ed forward.

"It is a joke, eh? Monsieur will permit me also? It is good to laugh."

Brand was equal to the occasion. He took the paper quickly away from
Ughtred.

"Monsieur," he said, removing his cap, "the joke which I pointed out
to my friend has, without doubt, humour, but the journal, as you see,
is for the students. Monsieur will excuse me if I refrain from
offering it to him."

The priest acquiesced with a graver face, and some show of dignity.

"But I fear, monsieur," he said to Brand, "that I am occupying your
seat. You wish to return here, beyond a doubt?"

Brand shook his head.

"By no means, monsieur," he declared. "For the present, at any rate, I
am engaged elsewhere."

They passed along the corridor. Glancing up at the priest, Ughtred was
aware of a slight change in his expression. His brows were contracted,
he was immersed in thought. The change was momentary, however. Soon he
was again chattering away--still always of his own affairs. But there
came a time when he wound up a little speech with a question.

"Is it not so, Monsieur Brand--was not that how your friend called
you?"

Ughtred assented.

"My name is Walter Brand," he answered.

Again there came that faint change in the priest's face.

"Monsieur will not think me curious," he said. "He is perhaps a
soldier?"

Ughtred shook his head.

"I have seen some fighting," he said, "but I am not a soldier. I am a
journalist, if you know what that means--one who writes for the
newspapers. My friend whom you saw speak to me just now is a soldier
by profession."

The priest nodded pleasantly.

"And he, like yourself," he asked, "is he, too, English?"

Ughtred looked around, and lowered his voice.

"He has been in the English army, but he is not an Englishman. He has
had a very unfortunate history. I wish that I could tell it to you,
but the time is too short, and he does not like to be talked about."

The priest's face shone with sympathy.

"Poor fellow!" he murmured.

"Brand!"

They both looked up. Brand himself had entered the _coupe_. There was
a slight frown upon his forehead, and his tone was curt.

"I wish you would explain to the conductor about our tickets," he
said. "He is very stupid, and I cannot make him understand."

Ughtred rose at once and left the _coupe_. Brand bowed gravely to the
priest.

"I trust monsieur will excuse me," he said, "for interrupting what I
am sure must have been a very agreeable conversat