He laughed and assured her that her views were sound in theory and in practice. A moment later they came in sight of the school.
"It is necessary that I make some little arrangements with Sister Felicite for my absence," she explained. "I scarcely know what she is going to do all alone here, if the children are to remain."
They went into the schoolroom, where exercises had already begun, and the droning, minor singsong of children filled the heavy air.
Sister Felicite greeted Warner, then, dismissing the children to their desks, withdrew to a corner of the schoolroom with Sister Eila.
Their low-voiced consultation lasted for a few minutes only; the little girls, hands solemnly folded, watched out of wide, serious eyes.
On the doorstep outside, Asticot sat and occasionally scratched his large ears with a sort of bored embarrassment.
Warner went out to the doorstep presently and looked up at the sky, which threatened rain. As he stood there, silent, preoccupied, Sister Eila came out with Sister Felicite, nodding to Warner that she was ready to leave. And, at the same instant, two horsemen in grey uniforms rode around the corner of the school, pistols lifted, lances without pennons slanting backward from their armslings.
Asticot, paralyzed, gaped at them; Warner, as shocked as he, stood motionless as four more Uhlans came trotting up and coolly drew bridle before the school.
Already three of the Uhlans had dismounted, stacked lances, abandoning their bridles to the three who remained on their horses.
As they came striding across the road toward the school, spurs and carbines clinking and rattling, a child in the schoolroom caught sight of them and screamed.
Instantly the room was filled with the terrified cries of little girls: Sister Eila and Sister Felicite, pale but calm, backed slowly away before the advancing Uhlans, their arms outstretched in protection in front of the shrieking, huddling herd of children. Behind them the terrified little girls crouched under desks, hid behind the stove, or knelt clinging hysterically to the grey-blue habits of the Sisters, who continued to interpose themselves between the Uhlans and their panic-stricken pupils.
The Uhlans glanced contemptuously at Asticot as they mounted the door steps, looked more closely at Warner; then one of them walked, clanking, into the schoolroom, lifting his gloved hand to his helmet in salute.
Sister Felicite tried vainly to quiet the screaming children; Sister Eila, her head high, confronted the Uhlans, both arms extended.
"Stop where you are!" she said coolly. "What do you wish, gentlemen? Don't you see that you are frightening our children? If you desire to speak to us we will go outside."
An Uhlan clumsily tried to reassure and make friends with a little girl who had hidden herself behind the stove. She fled from him, sobbing, and threw herself on her knees behind Sister Eila, hanging to her skirts.
"Pas mechant," repeated the big cavalryman, with a good-natured grin; "moi, pere de famille! Beaucoup enfants a moi. Pas peur de moi. Vous est bon Francais."
Another Uhlan pointed inquiringly at Warner, who had placed himself beside Sister Felicite.
"Anglais?" he demanded.
"American," said Sister Eila calmly.
"Oh," he exclaimed with a wry grin. "Americans are our friends. Frenchmen have our respect. We salute them as brave enemies. But not the English! Therefore, do not be afraid. We Germans mean no harm to peaceful people. You shall see; we are not barbarians! Tell your children we are not ogres."
He stood tall and erect in his grey, close-fitting uniform, looking curiously about him. The plastron of the tunic, or ulanka, was piped with yellow, and bore the galons and the heraldic buttons of a Feldwebel. The shoulder strap bore the number 3; the boots and belt were of tan-colored leather; all metal work was mat-silver; spurs, saber, were oxidized; and the oddly shaped helmet, surmounted by the mortar board, was covered with a brown holland slip bearing the regimental number.
The children had become deathly silent, staring with wide and frightened eyes upon these tall intruders; the Sisters of Charity stood motionless, calm, level-eyed; Warner, wondering why the Uhlans had entered the school, had drawn Sister Eila's arm through his, and remained beside her watching the Germans with undisturbed curiosity and professional interest. Afterward his well-known picture of the incident was bought by the French Government.
The Wachtmeister in charge of the peloton turned to him with a sort of insolent civility.
"Wie viel Kilometer ist es bis Ausone?" he inquired.
Warner made no reply.
"Wie heisst dieser Ort?" The Wachtmeister had raised his voice insolently.
"Sais," replied Warner carelessly.
"Sind hier deutsche Truppen durchmarschiert?"
Warner remained silent.
"Sind deutsche Truppen im Walde?"
"There is no use asking an American for information," said Warner bluntly. "You'll get none from me."
Instantly the man's face changed.
"So! Eh, bien! Qui cherche a s'esquiver sera fusille!" he said in excellent French. "Unlock every door in the house. If there are any dogs tie them up. If they bark, you will be held responsible. Don't move! Keep those children where they are until we have finished!"
He nodded to a trooper behind him. The Uhlan instantly drew a short hammer and a cold chisel from his pouch, knelt down, and with incredible rapidity ripped up a plank from the hardwood floor, laying bare to view the solid concrete underneath.
"Sound it!"
The trooper sounded the concrete with the heavy butt of his chisel.
"All right!" The non-com touched his schapska in salute to the Sisters of Charity. "Take your children away before noon. We need this place. German troops will occupy it in half an hour." Then he swung around and shot an ugly glance at Warner.
"If you are as neutral as you pretend to be, see that you are equally reticent toward the French when we let you go.... You may be American, but you behave like an Englishman. You annoy me; do you understand?"
Warner shrugged his shoulders.
"What do you mean by that gesture of disrespect?" demanded the Uhlan sharply.
"I mean that you ask improper questions and you know it!"
"I ask what I choose to ask!" he said angrily. "I think I shall take you with us, anyway, and not leave you here!"
"You'll only get into trouble with my Government and your own----"
"Take that man!" shouted the Uhlan in a passion. "I'll find out what he is----"
A shot rang loudly from the road outside; the Uhlans turned in astonishment, then ran for the door where their comrades flung them their bridles. They seized their lances and scrambled into their saddles, still disconcerted and apparently incredulous of any serious danger to themselves. Then another Uhlan who had cantered off down the road suddenly fired from his saddle; the others, bending forward, scanned the road intently for a moment; then the whole peloton swung their horses, spurred over the ditch and up the grassy bank, trotted in single file through the hedge gate, and, putting their horses to a gallop, headed straight across the meadow toward the river and the quarry bridge beyond.
