sympathy, heightened her loathing of war and of all who planned
and ordered it and led its legions. A Stransky righting would have been
repulsive to her, but a Stransky trying to save a life was noble.

Except for the few minutes when she had gone out on the veranda and had
seen Stransky bringing in the lifeless body of Grandfather Fragini, she
had been engaged since dark in completing the work of moving valuable
articles from the front to the rear rooms of the house, which had been
begun early in the day by Minna and the coachman.

Shortly after Stransky had finished his meal Minna came to say that
Major Dellarme wished to speak to Miss Galland. Dellarme a major! This
was his reward for his part in filling the ambulances with groans! In
the days when he was at the La Tir garrison he had been a frequent
caller. Now, in the perversity of her reasoning, out of the chaos of the
tangent odds of her impressions since she had gone to hold the session
of her school that morning, she thought of him as peculiarly one who
gave to the profession of arms the attraction that had made it the
vocation of the aristocrat. Waiting for her in the dismantled
dining-room, despite all that he had passed through, his greeting had
the diffident, boyish manner of her recollection; and despite a night on
the ground his brown uniform was without creases, giving him a
well-groomed, even debonair, appearance.

"I scarcely thought that we should ever meet under these conditions," he
said slightly constrained, a touch of color in his cheeks.

She had no excuse for her reply unless, in truth, she were in training
for the town scold. But he typified an idea. He gave to war the aspect
of refinement.

"If you did not expect it, why did you enter the army?" she asked.

He saw that she was not quite herself. The strain of the day had
unnerved her. Yet he answered her bootless question with simple
directness.

"I liked the idea of being a soldier. I was reared in the atmosphere of
the army, and I hoped that I might do my duty if war came."

Perhaps this was point one for him. Marta shrugged her shoulders.

"I might have guessed beforehand what you would say," she replied. "You
sent for me?"

"Hardly that, please. I asked if I might see you. The captain of
engineers tells me that you insist on staying and I came to beg you to
keep in the back of the house. You will be safe there. Any shell that
may enter will explode in the front rooms and the fra