orry that affairs had taken this turn.

A little breeze began blowing; the scarlet skirt of my turkey-girl
fluttered above her wooden shoes, and on her head the silk bow
quivered like a butterfly on a golden blossom.

"They say when the Lord fashioned the first maid of Alsace half the
angels cried themselves ill with jealousy," said I, looking up at
her.

"And the other half, monsieur?"

"The sterner half started for Alsace in a body. They were controlled
with difficulty, mademoiselle. That is why St. Peter was given a key
to lock them in, not to lock us poor devils out."

After a silence she said, musing: "It is a curious thing, but you
speak as though you had seen better days."

"No," I said, "I have never seen better days. I am slowly rising in
the world. Last year I was a lieutenant; I am now inspector."

"I meant," she said, scornfully, "that you had been well-born--a
gentleman."

"Are gentlemen scarce in the Imperial Military Police?"

"It is not a profession that honors a man."

"Of all people in the world," said I, "the police would be the most
gratified to believe that this violent world needs no police."

"Monsieur, there is another remedy for violence."

"And what may that remedy be, mademoiselle?"

"Non-resistance--absolute non-resistance," said the girl, earnestly,
bending her pretty head toward me.

"That is not human nature," I said, laughing.

"Is the justification of human nature our aim in this world?"

"Nor is it possible for mankind to submit to violence," I added.

"I believe otherwise," she said, gravely.

As we mounted the hill along a sandy road, bordered with pines and
with cool, green thickets of broom and gorse, I looked up at her and
said: "In spite of your theories, mademoiselle, you yourself refused
to accompany me."

"But I did not resist your violence," she replied, smiling.

After a moment's silence I said: "For a disciple of a stern and
colorless creed, you are very human. I am sorry that you believe it
necessary to reform the world."

She said, thoughtfully: "There is nothing joyless in my creed--above
all, nothing stern. If it be fanaticism to desire for all the world
that liberty of thought and speech and deed which I, for one, have
assumed, then I am, perhaps, a fanatic. If it be fanaticism to detest
violence and to deplore all resistance to violence, I am a very
guilty woman, monsieur, and deserve ill of the Emperor's Military
Police."

This she said wi