They had reached the river willows and were already galloping through them when, far away toward the south end of the meadow, a horseman trotted into view, drew bridle, fired at the Uhlans, then launched his horse into a dead run toward them, disengaging his lance from which a pennon flew gayly.
After him, bending forward in their saddles, came two score riders in pale blue jackets, lances advanced, urging their wiry horses, spurring hard to intercept the Uhlans.
But the Germans, who had gained the bridge, were now galloping over it, and they disappeared amid a distant racket of shots.
To the spectators at the school door, it all looked like a pretty, harmless, unreal scene artistically composed and arranged for moving-picture purposes; the wide, flat green meadow was now swarming with the pale blue and white laced dolmans of French hussar lancers. Everywhere they were galloping, trotting, maneuvering; a section of a light battery appeared, drew rapidly nearer, went plunging across the meadow hub-deep in wild flowers, swung the guns and dropped them at the bridge, making the demi-tour at a gallop.
Back came the caissons, still at a gallop; the dark, distant figures of the cannoniers moved rapidly for a moment around each gun; a tiny figure held up one arm, dropped it; crack! echoed the report of the field-piece; up went the arm, down it jerked; crack! went the other.
From a front room overhead Warner and Sister Eila were leaning out and watching the lively spectacle along the river.
"It looks to me," he said, "as though the Germans were in the cement works.... By George! They are! The yards and quarries are alive with their cavalry! Look! Did you see that shell hit the stone crusher? There goes another. The big chimney on the Esser Works is falling--look!--down it comes! Our gunners have knocked it into dust!"
Another section of artillery came plunging into view across the meadows, the drivers spurring and lashing, the powerful horses bounding forward, and the guns jumping and bouncing over the uneven ground.
It was like a picture book--exactly what the layman expects of a battle--a wide, unobstructed view over a flat green meadow, artillery at a gallop with officers spurring ahead; brilliantly uniformed cavalry arriving in ever-increasing squadrons, some dismounting and deploying, others drawn up here and there under serried thickets of lances. But there was no smoke, only a dusky, translucent haze clinging for a moment to the gun muzzles; no enemy in sight save for a scrambling dot here and there among the quarry hills where, from the cement works, a cloud of dust rose and widened, veiling the trees and hillsides.
For a while the lively rattle of the fusillade continued, but in a few minutes a six-gun battery arrived and went into ear-splitting action, almost instantly extinguishing the German fire from the quarry. A few more ragged volleys came, then only dropping shots from their carbines as the hussars rode forward and broke into a gallop across the quarry bridge.
More cavalry was arriving all the while, dragoons and chasseurs-a-cheval, all riding leisurely toward the quarry. More artillery was coming, too, clanking and bumping up the road, a great jolting column of field batteries, not in a hurry, paying little attention to the lively proceedings across the river, where the German cavalry was retreating over the rolling country toward the eastern hills and the blue hussars were riding after them.
The artillery passed the school and continued on toward Ausone. Behind them came infantry with their swinging, slouchy stride, route step, mildly interested in the doings of the cavalry in the meadow, more interested in the Sisters of Charity leaning from the schoolhouse windows and the excited children crowding at the open door.
Not very far beyond the school a regiment turned out into a stubble field and stacked arms. Other regiments swung out east and west along the Route de Sais, stacked arms, let go sacks, and went to work with picks and spades.
More artillery rumbled by; then came some engineers and a pontoon train which turned out toward the river opposite the school after the engineers had opened a way through the hedge stile.
Sister Eila and Warner had returned from the upper story to stand on the doorstep among the children.
"One thing is certain," he said in her ear; "Sister Felicite will have to take the children away tonight. The infantry yonder are intrenching, and all these wagons and material that are passing mean that the valley is to be defended."
The young Sister nodded and whispered to Sister Felicite, who looked very grave.
Some odd-looking, long, flat motor trucks were lumbering by; the freight which they carried was carefully covered with brown canvas. Other trucks were piled high with sections of corrugated iron, hollow steel tubes, and bundles of matched boards and planking.
For these vehicles there was a dragoon escort.
"Aeroplanes and material for portable sheds," said Warner. "They intend to erect hangars. There is going to be trouble in the valley of the Recollette."
He turned and looked out and around him, and saw the valley already alive with soldiers. Across the river on the quarry road they were also moving now, cavalry and artillery; and, as far as he could follow eastward with his eye, red-legged soldiers were continuing the lines of trenches already begun on this side of the river.
An officer of hussars rode up, saluted the Sisters and Warner, glanced sharply at Asticot, who had flattened himself against the vines on the schoolhouse wall, and, leaning forward from his saddle, asked if the German cavalry had been there that morning.
"Six Uhlans, mon capitaine," said Warner. "They ripped up a plank from the floor; I can't imagine why. You can see it through the door from where you sit your saddle."
The officer rode up close to the steps and looked into the schoolroom.
"Thank you, Monsieur. You see what they've done, I suppose?"
"No, I didn't understand."
"It is simple. The Esser cement works across the river built this school two years ago. It's a German concern. While they were about it they laid down a few cement gun platforms--with an eye to this very moment which confronts us now."
He shrugged his shoulders:
"The Esser cement works over there are full of gun emplacements in cement, masquerading as pits, retaining walls, foundations, and other peaceful necessities. A British officer discovered all this only a few days ago----"
"Captain Halkett!" exclaimed Warner, inspired.
The Hussar glanced at him, surprised and smiling.
"Yes, Monsieur. Are you acquainted with Captain Halkett?"
"Indeed, I am! And," he turned to the Sisters of Charity, "he is a good friend of all of us."
"He is my friend, also," said the Hussar warmly. "He has told me about Sais and how, masquerading as a quarry workman one evening, he discovered gun platforms along the Recollette and among the quarries. You understand they were very cunning, those Germans, and the cement works and quarries of Herr Heinrich von Esser are all ready to turn those hills yonder into a fortress. Which," he added, laughing, "we may find very convenient."
Sister Eila, standing beside the horse's head, stroked it, looking up at the officer out of grave eyes.
