The Winslow mail., 1914-09-19

AT first she could not join on what
she saw to any previous experience.
| She seemed to be in strange world
a sOundless, ruinous world, a world ot
heaped broken things. And it was lit
and somehow this was more familiar
to her mind than any other fact about
| her-by a tlickering, purplish crimson
! light. Then close to her, rising above
confusion of debris, she recognized
! the TrocaderO. 1t was changed; some
| thing had gone from it, but its out
line was unmistakable, 1t stood oul
| against a streaming Whirling uprush
of red lit steam, and with that she re
called Paris and the Seine and the
warm, overcast evening and the beau
| tiful luminous organization of the war
control.
She drew herself a little way up
the slope Of earth on which She lay
and examined her surroundings with
an increasing understanding
The earth on which she was lying
| projected like cape into the river
Quite close to her was brimming
lake of damned up water. from
which these warm rivulets and tor
rents were trickling WispS of vapor
came into circling existence foot or
so from its mirrOr-like surface Near
at hand and reflected exactly in the
water was the upper part Of ia
miliar looking stone pillar On the
| side of her away from the water the
heaped ruins rose steeply in a cOnfus
! ed slope up to glaring crest. Above
and rejecting this glare lowered pill
lowed masses of steam rolling swiftly
upward to the zenith. 1t was from
this crest that the livid glow that lit
the world about her proceeded and
slowly her mind connected this mound
with the vanished buildings of the
war control
''Mais!' she whispered and remained
with staring eyes quite motionless for
/ a time, crouching close to the warm
earth
Then presently this dim. broken hu-
man thing began to look about it again
She began to feel the need of fellow
ship. She wanted to question, wanted
to speak, wanted to relate her expe
rience. And her foot hurt her afro
| ciously. There ought to be an ambu
lance. A little gust of querulous crit
fcisms blew across her mind This
surely was a disaster! Always afteF
a disaster there should be ambuances
and helpers moving about
She crQnpd hpr hnDH rFhopo vuoC
something there. But everything was
so still!
Monsieur" she cried. Her ears
she noted, felt queer, and she began
to suspect that all was not well with
them.
1t was terribly lonely in this chaotic
strangeness, and perhaps this man-ii
it was man, for it was difficult to SET
might for all his stiffness be merely
insensible. He might have been stun
ned.
The leaping glare beyond sent a ray
into his corner and for a moment every
little detail was distinct 1t was Mar
shall Dubois. He was lying against a
huge slab of the war map To it there
SIuCk anu from 1t Cuofe CdlSIoU llttIt
wooden objects, symbols of infantry
and cavalry and guns as they We're
disposed upon the frontier He did moi
seem to be aware of this at his back
he had an effect of inattention, moi
Indifferent attention. but as if be were
thinking
She could not see the eyes beneath
his shaggy brows, but it was evident
he frowned He frowned slightly. H,
had an air of not wanting to be dis
turbed. His face still bore that express
sion Of assured confidence, that con
viction that if things were left to him
France might obey in security
She did not cry out to him again. but
she crept a little nearer A strange
surmise made her eyes dilate With a
painful wrench, she pulled herself ur
so that she could see completely ovel
the intervening Jumps of smashed ~
masonry. Her hand touched some
thing wet, and after one convuIsive
movement she became rigid
(aOptinnn6 in pnVt icC11aO