g retreat
Larry's agony deepened. The reports were vague, but one thing was
clear--the drive was going relentlessly forward, and the French and the
British armies alike were powerless to stay the overwhelming torrent.
The check at the Marne lifted the gloom a bit. But the reports of that
great fight were meagre and as yet no one had been able to estimate the
full significance of that mighty victory for the Allied armies, nor
the part played therein by the gallant and glorious little army that
constituted the British Expeditionary Force.

Blacker days came in late September, when the news arrived of the
disaster to the Aboukir and her sister ships, and a month later of the
destruction of the Good Hope and the Monmouth in the South Pacific
sea fight. On that dreadful morning on his way downtown he purchased
a paper. After the first glance he crushed the paper together till he
reached his office, where he sat with the paper spread out before him on
his desk, staring at the headlines, unable to see, unable to think, able
only to suffer. In the midst of his misery Professor Schaefer passed
through the office on his way to consult with Mr. Wakeham and threw him
a smile of cheery triumph. It was a way Schaefer had these days.
The very sight of him was enough to stir Larry to a kind of frenzied
madness. This morning the German's smile was the filling up of his cup
of misery. He stuffed the paper into his desk, took up his pen and began
to make figures on his pad, gnawing his lips the while.

An hour later Hugo Raeder came in with a message for him. Raeder after
one look at his face took Larry away with him, sick with rage and fear,
in his car, and for an hour and a half drove through the Park at a rate
that defied the traffic regulations, talking the while in quiet, hopeful
tones of the prospects of the Allies, of the marvellous recovery of
the French and British armies on the Marne and of the splendid Russian
victories. He touched lightly upon the recent naval disaster, which
was entirely due to the longer range of the enemy's guns and to a few
extraordinarily lucky shots. The clear, crisp air, the swift motion,
the bright sun, above all the deep, kindly sympathy of this strong,
clear-thinking man beside him, brought back to Larry his courage if not
his cheer. As they were nearly back to the office again, he ventured his
first observation, for throughout the drive he had confined his speech
to monosyllabic answers to Raeder's