orm a part of the army on their first approach to the
Rhine, believing that the time spent by them in Luxemburg would delay
them too seriously. But, because the German army was slower in
accomplishing its retreat than had been anticipated, the Third American
Army did not draw near the city of Coblenz until the close of the second
week of December.

It was Sunday when they started their victorious march from the French
country, it was Sunday when they entered the valley of the Rhine.

Every acre of the valley appeared to be under cultivation; there were
fields of winter wheat and walled vineyards lining the roads. Beyond,
the hills were covered with dense forests, farther on were the tall
summits of the ancient castles of the Rhine.

Varying impressions the journey into Germany made upon this particular
group of American girls.

"I declare it is unendurable to me to see how prosperous and peaceful
the German county appears in comparison with the French!" Nona Davis
exclaimed, staring out of the window of their Red Cross automobile, as
their car drove through one of the small towns not far from the larger
city.

Not many grown persons were in sight, but children were swarming
everywhere and blonde heads were sticking out of the windows of nearly
all the little houses along the road.

"I don't think the children look nearly as hungry as we had been led to
expect," she added with a bitterness of tone unlike Nona's usual
attitude of mind. But then she had been nursing in Europe for four
years, since the very outbreak of the war and had been an eyewitness to
untold suffering and privation.

"I don't think I would be resentful about the German children, Miss
Davis," Nora Jamison argued unexpectedly, as she rarely took part in any
general conversation among the Red Cross girls.

Nona glanced in her direction. Sitting next Nora was the little French
girl, Louisa, who had been in her care ever since their withdrawal from
France. There had been no one along the way to whom they could entrust
the child.

In the little French girl's expression at the moment there was something
which seemed to Nona to justify her point of view. Her face was white
and her lips trembling as she too gazed out at the little German
village.

At the instant she had beheld a former German soldier walking along one
of the streets. On his head was a round civilian cap and he had on a
pair of civilian trousers, the rest of his costume was an old G