"Is Captain Halkett well?" she asked calmly.
"I think so, Sister. I saw him yesterday."
"If you see him again, would you say to him that Captain Gray is at the Chateau des Oiseaux recovering from an accident?"
"Yes, I will tell him, Sister; but he must be around here somewhere----"
"Here!" exclaimed Warner.
"Why, yes. Our aeroplanes have just passed through. A British Bristol biplane is among them in charge of a flight-lieutenant--Ferris, I think his name is. Captain Halkett ought to be somewhere about. Possibly he may be superintending the disembarkment and the erection of the sheds."
He pointed northwest, adding that he understood the sheds were to be erected on the level stretch of fields beyond the school.
"However, I shall give him your message, Sister, if I meet him," he said, saluted them ceremoniously in turn, cast another puzzled and slightly suspicious glance at Asticot, and rode away.
"I should like to find Halkett," said Warner. "I certainly should like to see him again. We had become friends, you see. Shall we walk back that way across the fields, Sister Eila?"
Sister Eila turned to Sister Felicite. Her color was high, but she spoke very calmly:
"Had I not better remain with you and help you close the school?"
Sister Felicite shook her head vigorously:
"I can attend to that if it becomes necessary. I shall not budge unless I am called to field duty."
"But the children? Had I not better take some of them home?"
"There's time enough. If there is going to be any danger to them, I can arrange all that."
Sister Eila hesitated, her lovely head lowered.
"If we could find Halkett on our way back," said Warner, "I think he would be very glad to hear from us that Gray is alive."
Sister Eila nodded in silence; Warner made his adieux; the Sisters of Charity consulted together a moment, then the American and Sister Eila went out through the rear door and through the little garden. And at their heels shuffled Asticot, furtively chewing a purloined apple.
*CHAPTER XXXI*
As they reached the plateau above the school and halted for a few moments to look back across the valley of the Recollette, Warner began to understand.
The cannonading in the north had ceased. On every road, in whichever direction he looked, troops, artillery, and wagons were moving eastward. This was no mere cavalry reconnoissance; it was a serious offensive movement in force toward the east. Eastward and south lay the Vosges; beyond, the lost provinces stretched away in green valleys toward the Rhine.
There lay the objective of this movement which was based on the great Barrier Forts from Verdun to Toul, from Toul to Nancy and Luneville, southward to Epinal, to the great, grim citadel of Belfort.
This was no raid, no feint, no diversion made by a flying corps along the frontier. A great screen of cavalry was brushing back every hostile scout toward the mountains; the contact at the cement works was a mere detail. Nor was this movement directed toward the north, where the Grand Duchy was crawling alive with Prussians already battering at the "Iron Gate of France."
No, the guns of Longwy were not calling these French horsemen north, whatever was happening at Verdun or along the Moselle. Their helmets were moving toward the east, toward the passes of the Vosges where Alsace lay, and Lorraine. Metz, Strassburg, Colmar, Muelhausen, beckoned from every tall tower, every gable, every spire. It was invasion! Armed France was riding toward the rising sun.
Sister Eila's pale, intelligent face was lifted to the distant horizon; her clear, exalted gaze made it plain to him that she, also, had begun to understand.
As for Asticot, he was finishing the core of his apple and watching details in the vast panorama out of his tiny mouse-eyes; and whether he understood or cared to understand no man might say. For the minds of little animals must remain inscrutable.
Near them, on the grassy plateau, soldiers were unloading portable sheds in sections and erecting them; others were leveling hedges, felling small, isolated trees, uprooting bushes, and clearing away a line of wire pasture fencing.
Evidently this plateau was to be a base for some of the airmen operating along the Vosges or possibly, also, north and east from Verdun.
As they moved forward he looked about for a British uniform, but saw none. A soldier informed them that there were no British troops attached to the army of General Pau as far as he knew; two or three cavalry officers politely confirmed the statement, taking Warner to be an Englishman.
It was not until, following the deeply trodden sheep-walk, they passed the silver birch woods that they had any news of Halkett.
A squadron of hussars was already bivouacked there; their wagons were coming across the fields from the Dreslin road; officers, men, and horses had taken advantage of the woods to escape observation from air-scouts; and three batteries of artillery were parked in the Foret de Sais, where the cannoniers had already begun to cover everything with green branches.
As they passed through the Foret de Sais, out of which a shepherd with his shaggy dogs was driving his flock, they overtook an officer of hussars on foot, sauntering along the same path, a lighted cigarette between his white-gloved fingers.
He stepped aside into the bracken, courteously, in deference to Sister Eila, and lifted his hand to his shako in salute. But when he caught sight of Warner he stepped forward with a quick, boyish smile and held out his hand.
"Do you remember me?--D'Aures? This is Monsieur Warner, is it not?"
They exchanged a handclasp; Warner presented him to Sister Eila.
"This is exceedingly nice," said the American cordially. "We--Sister Eila and I--are returning to the Chateau. I hope you will come with us."
"If I may venture to pay my respects----"
"You will be welcome, I know." He added, laughing: "Also, the ladies will be most interested in the fate of their horses and their automobiles."
The Vicomte d'Aures reddened, but laughed:
"The Countess was most gracious, most patriotic," he said. "But one could expect nothing less from a De Moidrey. Nevertheless, I felt like a bandit that evening. I left them only a basket wagon and a donkey."
"Which have been greatly appreciated, Monsieur," said Sister Eila, smiling. And she told him about the removal of Captain Gray from the school to the Chateau.
"Oh, by the way," exclaimed D'Aures, "we have a British aviator with us--a friend of yours, Sister Eila, and of Mr. Warner."
"Halkett!"
"Yes, indeed. It appears that Captain Halkett has specialized in this region, so he has been assigned to us. I have the honor of a personal acquaintance with him."
"Where is he?" asked Warner.
"He is near here somewhere. His machine, a Bristol, is to be parked with ours on the plateau yonder. I think they are erecting the hangars now."
They entered the wicket of the lodge gate and advanced along the drive toward the house.
Warner said:
"All this movement means the invasion of Alsace-Lorraine, I take it."
D'Aures nodded.
