r men grew dimmer as their
generations receded into history. He in the steel corselet, with high
cheek-bones, ferret, cold eyes, and high, thin nose, its nostrils drawn
back in an aristocratic sniff--camps were evil-smelling in those
days--his casquette resting on his arm, was the progenitor of him with
the Louis XIV. curls; he of the early nineteenth century, with a face
like Marshal Ney's, was the progenitor of him with the mustache and
imperial of the sixties.

It was whispered that the aristocratic sniff had taken to fierce,
no-quarter campaigns in the bitterness of a broken heart. Did the
Grays, then, really owe two of their fairest provinces to the lady who
had jilted him? Had they to thank the clever wife of him of the Louis
XIV. curls, whose intrigues won for her husband command of the army, for
another province? It was whispered, too, that the military glory of him
of the Marshal Ney physiognomy was due to the good fortune of a senile
field-marshal for an opponent. But no matter. These gentlemen had seen
the enemy fly. They had won. Therefore, they were the supermen of sagas
who incarnate a people's valor.

The Browns gratified their own sense of superiority, in turn, by
admiration of the supermen who had vanquished the Gray generals
consigned to the oblivion of the basement. In their staff building, the
first Galland occupied a prominent position in the main hall; while in
the days of Marta's old baron heroes did not have their portraits
painted for want of painters, and the present nations had consisted only
of warring baronies and principalities.

They must have been rather lonely, these immortals in the Gray Valhalla,
as His Excellency the chief of staff was seldom in his office. His
Excellency had years, rank, prestige. The breast of his uniform sagged
with the weight of his decorations. He appeared for the army at great
functions, his picture was in the shop-windows. Hedworth Westerling, the
new vice-chief of staff, was content with this arrangement. His years
would not permit him the supreme honor. This was for a figurehead, while
he had the power.

His appointment to the staff ten years ago had given him the fields he
wanted, the capital itself, for the play of his abilities. His vital
energy, his impressive personality, his gift for courting the influences
that counted, whether man's or woman's, his astute readiness in stooping
to some measures that were in keeping with the times but not with army