believe they will, you'll have iron and lead in tons
poured through these walls."

She said:

"When they fall about our ears, Colonel, it will be time to leave them!"

He adored a gallant spirit, and here was one indeed.

"Ma'am, I am disarmed, since you take things in this way."

"It is the only way in which to take them," she said. "There should be no
panic in the hearts of those who wait on the Divine Will. Moreover, I
should wish you to understand in case of siege, and an extra demand upon
the staffs of the Town and Field Hospitals, that we are all--or nearly
all--certificated nurses, and would willingly place our services at your
disposal. Let me hope that you will call upon us without hesitation if the
necessity should arise."

He thanked her, and had taken leave, when he asked with diffidence if he
might be permitted to see the Convent chapel. She consented willingly, and
passed on before, tall and stately, and moving with long, light, even
steps, her flowing serge draperies whispering over the tiled passages. The
chapel was at the end of a long whitewashed corridor upon the airy floor
above. His keen glance took in every feature of the simple, spotless
little sanctuary as the tall, black-clad figure swept noiselessly to the
upper end of the aisle between the rows of rush-seated chairs, and knelt
for an instant in veneration of the Divine Presence hidden in the
Tabernacle.

"Unfortunately situated!" he muttered, standing stiffly by the west door.
Then he glanced right and left, a thumb and finger in the breast-pocket of
his jacket, feeling for a worn little pigskin purse. As he passed out
before her at the motion, and she mechanically dipped her fingers in the
holy-water font, and made the Sign of the Cross before she closed the
chapel door, she saw that he held out to her a five-pound note.

"Ma'am, I am not a Roman Catholic, but ..."

"There is no box for alms," she said, pausing outside the shut door, while
the lay-Sister waited at the passage end, "as this is only a private
chapel."

"I observed that, ma'am. I am, as I have said, a Protestant. But in the
behalf of a dear friend of mine, a British officer, of your own faith,
who I have reason to believe died without benefit of his clergy, perhaps
with this you would arrange that a service should be held in memory of the
dead?"

"I understand," said the Mother-Superior. "You suggest that Holy Mass
should be offered for the repose of your friend's