ce of the countryside which the past two months had wrought.

A number of the peasants' huts near the road had been either entirely or
partly rebuilt. But more important than the actual physical shelter,
Miss Patricia's tractor had plowed its way over many acres which
otherwise must have remained unproductive until, as far as the eye could
see, the fields were now being made ready for planting. Even if German
guns were thundering along the battle line, nevertheless behind that
line the French peasants toiled on with their patience and their eternal
industry.

Today Miss Patricia was thinking of life's contrasts, of the peaceful
scenes through which she was passing which only a few years before had
been an altar of the world's carnage and which might soon be so
sacrificed again.

For it would seem as if the last gigantic struggle of the present war
were now about to take place. Surely humanity would never pass through
this universal Calvary again!

Not yet had Mrs. Burton returned from her journey into southern France!

A few days before, a letter stating that, having accomplished a portion
of their mission, she, Mrs. Bishop and Monsieur Duval were preparing to
start on their homeward way, had arrived for Miss Patricia, although the
letter had been delayed for a week.

A more important witness of their mission had been the actual return to
the French village of a number of the refugees in whose welfare Mrs.
Burton had been especially interested. Among them was the French girl,
Elise.

At this moment Miss Patricia was intending to pay a call to offer her
congratulations to Elise and her grandmother and also to learn if Elise
had seen Mrs. Burton or heard any definite information concerning her.
The visit was not one to which she looked forward with pleasure, but was
due to the fact that Mrs. Burton had asked it of her as a favor. Miss
Patricia's use of the French tongue was so impossible that all
conversation between her and her French neighbors was an agony.
Moreover, her unconsciously fierce manner seemed always to disconcert
the courteous peasants.

Nevertheless, the old men and women and children whom she met on the
road into the village and later upon the village streets bowed to her
with more than ordinary friendliness. If they could not comprehend her
words or her manner, the value of her kindness they could understand.

A child ran out of one of the houses and unexpectedly presented Miss
Patricia with a