ry had been demolished and the old bronze bell
split into four pieces had been carefully fitted together by some
loving hand, and stood just inside the doorway.

St. Anthony of Padua had been beheaded, and of St. Roch there remained
but one foot and half his dog. Yet, a delightful sensation of peace
and piety reigned everywhere. From the confessional rose the murmur of
voices, and the improvised altar was literally buried beneath garlands
of roses.

In what had once been a chapel, a soldier now sat writing. His note
books were spread before him on a table, a telephone was at his elbow.

Chalk letters on a piece of broken slate indicate that this is the
"_Bureau de la 22e_."

An old bent and withered woman, leaning on a cane, issued from this
office-chapel as we approached.

"Why that's mother Tesson," exclaimed Nourrigat. "Good evening,
mother; how's your man to-day?"

"Better, sir. Much better, thank you. They've taken very good care of
him at your hospital."

The old couple had absolutely refused to evacuate their house. The
Sous-Prefet, the Prefet, all the authorities had come and insisted, but
to no avail.

"We've lost everything," she would explain. "Our three cows, our
chickens, our pigs. Kill us if you like, but don't force us to leave
home. We worked too hard to earn it!"

And so they had hung on as an oyster clings to its rock. One shell had
split their house in twain, another had flattened out the hayloft. The
old woman lay on her bed crippled with rheumatism, her husband a victim
of gall stones. Their situation was truly most distressing.

But there were the soldiers. Not any special company or
individual--but the soldiers, the big anonymous mass--who took them in
charge and passed them on from one to another.

"We leave father and mother Tesson to your care," was all they said to
the new comers as they departed. But that was sufficient, and so the
old couple were nursed, clothed and fed by those whom one would suppose
had other occupations than looking after the destitute.

[Illustration: A VILLAGE ON THE FRONT]

Three times the house was brought to earth. Three times they rebuilt
it. The last time they even put in a stove so that the old woman would
not have to bend over to reach her hearth. New beds were made and
installed, the garden dug and planted. The old man was operated upon
at the Division Hospital, and when he became convalescent they shared
the contents of their