eak, although the wound
is healing nicely. Being a military prisoner, there is no other place
open to him where the man can be as comfortable as here."

"You will be responsible for his person? You will guarantee that he will
not escape?"

Mr. Merrick hesitated.

"Must we promise that?" he inquired.

"Otherwise I shall be obliged to remove him to a government hospital."

"I don't like that. Not that your hospitals are not good enough for a
prisoner, but Elbl happens to be a cousin of our captain, which puts a
different face on the matter. What do you say, Captain Carg? Shall we
guarantee that your cousin will not try to escape?"

"Why should he, sir? He can never rejoin the army, that's certain,"
replied Carg.

"True," said the general, when this was conveyed to him by Beth.
"Nevertheless, he is a prisoner of war, and must not be allowed to
escape to his own people."

Beth answered the Frenchman herself, looking him straight in the face.

"That strikes me as unfair, sir," said she. "The German must henceforth
be a noncombatant. He has been unable, since he was wounded and brought
here, to learn any of your military secrets and at the best he will lie
a helpless invalid for weeks to come. Therefore, instead of making him a
prisoner, it would be more humane to permit him to return to his home
and family in Germany."

The general smiled indulgently.

"It might be more humane, mademoiselle, but unfortunately it is against
the military code. Did I understand that your captain will guarantee the
German's safety?"

"Of course," said Carg. "If he escapes, I will surrender myself in his
place."

"Ah; but we moderns cannot accept Pythias if Damon runs away," laughed
the general. "But, there; it will be simpler to send a parole for him
to sign, when he may be left in your charge until he is sufficiently
recovered to bear the confinement of a prison. Is that satisfactory?"

"Certainly, sir," replied the captain.

Elbl had remained silent during this conversation, appearing not to
understand the French and English spoken. Indeed, since his arrival he
had only spoken the German language, and that mostly in his intercourse
with Carg. But after the French officer had gone away Beth began to
reflect upon this reticence.

"Isn't it queer," she remarked to Uncle John, "that an educated
German--one who has been through college, as Captain Carg says Elbl
has--should be unable to understand either French or English? I ha