"Could you give me an idea of the situation as it stands, Captain?"
"I can only guess. Briefly, we are moving on Strassburg from the Donon peaks to Chateau-Salins. As I understand it, our armies now stretch from the Sambre to the Seine, from the Meuse to the Oise.
"I can tell you only what is gossiped about among cavalry officers. We believe that we are leading a great counter-offensive movement; that it is our General Joffre's strategy to drive the Germans out of upper Alsace, block Metz and Strassburg, and, holding them there in our steel pincers, let loose our army on their flank and rear."
"And Longwy? And this drive just north of us at Ausone?"
D'Aures smiled.
"Can you still hear the cannonade?"
They halted to listen; there was no longer that deadly rumor from the north.
"Verdun and Toul are taking care of that raid, I think," said D'Aures pleasantly. "It comes from Metz, of course. Verdun must look out for the country between it and Longwy, too. That is not our route. Ours lies by Nancy toward Vic and Moyenvic, and through Altkirch to Muelhausen, and then--" he laughed--"it does not become a Frenchman to prophesy or boast. There were too many dreamers in 1870.
"I am telling merely the gossip of our camps. It is human to gossip when the day's work is over. But for the rest--route step and plod ahead!--That is what counts, not bragging or splendid dreams."
When they reached the terrace Warner fell back to speak to Asticot.
"I've arranged for you at the Golden Peach. Madame Arlon knows." He handed Asticot a key. "There's plenty to do in my studio down there. Get some wood and make cases for my canvases. Cover the chassis with toile and prime them with white lead. Use an ivory palette knife and let them have the sun when there is any and when there is no wind and dust. That will keep you busy until I send for you. Do you comprehend?"
"Yes, M'sieu'.... May I not walk behind M'sieu' when he takes the air?"
Warner scowled at him, but he looked so exactly like a shiftless, disreputable and mongrel dog who timidly desires to linger, yet is fearful of a kick, that the American laughed.
"A fine bargain I have in you!" he said. "You prefer rambling to work, it appears!"
"I prefer the vicinity of M'sieu'," said Asticot naively.
"Go back to the inn and see if you can do an honest hour's work!" retorted Warner; and he turned and rejoined Sister Eila, who had taken D'Aures up the steps of the terrace.
It appeared that the ladies were on the north terrace. On the way through the hall, Sister Eila excused herself and mounted the stairs for a look-in on Gray. At the same moment, Peggy Brooks came out of the billiard room, saw D'Aures, recognized him.
"Oh," she said, extending her hand, "I am so glad you have come back! How is my Minerva runabout?"
"I'm sorry I don't know," he replied, blushing; "I didn't steal it for myself, you see."
"You didn't steal it! It's a gift. It's mine to give. I give it to you! My sister took all the credit of giving away the horses and cars. But I insist on your having my Minerva runabout. It's a charming car. You'll fall in love with it if they let you drive it. Come out to the terrace and speak to my sister and to my dearest friend, Philippa Wildresse."
Warner, much amused to observe the capture of this young man, followed them out to the south terrace.
He certainly was an ornamental young man of enchanting manners, and his popularity was immediate.
To Warner Philippa came presently:
"Where have you been?" she asked. "And couldn't you have taken me?"
"Dear child, I was out before sunrise prowling about the hills with that vagabond at my heels--Asticot."
"What did you see?"
"Uhlans on Vineyard Hill, across the Recollette. Wildresse was with them."
"He!"
"Yes, the miserable spy! If he's not gone clear away some of D'Aures' men had better try to round him up and get rid of him.... After that, Sister Eila and I went to the school. More Uhlans came sniffing around, but they cleared out in a hurry when our cavalry appeared. Our artillery shelled the Germans out of the Esser quarries--you must have heard the firing?"
"Yes. We all thought that the Germans had arrived. Poor Mr. Gray looked so disgusted!"
"Philippa, Halkett is here somewhere."
"Oh!" she exclaimed happily.
"He's here with his machine--an aeroplane of sorts--Bristol, I believe. No doubt he'll come up to the house when he has a chance. I suppose Sister Eila has gone up to tell Gray."
They had strolled around to the eastern parapet and now stood looking out over the tree tops.
"What has happened at Ausone?" she asked. "The cannon have stopped firing."
"I saw Ausone burning from Vineyard Hill. It's all knocked to pieces, Philippa. What I think has happened is this: troops from Verdun and Toul--perhaps from Chalons--have entered Ausone in time to save the fort. I suppose our infantry are intrenched along the Recollette and that there is going to be more fighting in Ausone Forest, which must be full of Germans."
"You don't think they'll come here?"
"I don't know. The army which you see below us everywhere in the valley is probably on its way to invade Alsace. D'Aures thinks so. I suppose this line will be defended. We shall hear more cannonading, I fancy. Anyway, they are digging trenches to fall back on."
"Where?"
"Along the Recollette."
From where they were leaning on the stone balustrade, they could see pontoons spanning the river. Across them troops and wagons were passing; through every ford cavalry were splashing; the quarry bridge and road were packed with motor trucks escorted by cavalry; and on the Sais highway artillery was still passing toward Ausone.
Her cheeks framed by her hands, elbows on the parapet, Philippa gazed at the moving host below. She wore a thin white gown; a scarf fell from her shoulders; her thick, beautiful hair was full of ruddy gleams, accenting the snowy neck and throat.
"If I set up my easel will you let me have a try at you?" he asked.
"Yes, but you've had no luncheon. I'll bring you something, and you can arrange your canvas while I'm gone."
But they found Sister Eila had arranged for him to lunch with Gray, so he sat with that battered and patient Englishman, chatting, watching the troops in the valley from the open window, and lunching comfortably.
Sister Eila glanced in, smiled, then went lightly away toward the eastern wing of the house, where fresh consignments of bandages were to be sterilized and stored in Red Cross boxes--gauze rolls, plugs for bullet wounds, body bandages, fracture bandages, arm slings, rolls of unbleached muslin, of cotton, of gauze.
As she passed the open door of the chapel, she halted, faced the altar and made her reverence. Then, crossing herself, she rose erect, turned to continue her way, and encountered Halkett face to face.
