who pity you."

And I replied, "Madame, you are generous," and took my place among
them and ate and drank with them in silence, listening to the breeze
in the elms.

Mademoiselle Elven, in her peasant's dress, rested her pretty arm
across her chair and sighed.

"It is all very well not to resist violence," she said, "but it
seems to me that the world is going to run over us some day. Is there
any harm in stepping out of the way, Dr. Delmont?"

The Countess laughed outright.

"Not at all," she said. "But we must not attempt to box the world's
ears as we run. Must we, doctor?"

Turning her lovely, sun-burned face to me, she continued: "Is it not
charming here? The quiet is absolute. It is always still. We are
absurdly contented here; we have no servants, you see, and we all
plough and harrow and sow and reap--not many acres, because we need
little. It is one kind of life, quite harmless and passionless,
monsieur. I have been raking hay this morning. It is so strange that
the Emperor should be troubled by the silence of these quiet
fields--"

The distress in her eyes lasted only a moment; she turned and looked
out across the green meadows, smiling to herself.

"At first when I came here from Paris," she said, "I was at a loss
to know what to do with all this land. I owe much happiness to Dr.
Delmont, who suggested that the estate, except what we needed, might
be loaned free to the people around us. It was an admirable thought;
we have no longer any poor among us--"

She stopped short and gave me a quick glance. "Please understand me,
Monsieur Scarlett. I make no merit of giving what I cannot use. That
would be absurd."

"The world knows, madame, that you have given all you have," I said.

"Then why is your miserable government sending her into exile?" broke
in Monsieur Bazard, harshly.

"I will tell you," I said, surprised at his tone and manner. "The
colony at La Trappe is the head and centre of a party which abhors
war, which refuses resistance, which aims, peacefully perhaps, at
political and social annihilation. In time of peace this colony is not
a menace; in time of war it is worse than a menace, monsieur."

I turned to Dr. Delmont.

"With the German armies massing behind the forest borders yonder, it
is unsafe for the government to leave you here at La Trappe, doctor.
You are _too neutral_."

"You mean that the government fears treason?" demanded the doctor,
growing red.

"Yes," I said, "if y