The Red Cross Barge

ossible that he might meet Mademoiselle Rouannès in the town-but it was in vain tha

f the inn, he cleverly led Madame Blanc on to the subject of Dr. Rouannès. She, too, seemed qu

e was an excellent doctor, much beloved in the town. His daughter was thought rather proud-very good to 'les pauvres,' but unwilling to frequent the more well-to-do townsfolk. This, no doubt, because her mother was 'une noble.' Madame Blanc smiled as she did not often smile now, as she recalled the marriage of Dr. Rouannès. He had refused such excellent 'occasions'-such rich marriages when he was young and good-looking! Then, when he was forty-six years of age, and a confirmed bachelor, he had suddenly married Mademoiselle Jeanne de Blignière, the younger of the two daughters of the Coun

e motherless little girl, but Mademoiselle de Blignière had never liked her brother-in-law, so she soon went back to Paris. Then for some time

itary, and he wondered, a little ashamed of the materialism of the unspoken question, if Mademoiselle Rouannès knew anything of the practical side of Fre

came irradiated with a peculiar, tender radiance. Beautiful, culture-filled Weimar! How he longed to show his dear homeland to his 'Geliebte'! Then a less noble feeling, one of fierce exultation filled him. He visioned the great hosts of the Fatherland, his brothers

y pleasant and ermutigend, the defeat and complete encirclement, that is, of the small British Expeditionary Force. The English, so had run the tale, still turned now and again and fought, not without courage, small rearguard actions, but they were not causing any

s to know that within a day and a half's march of Valoise pressed on the relentless march on Paris, he had not really cared.

that indemnity was paid, there was to be an army of occupation, not only in the city, but in the surr

he courtyard, there suddenly rose on the still

ittle quicker. He knew what that sound portended, and he also remembered

à se battre là-bas.' There was an undertone of ho

to-day he had thought her an excellent, homely woman. He could no longer