art of the field so far in advance of the ground on which
his dead comrades lay, that he had been overlooked. He was riddled with
bullets, they say, and his noble face, which I had so often seen beaming
with affection on his young wife, was so torn and disfigured that his
friends could scarcely recognise him. He was still alive when found,
and they knew his voice. When they raised him, he merely exclaimed,
`_At last_, thank God!' with a deep sigh, as if of relief. The words
were few, but they had terrible significance, for they told of a long,
long night of agony and dreadful solitude; but he was not quite alone,"
my sister added, in a low voice, "for he was a Christian. He died
before reaching the tents of his division."

Bella's voice faltered as she said, after a moment's pause, "Dear Elsie
never recovered the shock. She joined her husband in heaven two months
afterwards."

"Truly," said I, "war is a terrible curse."

"I hate it! I detest it!" cried Bella, with a sudden tone and look of
energy, that was all the more impressive because of her natural
character being gentle and retiring.

I saw that Nicholas was surprised and pained. He would fain have
comforted Bella, but knew not what to say, for he had been trained to
talk of "martial glory," and to look on war through the medium of that
halo of false glitter with which it has been surrounded by too many
historians in all ages. The young Russian had hitherto dwelt chiefly on
one aspect of war. He had thought of noble and heroic deeds in defence
of hearth and home, and all that man holds sacred. To fight for his
country was to Nicholas an idea that called up only the thoughts of
devotion, self-sacrifice in a good cause, duty, fidelity, courage,
romance; while, in regard to the minor things of a warrior's life, a
hazy notion of dash, glitter, music, and gaiety floated through his
brain. Of course he was not _ignorant_ of some of the darker shades of
war. History, which told him of many gallant deeds, also recorded
numberless dreadful acts. But these latter he dismissed as being
disagreeable and unavoidable accompaniments of war. He simply accepted
things as he found them, and, not being addicted to very close
reasoning, did not trouble himself much as to the rectitude or wisdom of
war in the abstract. Neither did he distinguish between righteous and
unrighteous war--war of self-defence and war of aggression. Sufficient
for him that he served his c