tually permitted, or even
organised, in the town by daylight would probably develop into an orgy
that night. Not one woman now, but three, required protection. He must
evolve some definite plan which could be carried out during the day,
because the hordes of cavalry pressing toward the Meuse would soon
deplete Joos's mill; and when the place ceased to be of value to the
commissariat the protecting order would almost certainly be revoked.
Moreover, Leontine Joos was young and fairly attractive.

In a word, Dalroy was beginning to understand the psychology of the
German soldier in war-time.

"Let us think of the immediate future," he struck in boldly. "You have a
wife and daughter to safeguard, Monsieur Joos, while I have Mademoiselle
Beresford on my hands. Your mill is on the outskirts of the town. Is
there no village to the west, somewhere out of the direct line, to which
they could be taken for safety?"

"The west!" growled Joos, springing up again, "isn't that where these
savages are going? That is the way to Liege. I asked the officer. He
said they would be in Liege to-night, and in Paris in three weeks."

"Is it true that England has declared war?"

"So they say. But the Prussians laugh. You have no soldiers, they tell
us, and their fleet is nearly as strong as yours. They think they have
caught you napping, and that is why they are coming through Belgium.
Paris first, then the coast, and they've got you. For the love of
Heaven, monsieur, is it true that you have no army?"

Dalroy was stung into putting Britain's case in the best possible light.
"Not only have we an army, every man of which is worth three Germans at
a fair estimate; but if England has come into this war she will not
cease fighting until Prussia grovels in the mud at her feet. How can
you, a Belgian, doubt England's good faith? Hasn't England maintained
your nation in freedom for eighty years?"

"True, true! But the Prussians are sure of victory, and one's heart
aches when one sees them sweep over the land like a pestilence. I
haven't told you one-tenth----"

"Why frighten these ladies needlessly? The gun-fire is bad enough. You
and I are men, Monsieur Joos. We must try and save our women."

The miller was spirited, and the implied taunt struck home.

"It's all very well talking in that way," he cried; "but what's going to
happen to you if a German sees you? _Que diable!_ You look like an
Aachen carriage-cleaner, don't you, with your offic