s to think over, and that we all took it so seriously proved how
very much we had been needing some real thing to do. We got through
dinner very comfortably.

There was little news in the papers that day except enthusiastic
accounts of the reception of the British troops by the French. It was
lovely to see the two races that had met on so many battle
fields--conquered, and been conquered by one another--embracing with
enthusiasm. It was to the credit of all of us that we did not make the
inevitable reflections, but only saw the humor and charm of the thing,
and remembered the fears that had prevented the plans of tunnelling
the channel, only to find them humorous.

The coffee had been placed on the table. The Trained Nurse, as usual,
sat behind the tray, and we each went and took our cup, found a
comfortable seat in the circle under the trees, where a few yellow
lanterns swung in the soft air.

Then the Youngster pulled a white head-band with a huge "Number One"
on it, out of his pocket, placed it on his head after the manner of
the French Conscripts, struck an attitude in the middle of the
circle, drew his chair deftly under him, and with the air of an
experienced monologist began:

* * * * *

Not so very many years ago there was a pretty wedding at Trinity
Church in Boston. It was quite the sort of marriage Bostonians believe
in. The man was a rising lawyer, rather a sceptic on all sorts of
questions, as most of us chaps pride ourselves on being, when we come
out of college. They were married in church to please the Woman. What
odds did it make?

Before they were married they had decided to live outside the city.
She wanted a garden and an old house. He did not care where they lived
so long as they lived together. Very proper of him, too. They spent
the last year of their engaged life, the nicest year of some girls'
lives, I have heard--in hunting the place. What they finally settled
on was an old colonial house with a colonnaded front, and a round
tower at each end, standing back from the road, and approached by a
wide circular drive. It was large, substantial, with great
possibilities, and plenty of ground. It had been unoccupied for many
years, and the place had an evil report, and, at the time when they
first saw it, appeared to deserve it.

He had looked it over. The situation was healthy. It was convenient to
the city. He could make it in his car in less than forty-five mi