The Celina Democrat. (Celina, O. [Ohio]) 1895-1921, 1914-02-13

misguided but harmless people: that
! showed il in my face Is certain, for
the Countess looked up at me and
said, smllingly You must not look at
us so aorrowfully Monsieur Scarlet
IL Is we who pity you"
And | replied, Madame, you are
generous" and took my place among
them and ate and drank with them
IN silence, listening to the breeze in
the elms.
turned to DR.. belmont.
with the German armies masslng
behind the forest borders yonder. ii
is unsafe for the government to leave
YOU here at La Trappe, doctor You
are too neutral"
! You mean the government fears
/ treason?" demanded the doctor, grow.
ing red.
Yes" said III you insist"
The Countess had turned to me in
amazement
Treason" she repeated, in an un.
steady voice. is il treason for a
small community 10 live quietly here
in the Alsatian hills. harming nobody,
asking nothing save freedom of
thought? treason Monsieur, the
word has an ugly ring to me. I am
a soldiers daughterl"
There was something touchlngly
illogical in the last words-this young
apostle Of peace naively displaying her
credentials as though the mere word
soldier covered everything.
because ! have learned that the
boundaries of nations are not the
frontiers of human hearts, am |
traitor? Because | know no country
but the world, no speech but the uni
yersal speech that one reads in a
brothers eyes, because | know no bar
riers, no boundaries, no limits to hu.
man brotherhood, am | traitor?"
The young Countess had risen in
her earnestness and had laid one slen-
der, sun-tanned hand upon the table.
"War?" she said. What is this
war to us? The Emperor? What is
he to US? We who have set a watch !
on the worlds outer ramparts, guard |
ing the white banner of universal !
brotherhood! What is this war to
u.s."
DO you mean to say that you care
for your own birthland?" |
demanded, sharply.
''T love the world-all of it-every
inch-and If France is part OF the
world, so is this Prussia that we are
teaching our poor peasants to hate"
Madame said l. the women of
France today think differently. Our
Creator did not make love of country
a trite virtue, but passion, and set
It in our bodies along with our other
passions. If in you it is absent. that
concerns pathology, not the police"
She had turned a trihe pale; now
she sank back into her chair, looking
1t me with those troubled gray eyes
n which Heaven itself had set truth
ind loyalty.
Come" said Bazard, in a rage
'hoked voice, let it end here, Mon
ieur Scarlett. If the government
ends you here as spy and an off,
ial, pray remember that you are not !
lso sent as missionary" ,
My ears began to burn. THAT is
rue" / said, looking at the Countess.
hose face had become expressionless.
| ask your pardon for what | have ;
aid and for what am about
} do"
Thera WAS q oilanoa rTboD g., . To-,
dice, | placed them under formal ar o
est, one by one, touching each lightly h
n the shoulder as prescribed by the h
ode. And when | came to the Count p
IS, she rose, without embarrassment. o
moved my lips and stretched out 4
~ arm, barely touching her. She f,
as my prisoner. ?,
Il must ask you TO prepare for a /,
,urney," | said "You have your Il
Hn horses, of course?" a
Without answering, DR.. belmont n
alked away towards the stables; Pro- n
ssor Tayernier followed him. head NJ
INT. r.
We shall want very little" said the NJ
calmly, to Mademoiselle Ell.
IN. 'Will you pack up what we cl
ed? And you, Monsieur Bazard. will h,
u be good enough to go to Trois-
euilles and hire old Brauers car. cs
ige?" -,
Madame" said I, before | affix
e government seals to the doors of II,
ur house l must ask you to conduct
3 to the roof of the east winp" =.
She bent her head in acquiescence:
followed her up the terrace into a in
one hall where the dark Flemish an
'tures stared back at me and my
urred heels jingled in the silence. sh
}, up, and still up, winding around Sc
Gothic spiral, then through a pas va