A bright flush leaped to her cheeks; his own face reddened to his hair under the bronze coat of tan.
"I am so glad to see you," she said steadily, offering her hand. "We heard you were in Sais with your aeroplane. How did you happen to come into the east wing? It must have been closed when you were here before?"
"I have never before been in this house. I saw you cross the court as I mounted the terrace steps." He tried to ease the constraint in his voice. "I wanted to speak to you--first of anybody--in Sais.... Are you well?"
"Perfectly. And you, Captain Halkett?"
"You seem thinner. You do not spare yourself."
"We scarcely have time to think of ourselves," she said, smiling. "I am trying to fit up a little hospital here; Madame de Moidrey offers the house."
"I understand that my friend, Captain Gray, is here?"
"Poor boy! I must not detain you any longer. You will desire to pay your respects to Madame de Moidrey and her sister and to the beautiful Miss Wildresse----"
"Philippa! Here?"
"You know her? Is she not lovely? I find her charming. And--so should all young men," she added with a little laugh. "Therefore--I shall no longer detain you, Captain Halkett----"
"May I--hope to see you again?"
"I hope so, indeed," she replied cheerfully. "Do you remain for a while in Sais?"
"For a while, I think."
There fell a silence, which became a little strained. Sister Eila looked up at him from lowered eyes; then her face went white and she laid her hand flat against the chapel wall beside her, as though for support.
"Then--if I may hope to see you again--inspect your hospital, perhaps----"
She nodded, still leaning on the chapel wall.
So he went away swiftly, very straight in his field uniform, and she saw him cross the court, head erect, looking directly before him as though he saw nothing.
An immense fatigue seemed to weight her; still supporting herself against the wall, she turned and looked at the chapel door. Even on that grey day the light within was golden from the old glass.
Into that mellow stillness crept Sister Eila, her young head drooping, the metal crucifix swinging at her girdle from its rosary of wooden beads.
The painted saints stared at her; the painted angels all stood watching her; the Mother of God looked out from the manger, brooding, preoccupied, wonder-eyed; but the Child at her breast was smiling.
Then down on her knees fell Sister Eila; her slim hands clasped, clung, tightened, parted, and covered her face convulsively.
Very far away in the valley a trumpet spoke.
*CHAPTER XXXII*
Warner began the full-length portrait--which has now become famous under the title "Philippa Passes"--in the main hall of the Chateau.
A clear light fell through the northern and eastern windows; from the golden gloom above generations of De Moidreys looked down upon the fair girl who stood in their great hall as tranquil and unconscious as though born within the carved gray walls which they had built or added to in years long dead.
He had chosen for the pose a moment when, as she was in the act of passing in front of him, a word from him had checked her and caused her to turn her head.
There he held her as she had paused, poised on the very edge of motion, her enchanting head turned and the grey eyes meeting his.
Already on his canvas he had caught her; an odd sensation of cold, clear-minded exaltation seemed to possess him as he worked--a calm, strange certainty of himself and of the work in hand.
There was no hesitation, no doubt within him, only a sustained excitement under unerring control. He knew what he wanted; he knew that he was doing methodically what he wanted to do with every unhurried brush stroke.
There was no halting, no searching, no checks; his mind had never been so absolutely in control of his hand; his hand never so automatically obedient, his intelligence never before so clear, so logical, so steady under the incessant lightning of inspiration.
Conscious of the tremendous tension, he knew he was equal to it--knew that no weakness of impulse or of sentiment could swerve him, unsteady him, meddle with his brain or his nerves or his hand.
Nothing could stop him from doing what he had to do, nothing could tamper with this newborn confidence which had suddenly possessed him with its unlooked for magic.
He was painting Philippa as he had known her from the beginning; as he had prophesied; as she had been revealed--a young girl with grey eyes and chestnut hair, fine of limb, with the shadow of a smile on her wistful lips, and "her soul as clean as a flame."
So certain was he of what he was about that to Philippa he seemed to work very leisurely, wiping brush after brush with unhurried deliberation, laying on stroke after stroke with that quiet decision which accumulates and cooerdinates component parts into a result so swiftly that an ensemble is born as though by magic.
A few great pictures are painted that way; myriads of bad ones. If he thought of this it did not trouble him. Already, on his canvas, the soul of a young girl was looking at him through those grey eyes; on the fresh lips, scarce parted, hovered the shadow of a smile, virginal and vague.
He felt the splendid tension; experienced the consciousness of achievement, steeled every nerve, wiped his brushes with deliberation, drew them across the edges of the colors needed, scarcely glancing at his palette, laid on the brush stroke with the precision of finality.
From where he had slung his tall canvas between two ancient, high-backed chairs as an improvised easel, he could see the northern terrace and the people gathered there--Madame de Moidrey in animated conversation with Halkett; Peggy knitting fitfully and looking over her clicking needles at the youthful Vicomte d'Aures, who had pushed aside the tea table in order to obtain an unobstructed view of this American girl who was making his boyish head spin.
Beyond them, on a steamer chair, lay Gray. Sister Eila sat beside him sewing. There was conversation between them and Madame de Moidrey and Halkett--across and across, cat-cradle fashion--but it passed through Peggy and D'Aures unheeded, as wireless in the upper air currents; and the Countess glanced occasionally at her sister or let her eyes rest on D'Aures now and then with a pleasant, preoccupied air, as though considering other things than those which were passing under her pretty nose.
From time to time Philippa came around to where Warner stood before his canvas, and remained beside him in silence while he studied what he had done.
Once he looked up questioningly; the girl took possession of his right arm with both of hers and rested her cheek lightly against his shoulder. No words could have praised or reassured him as eloquently. And he understood that what he had done was, to her, worthy of all she believed him to be--matchless, wonderful, and hers.
The light had failed a little in the early August sky, but the clouds had cleared and the sun glittered in the west. There was light to work by, yet.
He clothed his canvas in a mystery of cobweb shadow: behind her there was a dull gleam of duller tapestry; delicate half-lights made the picture vague, so that the "clean flame" of her seemed the source of all light, its origin, making exquisite the clear, young eyes.
He knew that what he had painted was already a fit companion to be placed among the matchless company looking down on them from the walls through a delicate bloom of dust.
