er each manly breast and flicked
away an imaginary mote from the spotless uniforms. Then she stood
aside and let them go; two by two, "step," "step"--as if in echo to
the first sound which had greeted her own baby ear.

But as they passed out of sight, transgressing military discipline
Gaspar turned; and once more the black eyes and the blue read in each
other's depths the unfathomable love that filled them. Then he was
gone and the younger Gaspar's wife lifted to her own aching bosom the
form that had sunk unconscious at her feet. For the too prescient
heart of the Sun Maid had pierced the future and she knew what would
befall her.

Yet before the gray shadow had quite left her face she rallied and
again smiled into the anxious countenances bending over her.

"Now, my dears, how foolish I was and how wasteful of precious time!
There is so much to be done for them and for ourselves. Gaspar's
business must not suffer, nor Son's (as she always called her eldest),
nor his brothers'. There are new hospitals to equip and nurses to
secure. Alas! there should be a Home made ready, even so soon, for the
widows and orphans of our soldiers. Let us organize into a regular
band of workers; just ourselves, as systematically as your father has
trained us to believe is best. There are six of us, a little army of
supplies and reinforcements. Though, Honoria, my daughter, shall I
count upon you?"

"Surely, Mother darling, though not here. Thanks to the hospital
course you let me enjoy, I can follow my father and brothers to the
front. I am a trained nurse, you know, and some will need me there."

The Sun Maid caught her breath with a little gasp. Then again she
smiled.

"Of course, Honoria; if you wish it. It is only one more to give; yet
you will be in little danger and your father in so much the less
because of your presence. Now let us apportion the other duties and
set about them."

This was quickly done; and to the mother herself remained the
assumption of all monetary affairs in her husband's private office in
their last new home; where, when they had removed to it, she had
inquired:

"Why such a palace, Gaspar, for two plain, simple folk like you and
me? It is big enough for a barrack, and those great empty 'blocks' on
every side remind me of our old days in Mercy's log cabin among the
woods."

"I like it, dear. There will be room in this big house to entertain
guests of every rank and station as they should be enter