlessness in the office during the interminable days in which the
troops were battling around Paris, hearing afar off the boom of the
artillery. His father had wished to take him with him to Bordeaux,
but the administrative confusion of the last hour had kept him in the
capital.

He had done something more. On the day of the great crisis, when the
acting governor had sent out all the available men in automobiles, he
had, unasked, seized a gun and occupied a motor with others from his
office. He had not seen anything more than smoke, burning houses, and
wounded men. Not a single German had passed before his eyes, excepting a
band of Uhlan prisoners, but for some hours he had been shooting on the
edge of the road . . . and nothing more.

For a while, that was enough for Chichi. She felt very proud to be
the betrothed of a hero of the Marne, even though his intervention had
lasted but a few hours. In a few days, however, her enthusiasm became
rather clouded.

It was becoming annoying to stroll through the streets with Rene, a
simple soldier and in the auxiliary service, besides. . . . The women
of the town, excited by the recollection of their men fighting at the
front, or clad in mourning because of the death of some loved one, would
look at them with aggressive insolence. The refinement and elegance
of the Republican Prince seemed to irritate them. Several times, she
overheard uncomplimentary words hurled against the "embusques."

The fact that her brother who was not French was in the thick of the
fighting, made the Lacour situation still more intolerable. She had an
"embusque" for a lover. How her friends would laugh at her! . . .

The senator's son soon read her thoughts and began to lose some of
his smiling serenity. For three days he did not present himself at the
Desnoyers' home, and they all supposed that he was detained by work at
the office.

One morning as Chichi was going toward the Bois de Boulogne, escorted by
one of the nut-brown maids, she noticed a soldier coming toward her. He
was wearing a bright uniform of the new gray-blue, the "horizon blue"
just adopted by the French army. The chin strap of his kepi was gilt,
and on his sleeve there was a little strip of gold. His smile, his
outstretched hands, the confidence with which he advanced toward her
made her recognize him. Rene an officer! Her betrothed a sub-lieutenant!

"Ye