What he had done belonged here, as she herself belonged here between these old-time walls and the ancient roof above. And every corridor, every room, every terrace, would be the sweeter, the fresher, for her lingering before she passed on her life's journey through an old and worn-out world.
"Philippa passes," he said, thinking aloud.
She looked up, smiled.
"Only where you lead her, shall Philippa pass," she murmured.
"It is to be the title of your portrait.... Would you care to look at it now? There is not so much more to do to it, I think...."
She came around and stood silently beside him.
"Is it you?" he asked.
"My other self.... I had not supposed you knew her--so deeply--so intimately--more intimately than I myself seem to know her."
He laughed gently.
"Heart of a child," he said, half to himself.
"Heart of a man," she answered. "What have I done to deserve you? How can you be so patient with me? ... You, a man already grown, distinguished, ripe with wisdom.... I don't know why you should annoy yourself with me.... It is too wonderful--why you should be my friend--my friend----"
"There is something far more wonderful, Philippa--that you should be my friend. Didn't you know it?"
She laughed.
"I wonder if you know what I would do for you? There is nothing you could ask of me that I would not do----"
She ceased, her voice threatening unsteadiness, but her eyes were clear and she was smiling.
"Words are idle things," she added calmly, "and not necessary, I think, between you and me.... Only, sometimes I feel--a need of telling you--of my devotion.... There have been lonely years--friendless--and a heart sickens under eternal silence--needing an opportunity for self-expression----"
"I know, dear."
"I know you do.... You are very kind to me."
"Philippa, I care more for you than I do for any living person!"
The lovely surprise in her face flushed her to her hair. She looked at him out of confused, incredulous eyes, strove to smile, caught her trembling lip between her teeth.
"Didn't you know it?" he said in a low voice.
She tried to answer, turned sharply and faced the windows with blurred eyes that saw only a glimmering sheet of light there.
He stood motionless, looking at her, intent upon the sudden confusion in his own brain, realizing it, trying to explain it, analyze it coolly, calmly account for it.
If it were any emotion resembling love which was so utterly possessing him, he chose to know it, to inform himself as to the real significance of this loss of logical equilibrium, this mental inadequacy which began to resemble a sort of chaos.
Was he in love with this girl? Was it love? Was this what it all had meant--all, from the very beginning, through all its coincidences, accidents, successive steps and stages?
And suddenly a terrible timidity seized him. Suppose she knew what he was thinking about! What would she think? What would she do? Where would her confidence go? What would become of her trust in him? What would happen to her implicit faith in him?
Of one thing he was suddenly and absolutely certain; love had never entered her mind, never lodged in her heart, never troubled that candid gaze, never altered her fearless smile. With all her devotion to him, all her passionate attachment of a child, never had anything as deep--never had any emotion as profound as love disturbed the mystery of depths where dwelt in virginal immaturity the soul of her, "clean as a flame--"
As for himself--where he now stood--whither he was being led by something which was not reason, not intention, he did not seem able to understand.
The light in the room had become too uncertain to paint by; he released his canvas and carried it away behind a tapestry, setting it slanting, face to the stone wall.
The brushes, mediums, palette, he left on the palette table and pushed it into a corner behind a sofa, where nobody was likely to fall over it before he gave brushes and palette to Asticot to clean.
All the while Philippa stood looking out of the window over the tree tops, her young heart and brain on fire with happiness and throbbing with the wonder of her first innocent passion.
With it, for the first time, had come something she never before had known with Warner--something indefinite, new, inexplicable--a vague sense of shyness almost painful at instants--a consciousness of herself that she had never known--a subtle, instinctive realization of her own maturity which left a faintly delicious sensation in her breast.
Now, for the first time since she had known him, her instinct was not to go to him, not to face him. She did not understand why--did not question herself. From the window she looked out over the forest; she heard him moving quietly about behind her; listened with an odd content in his proximity, but with no desire to turn and join him--no wish to move or stir from the spell which held her there in the enchanted silence of a happiness so wonderful that sky and earth seemed to understand and share it with her.
"Philippa?"
She turned slowly as in a dream.
It was perhaps as well that he had a record on canvas of what she had been--of the young girl he had been painting in all her lovely immaturity. Perhaps the girl who faced him now from the window was even lovelier, but she was not the Philippa of "Philippa Passes."
Truly that Philippa had passed, vanished silently even as she had stood there with her eyes on the window; faded, dissolved into thin shadow, leaving, where she had stood, this slender, silent, deep-eyed girl looking at him out of the new and subtle mystery which enveloped her.
He thought that it was he himself who saw her differently and with new eyes; but she herself had changed. And, for the first time, as they passed slowly toward the terrace together, he was conscious of a freshness that seemed to cling to her like a fragrance--and of the beauty of her as she moved beside him, not touching him, keeping clear of contact, her head a trifle bent.
*CHAPTER XXXIII*
Warner, dressing for dinner, stood looking down from his window at the Sais road. Halkett, in his smart but sober field uniform, sat sideways on the window sill, chatting with his friend and surveying the lively panorama below, where, through the fading light, endless columns of motor lorries rolled ponderously eastward.
In every direction bicycle and motor cycle messengers were speeding, north and south on the Sais road, west toward Dreslin by the mill, eastward over cow-paths and sheepwalks, and across the pontoons, or by the school highway and quarry bridge, southeast toward a road crowded with motor lorries, and through that gap in the foothills which narrows into the Pass of the Falcons.
Warner, leisurely buttoning his waistcoat, stood looking out of the window at the scenes passing under the plateau, and listening with the greatest interest to Halkett's comments on these preliminaries for a campaign about to open.
"Then, in your opinion, it is invasion?" he said.
Halkett nodded:
"I can make nothing else of this movement, Warner. Our General, Pau, is at Nancy. What you see down there is part of a perfectly complete and coherent army, and it is certainly moving on the Vosges passes.
"Metz, Strassburg, Colmar, lie beyond; our alpinists are swarming around the Donon. Under it lie the lowlands of Alsace and Lorraine.
"Already we have seized the pass of Saales; Thann and Danemarie are menaced; the valley of the Bruche lies before us, Saarburg and the railroad to Metz invite us.
