at impartial equipoise whence,
impassive, I can balance my native land against its sins and watch
blind justice deal with it all unconcerned.

"In theory I have done it--oh, it is simple to teach one's soul in
theory! But when my eyes saw my own land blacken and shrivel like a
green leaf in the fire, and when with my own eyes I saw the best, the
noblest, the crown of my country's chivalry fall rolling in the mud of
Morsbronn under the feet of Prussia, every drop of blood in my body
was French--hot and red and French! And it is now; and it will always
be--as it has always been, though I did not understand."

After a silence Buckhurst said: "All that may be, madame, yet not
impair your creed."

"What!" she said, "does not hatred of the stranger impair my
creed?"

"It will die out and give place to reason."

"When? When I attain the lofty, dispassionate level I have never
attained? That will not be while this war endures."

"Who knows?" said Buckhurst, gently.

"I know!" replied the Countess, the pale flames in her cheeks
deepening again.

"And yet," observed Buckhurst, patiently, "you are going to Paradise
to work for the Internationale."

"I shall try to do my work and love France," she said, steadily. "I
cannot believe that one renders the other impossible."

"Yet," said I, "if you teach the nation non-resistance, what would
become of the armies of France?"

"I shall not teach non-resistance until we are at peace," she
said--"until there is not a German soldier left in France. After that
I shall teach acquiescence and personal liberty."

I looked at her very seriously; logic had no dwelling-place within her
tender and unhappy heart.

And what a hunting-ground was that heart for men like Buckhurst! I
could begin to read that mouse-colored gentleman now, to follow, after
a fashion, the intricate policy which his insolent mind was
shaping--shaping in stealthy contempt for me and for this young girl.
Thus far I could divine the thoughts of Mr. Buckhurst, but there were
other matters to account for. Why did he choose to spare my life when
a word would have sent me before the peloton of execution? Why had he
brought to me the fortune in diamonds which he had stolen? Why did he
eat humble-pie before a young girl from whom he and his companions had
wrung the last penny? Why did he desire to go to Morbihan and be
received among the elect in the Breton village of Paradise?

I said, abruptly: "So you are not goi