repeating to
herself, "'The peace shall come, so sure as ripples end.' I suppose the
trouble is we have not faith and patience enough to believe that love
and peace must triumph before God's plan can be worked out."

Then Sonya got up. "Come, Nona," she suggested. "Don't you think it
would be more agreeable to take a walk. It is really a lovely afternoon
and I've some things I wish to talk to you about. Besides, I want to see
the woods you girls have told me of."

It was delicious outdoors and Nona and Sonya both forgot their serious
mood of a little while before. One could not be always serious even in
war times in so lovely a land as southern France. No wonder the French
nation is gay; it is their method of showing their gratitude for the
country that gave them birth.

Finally the woman and girl reached the pool in the woods which Nona had
once named "the pool of Melisande," and Eugenia had afterwards called
"the pool of truth." However, since in Maeterlinck's play Melisande was
seeking the light in the depth of the water, perhaps after all the two
titles had almost a similar meaning.

Anyhow, by the pool Sonya chose to make a confession.

"Do you remember, Nona, once long ago, or perhaps it just seems a long
time to me, you and I met a Colonel Dalton, an officer in the British
army whom I had known before. I think I promised then to tell you of my
previous acquaintance with him. I had almost forgotten."

Nona slipped her arm through her companion's.

"Don't tell me if you had rather not. We will both have a great deal to
learn of each other when we go back to the United States to live
together."

Sonya smiled. "There is no use waiting. I have never even told you,
Nona, whether or not I am married. You see, I am often called Madame
Valesky in Russia, but that is only a courtesy title. I have never
married. The fact is, I once lived in England for some time and was
engaged to Colonel Dalton. I think we cared a good deal for each other,
but he was a soldier and we did not approve of each other's views of
life. So by and by our engagement was broken off, which was probably the
best thing for us both."

"Has Colonel Dalton ever married?" Nona inquired inconsequentially.

Her companion shook her head. "Really, I don't know. Suppose we walk on
now to the hut where your little French girl Nicolete once lived."

When the two friends reached the hut, Nona Davis exclaimed in amazement:

"What on earth has happene