"Does it not all seem very logical, Warner?"
"It sounds so."
"It is good strategy. The logic is sound logic. If we carry it through, it will be applauded as brilliant strategy.
"The Germans want a decisive battle on French soil in the vicinity of Rheims. If they beat us there, they pivot on Verdun, half-circle on the Oise, and Paris lies before them. They have today a million men within striking distance of the French frontier."
"Are we fully mobilized?"
"Our concentration is slower; we are massing between Bar-le-Duc and Epinal. We have, so far, only seven corps d'armee concentrated, and twenty-one more on the march. But do you know what we have done already?
"Listen; this isn't generally known yet, but we have taken the passes of Bonhomme and Sainte Marie; we have taken Muelhausen----"
"What!"
"Yes, it's ours. More than that, we have entered Dinant. At Mangiennes, Moncel, Lagarde, we drove the Germans. Our line of battle stretches two hundred miles from a point opposite Tongres to Nancy. We smashed the Germans at Altkirch and left them minus thirty thousand men!
"And this great counter-offensive which our General is planning is already exercising such a pressure on their advance toward Brussels that they have begun to detach entire army corps and send them post haste into Alsace. What do you think of that, Warner?"
"Fine!" exclaimed the American. "It's simply splendid, Halkett. You see, we here in the valley couldn't know anything about it. All we had to go by was that the German guns were booming nearer and nearer, that Ausone is in ruins, that Uhlans were riding the country as impudently as though they were patrolling their own fatherland. I tell you, old chap, it's a wonderful relief to me to hear from you what is really going on."
He turned to his mirror, lighted a cigarette, and began to fuss with his tie.
Halkett said, grimly amused:
"Oh, yes, we all ought to feel immensely relieved by capturing a mountain and a couple of unfortified German towns, even if there are today in Europe seventeen million men under arms and seventeen million more in reserve, all preparing to blow each other's heads off."
Warner came back slowly to the windows:
"It is a ghastly situation, Halkett. The magnitude of the cataclysm means nothing to us, so far. Nobody yet has comprehended it. I don't think anybody ever really can--even when it's over and the whole continent is underplowcd and fertilized with dead men from the Channel to the Carpathians--no single mind of the twentieth century is ever going to be able to grasp this universal horror in all its details. In a hundred years, perhaps----" He shrugged, threw away his cigarette, and picked up his evening coat to inspect it before decorating his person with it.
Halkett said:
The scale of the whole business is paralyzing. Here's a single detail, for example: Germany is in process of launching six huge armies into France. The Crown Prince, the Grand Duke of Wuerttemberg, Generals von Kluck, von Buelow, von Hausen, and von Heeringen command them.
"Three of them have not yet moved; three are on their juggernaut way already--the Army of the Meuse, based at Cologne, is marching through Belgium on a front thirty miles wide, its right flank brushing the Dutch border at Vise, its left on Stavelot, its center enveloping the Liege railroad.
"The Moselle army, based on Coblenz, has made a highway of the Grand Duchy and is in Belgium. The Rhine army has its bases at Strassburg and Mayence, and started very gayly to raise the devil on its own account, but we've stung it in the flank already and it's squirming in uncertainty.
"And that is the situation so far, old chap, as well as I can understand it. And I understand it fairly well because of my position with this French army. You don't quite understand how I happen to be here and what I am doing, do you?"
"Not exactly. I know you have a Bristol aeroplane here and that you are attached to the British Flying Corps."
"Oh, yes. In our service I am squadron commander, and Gray is wing commander. But I have a flight-lieutenant yonder at the sheds and a mechanic.
"As a matter of fact, Warner, I am the British Official Observer with General Pau's army, and Gray, when he can get about, is to act with me. That is what I am doing."
"You make no flights?"
"Oh, yes, we shall fly, Gray and I--not doing any range finding for the artillery and not making ordinary raids with bombs. Observation is to be our role. It's interesting, isn't it?"
"It's fascinating," said Warner, linking his arm in Halkett's as they left the room.
"As a matter of fact," he added, "in spite of the horrors in Belgium, the slaughter there and in Alsace, this war has not really begun."
Halkett turned a drawn and very grave face to him:
"Warner," he said, "this war will not really begin until next spring. And there will be a million dead men under ground by that time."
Dinner that evening at the Chateau des Oiseaux was a most cheerful function. The passing of an army for miles and miles through the country around them was a relief and a reassurance which brought with it a reaction of gayety slightly feverish at moments.
The Countess de Moidrey gave her arm to Gray, tall, slim, yellow-haired, and most romantically pale: Captain the Vicomte d'Aures took out Peggy Brooks--they turned to each other with the same impulse, as naturally as two children coming together--and the words designating them to other partners remained unspoken on Ethra's lips.
Philippa, in an enchanting gown of turquoise, looked up at the Countess, flushed and expectant, but the elder woman, much amused, designated Halkett, and the girl took the arm he offered with a faint smile at Warner, as though to reassure him concerning matters temporarily beyond her own control.
The Countess saw it, stood watching Warner, who had drawn Sister Eila's arm through his own, and was taking her out--saw Halkett and Philippa halt and draw aside to let them pass; saw the expression in Sister Eila's face as her glance met Halkett's, wavered, and passed elsewhere.
Before she and Gray had moved to close the double file, the Cure of Dreslin was unexpectedly announced, and she turned to receive him, asking him to support Gray on the other side. Always Father Chalus was a welcome guest at the Chateau; every house, humble or great, from Dreslin to Sais, was honored when this dim-eyed old priest set foot across the threshold.
The dinner was lively, gay at times, and always cheerful with the excitement lent by the arrival of the army--an arrival verging closely on the dramatic, with the echoes of the cannonade still heavy among the northern forests, the evening sky still ruddy above Ausone, and the August air tainted with the odor of burning.
Through the soft candlelight servants moved silently; the Countess, with the old Cure on her right, devoted herself to him and to Gray.
As though utterly alone in the center of some vast solitude peopled only by themselves, young D'Aures and Peggy Brooks remained conspicuously absorbed in each other and equally oblivious to everything and everybody else on earth.
