ly free from discovery until his strength was regained. Then
here was another Marta, after Hugo had been carried away on the litter,
saying coolly to her mother:

"'Unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's!' We have our property, our
home to protect. Perhaps the Grays have come to stay for good, so
graciousness is our only weapon. We cannot fight a whole army
single-handed."

"You have found that out, Marta?" said Mrs. Galland.

"We have four rooms in the baron's tower and a kitchen stove," Marta
proceeded. "With Minna we can make ourselves very comfortable and leave
the house to the staff."

"The Gallands in their gardener's quarters! The staff of the Grays in
ours! Your father will turn in his grave!" Mrs. Galland exclaimed.

"But, mother, it is not quite agreeable to think of three women living
in the same house with a score of strange men!" Marta persisted.

"I had not thought of that, Marta. Of course, it would be abominable!"
agreed Mrs. Galland, promptly capitulating where a point of propriety
was involved.

When Marta informed the officer--the same one who had rung the door-bell
on his second visit--of the family's decision he appeared shocked at the
idea of eviction that was implied. But, secretly pleased at the turn of
events, he hastened to apologize for war's brutal necessities, and
Marta's complaisance led him to consider himself something of a
diplomatist. Yes, more than ever he was convinced of the wisdom of an
invader ringing door-bells.

Meanwhile, the service-corps men had continued their work until now
there was no vestige of war in the grounds that labor could obliterate;
and masons had come to repair the walls of the house itself and
plasterers to renew the broken ceilings.

All this Marta regarded in a kind of charmed wonder that an invader
could be so considerate. Her manner with the officers in charge of
preparations had the simplicity and ease which a woman of twenty-seven,
who is not old-maidish because she is not afraid of a single future, may
employ as a serene hostess. She frequently asked if there were good
news.

"Yes," was the uniform reply. An unexpected setback here or resistance
there, but progress, nevertheless. But she learned, too, that the first
two days' fighting along the frontier had cost the Grays fifty thousand
casualties.

"In order to make an omelet you must break eggs!" she remarked.

"Spoken like a true soldier--like a member of the staff!" was the reply.