be grateful. We shall have but little opportunity to make visitors
comfortable for the next few days."

With this Miss Patricia withdrew.

CHAPTER XIX

THE FIELD OF HONOR

Some little time afterwards, late on a March afternoon, the yard in
front of the farm house on the Aisne, chosen by the Camp Fire girls for
their temporary home in France, was occupied by a number of persons.
They had separated into groups and were either walking about the place
or else were seated in informal attitudes.

On the wooden steps leading directly down from the house two girls moved
aside to allow a woman and a man to pass them.

The woman was Miss Patricia, who appeared taller and more painfully
gaunt than ever, and moreover, was laying down the law upon some subject
in her usual didatic fashion. Yet the man whose arm was slipped through
hers was regarding her with devoted and amused affection. According to
Captain Richard Burton and in the opinion of a number of other persons,
Miss Patricia's good sense and devotion in the past few weeks had saved
his wife's life.

Miss Patricia was discussing with him the question of increasing the
number of cows upon the farm until a dairy could be run upon really
scientific principles. She desired a dairy sufficiently large to supply
milk to the nearby hospitals as well as to the babies in the villages.
Up to the present time she had been largely interested in preserving the
health of the young children who came within her sphere of effort. But
realizing that milk at present was one of the greatest needs in France
for the proper feeding of the wounded soldiers and of the convalescents,
Miss Patricia was arranging for the shipment of a herd of a hundred cows
from the United States. As a matter of fact, she was supposed to be
asking Captain Burton's advice upon the subject, though Miss Patricia's
method of asking advice was merely to announce what she intended doing.

After watching the two older persons disappear toward the barn, which
had been restored until it presented a very comfortable aspect, Peggy
Webster glanced up from her knitting to look earnestly at her companion.

"How long do you intend remaining in France to continue with the
reconstruction work, Vera?" she inquired.

Vera Lagerloff was sewing upon a dress for one of the children in the
neighborhood, since few of them had clothing enough to keep them warm
and comfortable in spite of all that was being done for them in