now, such was the warmth of the sun that,
with a wrap, Mrs. Galland was sitting on the veranda. She was
content--too content to go to town. As she had said to Marta, no doubt
it would be a wonderful sight, but she had never cared for public
celebrations since she had lost her husband. She could get all the joys
of peace she wanted looking at the garden and the landscape; and it did
not matter at all now if Marta were twenty-seven, or even if she were
thirty or thirty odd.

For the last week the people of La Tir had been returning to their
homes, and with the early morning those from the country districts had
come swarming in for the great day. Faintly she heard the cheers of the
crowds pouring toward the frontier--cheers for the Gray premier and
cheers for Lanstron and for Turcas as they gathered for a purpose which
looked further ahead than the mere ratification of the very simple terms
of peace that left the white posts where they were before the war.

"I would rather meet you here than on your range," said Lanstron to
Turcas.

"You certainly find me in a more genial frame of mind than you would
have if you had met me there. And I am very delighted that things have
turned out as they have," replied Turcas. As soldiers of a common type
of efficiency, who understood each other, they might exchange ideas.

Marta in the family carriage, surrounded by her children, looked on.
Hugo Mallin, who had suggested getting acquainted with the Browns in a
common manoeuvre, witnessed his dream come true in miniature. His
sturdy sweetheart had become a heroine of the home town since the
newspapers had published the whole story of her lover's insubordination,
and how he had stood at the white posts rallying stragglers, which
appealed to the sentiment of the moment. People pointed her out as an
example of the loyalty of conviction. His father and mother, far from
hiding their faces in shame, carried their heads high in parental
distinction.

There was nothing unfamiliar to the student of human nature in
campaigns, which many historians overlook, so keen are they to get their
dates and circumstantial details correct, in the way that the Gray and
the Brown veterans fraternized in groups, crossing and recrossing the
frontier line as they labored with each other's tongues. This frequently
comes with peace, when the adversaries have been of the same metal and
standards of civilization. The new thing was the theme of their talk.
They h