"How is Ariadne?" inquired Halkett of Philippa,
"Poor dear! I have not seen her since she soiled a whisker in Jim's ultramarine!"
Sister Eila's lowered eyes were lifted; she tried to smile at Halkett.
"I saw Ariadne the other day," she said. "The cat is quite comfortable in the garden of the Golden Peach."
Halkett said lightly:
"Ariadne introduced me to Sister Eila. Do you remember, Sister?"
But Sister Eila had already turned to Warner, and perhaps she did not hear.
Later Warner bent toward Philippa:
"You are enchanting in that filmy turquoise blue affair."
"Isn't it a darling? Peggy would make me wear it. It's hers, of course.... Do I please you?"
"Did you ever do anything else, Philippa?"
She colored, looked up at him confused, and laughed:
"Oh, yes," she said, "I have annoyed you too, sometimes. Do you remember when I ran away from Ausone and told you about it in the meadow by the river? Oh, you were very much annoyed! You need not deny it. I realize now how much annoyed you must have been----"
"Thank God you did what you did," he said under his breath.
"What else could I do?"
"Nothing.... I must have been blind, there in Ausone, not to understand you from the first moment. And I must have been crazy to have gone away and left you there.... When I think of it, it makes me actually ill----"
"Jim! You didn't know."
"I should have known. Any blockhead ought to have understood. That was the time I should have heard the knocking of opportunity! I was deaf. That was the time I should have caught a glimpse of that clean flame burning. I seemed to know it was there--words are cheap!--but my eyes were too dull to perceive a glimmer from it!"
"Jim! You saw a girl with painted lips and cheeks insulting the sunlight. How could you divine----"
"I couldn't; I didn't. I was not keen enough, not fine enough. Yet, that was the opportunity. That was the moment when I should have comprehended you--when I should have stood by you--taken you, held you against everybody, everything---- Good God! I went away, smug as any Pharisee, and with a self-satisfied smile left you on the edge of hell--smiling back at me out of those grey, undaunted eyes----"
"Please! You were wonderful every minute from the beginning--every minute--all through it, Jim----"
"You were! I know what I was. Halkett knows, too. I was not up to the opportunity; I did not measure up to the chance that was offered me; I was not broad enough, fine enough----"
"What are you saying!--When you know how I feel--how I regard you----"
"How can you regard me the way you say you do?"
"How can I help it?" She looked down at her glass, touched the slender stem absently.
"Out of all the world," she said under her breath, "you alone held out a comrade's hand. Does anything else matter? ... Think! You are forgetting. Remember! Picture me where I was--as I was--only yesterday! Look at me now--here, beside you.--here under this roof, among these people--and the taste of their salt still keen in my mouth! Now, do you understand what you have done for me--you alone? Now, do you understand what I--feel--for you?--For you who mean not only life to me, but who have made possible for me that life which follows death?"
Her cheeks flushed; she turned breathlessly toward him.
"I tell you," she whispered, "you have offered me Christ, as surely as He has ever been offered at any communion since the Last Supper! ... That is what you have done for me!"
*CHAPTER XXXIV*
Dinner was ended.
Gray had retired to his room, persuaded by Madame de Moidrey, who bribed him by promising to read to him when he was tired of talking shop to Captain Halkett.
Sister Eila had returned to the east wing, which was convenient to her business as well as to her devotions.
Also, she had need of Father Chalus, who had come all the way from Dreslin on foot. For it was included in the duty of the parish priest to confess both Sister Eila and Sister Felicite; only the sudden perils and exigencies of home duties in Dreslin had detained him since the war broke out.
He was old, lean, deeply worn in the service of the poor--a white-haired man who looked out on the world through kindly blue eyes dimmed by threescore years of smoky candlelight and the fine print of breviaries--a priest devotedly loved in Dreslin, and by the household of the Chateau, and by every inhabitant of the scattered farms composing the little hamlet called Sais.
It appeared that Sister Eila had great need of Father Chalus, for they had gone away together, into the eastern wing of the house. And the Countess, noticing their departure, smiled to herself; for, like everybody else, she was skeptical regarding the reality of any sins that Sister Eila might have to confess.
The young Vicomte d'Aures had taken his leave with all the unspoiled, unembarrassed, and boyish cordiality characteristic of his race; also he departed in a state of mind so perfectly transparent to anybody who cared to notice it that Madame de Moidrey retired to the billiard room after his departure, looking very serious. She became more serious still when Peggy did not appear from the southern terrace, whither she had returned to mention something to Monsieur D'Aures which she had apparently forgotten to say to him in the prolonged ceremony of leavetaking.
When fifteen minutes elapsed and no Peggy appeared, Madame de Moidrey rose from her chair, flushed and unsmiling. But before she had taken a dozen steps toward the southern terrace her younger sister reappeared, walking rapidly. When she caught sight of the Countess advancing, she halted and gazed at her sister rather blankly.
"Well, Peggy?"
"Well?"
"I am not criticising you or that boy, but perhaps a little more reticence--repose of manner--reserve----"
"Ethra," she said in an awed voice, "I am in love with D'Aures."
"What!"
"I am. It came."
"Good heavens, Peggy----"
"I know! I said 'good heavens,' too--I mean I thought it. I don't know what I've been saying this evening----"
"When? Where?"
"Everywhere. Just now, on the terrace----"
"Peggy!"
"What?"
"You didn't say anything that could be----"
"Yes, I did. I think he knows I'm in love with him. I meant him to know!"
"Peggy!"
"Oh, Ethra, I don't remember what I said.... And I think he cares for me--I think we're in love with each other----"
The girl dropped into a chair and stared at her sister.
"I'm bewitched, I think. Ever since I saw him that first time it's been so. I've thought of him all the time.... He says that it was so with him, also----"'
"Oh, heavens, Peggy! Are you mad? Is he? You're acting like a pair of crazy children----"
"We are children. He's only a boy. But I know he's growing into the only man who could ever mean anything to me.... He's writing to his father now. I expect his father will write to you. Isn't it wonderful!"
Ethra de Moidrey gazed at her sister dizzily. The girl sat with her face between her hands looking steadily at the carpet. After a moment she glanced up.
