ster had reduced her.

More than once within the hour of waiting before she and Jean could slip
away, Sally concluded to abandon her plan and never go near the chateau
again, regardless of results. Then she remembered that she had given her
word and that upon this visit many things were to be explained and
arranged. Having endured so much of struggle, strain and suspicion, one
must not fail in the end. And in spite of Sally's apparent indolence and
softness, failure had no part in her mental make-up.

Yet in being compelled to spend an hour of watching before daring to
make her escape there was a sense of humiliation, almost of degradation.
Nevertheless, what else could she do except wait until Alice was again
absorbed in her teaching and until there was no one about the farm house
or in the yard who would pay any especial attention to her actions?

Sally's final misfortune was in encountering Yvonne as she passed
through the hall downstairs.

It may have been her imagination, due to her conversation with her
sister. Sally felt almost convinced that Yvonne shrank away from her as
she passed, almost as if she were drawing her skirts aside. In return
Sally suffered a wave of indignation and the conviction that she would
never be able to forgive Yvonne. She even had an impulse some day to
avenge the other girl's injustice.

She and Jean did not immediately move off in the direction of the
chateau. She and old Jean took an entirely opposite direction, until in
a field about half a mile away, altering their course, they walked
rapidly toward the chateau. Sally never ceased to gaze behind them every
few moments, fearing they might be followed.

Small wonder that with the unaccustomed walks and the burden of a
serious responsibility Sally Ashton had altered in the past few weeks!

Indeed, her only solace had been the loyal faith and allegiance which
the old French peasant, Jean, had given to her cause and to her.

From the first day, when in halting and broken French she had begged him
to accompany her to the chateau to assist in the care of a wounded
soldier, he had not asked a question or refused his services.

When it was impossible for him to escape Miss Patricia's vigilance at
the hour Sally asked, she always found that he had managed to make the
trip sometime later, during the day or night, and accomplished what was
necessary. What he may have thought of the situation, what questions he
may have asked himself be