der water.
But he had had the same opinion of the _Neptune_, one of the two
submarines which were out this fine August morning....

An eager "Bonjour, madame," suddenly sounded in Claire de Wissant's ear,
and she turned quickly to find one of the younger officers at her elbow.

"The _Neptune_ is a few minutes late," he said smiling. "I hope your
sister has enjoyed her cruise!" He was looking with admiring and
grateful eyes at the young wife of the Mayor of Falaise, for Claire de
Wissant and her widowed sister, Madeleine Baudoin, were very kind and
hospitable to the officers of the submarine flotilla.

The life of both officers and men who volunteer for this branch of the
service is grim and arduous. And if this is generally true of them all,
it was specially so of those who served under Commander Dupre. By a
tacit agreement with their chief, they took no part in the summer
gaieties of the watering-place which has grown up round the old port of
Falaise, and out of duty hours they would have led dull lives indeed had
it not been for the hospitality shown them by the owners of the Pavillon
de Wissant, and for the welcome which awaited them in the freer, gayer
atmosphere of Madame Baudoin's villa, the Chalet des Dunes.

Madeleine Baudoin was a lively, cheerful woman, younger in nature if not
in years than her beautiful sister, and so she was naturally more
popular with the younger officers. They had felt especially flattered
when Madame Baudoin had allowed herself to be persuaded to go out for a
couple of hours in the _Neptune_; till this morning neither of the
sisters had ever ventured out to sea in a submarine.

And now 'twas true that the _Neptune_ had been out longer than her
commander had said she would be, but no touch of fear brushed Claire de
Wissant; she would have trusted what she held most precious in the
world--her children--to Commander Dupre's care, and a few moments after
her companion had spoken she suddenly saw the little tricolor, for which
her keen eyes had for long swept the sea, bravely riding the waves, and
making straight for the bay.

The flag moving swiftly over the surface of the blue water was a
curious, almost an uncanny sight; one which never failed to fill Claire
with a kind of spiritual exaltation. For the tiny strip of waving colour
was a symbol of the gallantry, of the carelessness of danger, lying
under the dancing, sun-flecked ripples which alone proved that the
tricolor was not some