ct of
humiliating her, of proving to this woman that I was not as stupid as
she believed me, gave me no pleasure. Rather was I sorry for her,
sorry for the truly pitiable condition in which she must now find
herself.

As we reached the gates of Trecourt, dusty and tired from our moorland
tramp, I turned and looked back. My signal was still set; the white
arm of the semaphore glistened like silver against a brilliant sky of
sapphire. Seaward I could see no sign of the _Fer-de-Lance_.

"The guns I heard at sea must have been fired from the German cruiser
_Augusta_," I suggested to Speed. "She's been hovering off the coast,
catching French merchant craft. I wish to goodness the _Fer-de-Lance_
would come in and give her a drubbing."

"Oh, rubbish!" he said. "What the deuce do we care?"

"It's human to take sides in this war, isn't it?" I insisted.

"Considering the fashion in which France has treated us individually,
it seems to me that we may as well take the German side," he said.

"Are you going to?" I asked.

He hesitated. "Oh, hang it all, no! There's something about France
that holds us poor devils--I don't know what. Barring England, she's
the only human nation in the whole snarling pack. Here's to her--damn
her impudence! If she wants me she can have me--empire, kingdom, or
republic. Vive anything--as long as it's French!"

I was laughing when we entered the court; Jacqueline, her big, furry
cat in her arms, came to the door and greeted Speed with:

"You have been away a very long time, and the thorns are all out of
my arms and my legs, and I have been desiring to see you. Come into
the house and read--shall we?"

Speed turned to me with an explanatory smile. "I've been reading the
'Idyls' aloud to her in English," he said, rather shyly. "She seems
to like them; it's the noble music that attracts her; she can't
understand ten words."

"I can understand nearly twenty," she said, flushing painfully.

Speed, who had no thought of hurting her, colored up, too.

"You don't comprehend, little one," he said, quickly. "It was in
praise, not in blame, that I spoke."

"I knew it--I am silly," she said, with quick tears trembling in her
eyes. "You know I adore you, Speed. Forgive me."

She turned away into the house, saying that she would get the book.

"Look here, Speed," I said, troubled, "Jacqueline is very much like
the traditional maid of romance, which I never believed existed--all
unspoiled, frankly