e at the half-open door.
Both men sprang to open it for her. As she came into the Salle
d'Honneur, she seemed to bring with her into this room, sacred to dead
heroes of all lands, the sweetness of spring flowers to lay on distant
graves. And as she stepped over the threshold, like a young soldier she
saluted the flag.

"I have just said to Colonel DeLisle that you would approve of my
joining the Legion," Max explained. "Have I told him the truth?"

The girl looked anxiously from one man to the other. She was rather pale
and subdued, as if life pressed hardly even upon her. "You guessed what
I wouldn't let myself say in the train the other day!" she exclaimed.
"But--you _haven't_ joined, have you?"

"Not yet, or I shouldn't be here. The Salle d'Honneur is for common
soldiers only when they're dead, I presume."

"But you could become an officer some day, couldn't he, father?"

"Yes," replied Colonel DeLisle. "Every soldier of the Legion has his
chance. And our friend is French, I think, from what you've told me of
his confidences to you. That gives an extra chance to rise.
France--rightly or wrongly, but like all mothers--favours her own sons.
Besides, he has been a soldier, which puts him at once ahead of the
others."

"I shouldn't trade on that! I'd rather begin on a level with other men,
not ahead of them," Max said hastily. "My object would be not to teach,
but to learn--to cure myself of my faults----"

The colonel drew a deep breath, like a sigh. "We do cure men sometimes,
men far more desperate, men with souls far more sick than yours. There's
that to be said for us."

"His soul isn't sick at all!" Sanda cried out, in defence of her friend.

"Perhaps he thinks it is." Colonel DeLisle looked at Max as he had
looked after those chance words of his about a woman.

"_Do_ you think that, Mr. Doran?" the girl questioned incredulously. "I
shall be disappointed if you do."

"Don't be disappointed. I do not think my soul is sick. I want to see
how strong it can be, and my body, too. But you mustn't call me 'Mr.
Doran' now, please. It isn't my name any more. Colonel DeLisle, may I
ask your daughter to choose a name for a new soldier of the Legion? It
will be the last favour, for I understand perfectly that after I've
joined the regiment, as a private soldier, you can be my friends only at
heart. Socially, all intercourse must end."

"Oh, no, it wouldn't be so," Sanda cried out impulsively, though the old
offic