tfully, through a mist of tears. She could
not help thinking how wonderful it would have been if there had been no
war and her dear boy could have had this sweet wholesome girl for a
friend.

XIV

The sun was shining gloriously when the two stepped from the trolley at
the little camp station and looked bewildered about them at the swarms of
uniforms and boyish faces, searching for their one. They walked through
the long lane lined with soldiers, held back by the great rope and
guarded by Military Police. Each crowding eager soldier had an air of
expectancy upon him, a silence upon him that showed the realization of
the parting that was soon to be. In many faces deep disappointment was
growing as the expected ones did not arrive. Ruth's throat was filled
with oppression and tears as she looked about and suddenly felt the grip
of war, and realized that all these thousands were bearing this
bitterness of parting, perhaps forever. Death stalking up and down a
battlefield, waiting to take his pick of them! This was the picture that
flashed before her shrinking eyes.

It was almost like a solemn ceremony, this walking down the lane of
silent waiting soldiers, to be claimed by their one. It seemed to bring
the two young people nearer in heart than they had ever been before, when
at the end of the line Cameron met them with a salute, kissed his mother,
and then turned to Ruth and took her hand with an earnest grave look of
deep pleasure in his eyes.

He led them up under the big trees in front of the Hostess' House while
all around were hushed voices, and teary eyes. That first moment of
meeting was the saddest and the quietest of the day with everybody,
except the last parting hour when mute grief sat unchecked upon every
face, and no one stopped to notice if any man were watching, but just
lived out his real heart self, and showed his mother or his sister or his
sweetheart how much he loved and suffered.

That was a day which all the little painted butterflies of temptation
should have been made to witness. There were no painted ladies coming
through the gates that day. This was no time for friendships like that.
Death was calling, and the deep realities of life stood out and demanded
attention.

The whole thing was unlike anything Ruth had ever witnessed before. It
was a new world. It was as if the old conventions which had heretofore
hedged her life were dropped like a garment revealing life as it really
was