rothers have of catching up their sisters.

"Yes, he was," she grudged.

"Why did he run away? Didn't he want to be thanked?"

"He did not. Besides----"

"Besides--what?"

"He particularly didn't wish to meet--one of our party. Now, I shan't
say a word more about him. So you needn't ask questions. I'm tired. I
want to go to bed."

With this ultimatum, she bolted into the hotel, leaving the three of us
speechless for a few seconds. I suppose each was wondering, "Am _I_ the
one the doctor didn't want to meet?" Then I remembered my impression of
having known that tall, thin figure long ago, and I was seized with
certainty that the mysterious person had fled from me. At all events, I
was sure Miss O'Farrell wished me to think so by way of being as
aggravating as she possibly could.

"Well, I'm _blessed_!" Puck exploded.

"Are you?" I doubted. And I couldn't resist adding, "I thought your
sister always did what you wanted?"

"In the end she does," he upheld his point. "But--just lately--she's
bewitched! Some saint is needed to remove the ban."

I thought the saint was only too near her hand! Whether that hand would
scratch or strike I couldn't guess; but one gesture was as dangerous as
the other.

What with thinking of my own horridness and other people's, wondering
about the shadow-man, and being roused by the usual early morning air
raid, bed didn't mother me with its wonted calming influence. Excitement
was a tonic for the next day, however; and a bath and coffee braced me
for an expedition with the Prefet's wife and daughters, and the
Becketts. They took us over the two huge _casernes_, turned into homes
of refuge for two thousand people from the invaded towns and villages of
Lorraine: old couples, young women (of course the young men are
fighting), and children. We saw the skilled embroiderers embroidering,
and the unskilled making sandbags for the trenches; we saw the schools;
and the big girls at work upon trousseaux for their future, or happily
cooking in the kitchens. We saw the gardens where the refugees tended
their own growing fruit and vegetables. We saw the church--once a
gymnasium--and an immense cinema theatre, decorated by the ladies of
Nancy, with the Prefet's wife and daughters at their head. On the way
home we dropped into the biggest of Nancy's beautiful shops, to behold
the work of last night's bombs. The whole skylight-roof had been smashed
at dawn; but the glass had been swept away, and