and men with vacuums!

Julia and the cook helping at loose ends and dinner late!

What did it all mean?

"It means," said the Doctor, "that you are going to be married, my
dear, at ten o'clock in the morning."

"But why, Daddy--" fear showed in her eyes--

"Ask Emily."

"Is he--going away,--Emily?"

"Yes, dear."

"But he mustn't. Derry, do you hear? He is going to France--and he
mustn't--"

Derry took her trembling hands in his firm clasp. "He must go, you
know that, dearest." His touch steadied her.

He leaned down to her and sang:--

"Jeanne D'Arc, Jeanne D'Arc--
Jeanne D'Arc, la victoire est pour vous."

Her head went up. The color came back to her cheeks.

"Of course," she said, and put away childish things that she might
measure up to the stature of her lover's faith in her.

And it was Jean, the Woman, who talked long that night with her father
before he went to France.

CHAPTER XXI

DERRY'S WIFE

It snowed hard the next morning. The General, waking, found the day
nurse in charge. Bronson came in to get him ready for his breakfast.
There was about the old man an air of suppressed excitement. He
hurried a little in his preparations for the General's bath. But
everything was done with exactness, and it was not until the General
was shaved and sitting up in his gorgeous mandarin robe that Bronson
said, "I'd like to go out for an hour or two this morning, if you can
spare me, sir--"

"In this snow? I thought you hated snow. You've always been a perfect
pussy cat about the cold, Bronson."

"Yes, sir, but this is very important, sir."

The General ran his eye over the spruce figure.

"And you are all dressed up. I hope you are not going to be married,
Bronson."

It was an old joke between them. Bronson was a pre-destined bachelor,
and the General knew it.

But he liked to tease him.

"No, sir. I'll be back in time to look after your lunch, sir."

The General had been growing stronger, so that he spent several hours
each day in his chair. When Bronson had gone, he rose and moved
restlessly about the room. The day nurse cautioned him. "The Doctor
doesn't want you to exert yourself, General Drake."

He was always courteous, but none the less he meant to have his own
way. "Don't worry, Miss Martin. I'll take the responsibility."

He shuffled out into the hall. When she would have followed, he waved
her back. "I am perfectly able to go alone," he told her.