* * * *

"We are going to make a simultaneous advance, we and the French on our
right," he wrote in one place. "Our sector will bear the brunt of it.
The thing has been kept wonderfully quiet, and so far the enemy knows
nothing. All their attention is turned on the 'Clown' Prince's insane
operations against Verdun, and the German General Staff seem to have
forgotten the Somme region altogether, and to underrate the British as
usual. But there will be a big surprise for them.

"My fellows are in fine fettle; in fact, so is the whole army corps in
this region," he continued. "You should see the artillery we have massed
ready for the preliminary bombardment, which promises to be the biggest
in history. I hope Bob will be out in time, but I have no news of
Dennis, and, between ourselves, I am not really sorry."

* * * * *

"By Jove! the governor's let himself go for once in his life," said Bob,
when he had finished the letter. "Half a minute, mater, I'll show you
all these places on the map, and then when the thing comes off you will
be able to follow it," and, going out into the hall where his brother's
kit was ready for the morning and his own simple outfit with it, he
returned with a chart of that sector of the British line where it joined
up with the French.

The ormolu clock on the mantelpiece struck half-past twelve before he
had finished his lecture, which Mrs. Dashwood followed with the keenest
interest, and when at last they got up, the brave little mother clung to
him for a moment, very near to the breaking point.

"You will look after Dennis, Bob, as far as you can?" she said in a
hushed voice. "He is very young and very impetuous, and regards the
whole thing as a glorious game to be played as keenly as he plays
rugger."

"You know I will do all I can, darling," he said, taking her face in his
hands and kissing it, and then she passed out, and he switched off the
lights.

When the drawing-room door closed a figure rose from behind the settee,
where he had crouched all the time, and Anton Van Drissel dusted the
knees of his khaki trousers.

"Ach Himmel!" he muttered in German. "It is worth a stiff back to have
heard what I have heard to-night!"

CHAPTER II

Off to the Front

He stood quite still for fully five minutes to make sure that they had
really gone, and then he stole with catlike tread over the noiseless
carpet, and, opening the