Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1914-11-20

"A man playing deaf; a secret tele- |
phone installed on our premises with |
out our consent-this is all know so |
far" said Marta, seated opposite
Lanstron at one end of the circular
seat in the arbor of Mercury.
"Of course, with our 100000
against their 100000, the Grays will
take the offensive" he said. For US,
the defensive. La Tir is in an angle.
1t does not belong in the permanent
tactical line of our defenses. Never
theless, there will be hard fighting
here. The Browns will fall back step
by step, and we mean, with relatively
small cost to ourselves, to make the
Grays pay heavy price for each step
just as heavy as we can"
You need not use euphonious
terms" she said without lifting her
lashes or any movement except a
quick, nervous gesture Of her free
hand. What you mean is that you
will kill as many as possible of the
Grays, isn't is? And if you could kill
FIVE for every man you lost, that would
be splendid, wouldn't it?'
81 don't think of it as splendid. There
is nothing splendid about war;" he OBJ
jected; mot to me, Marta"
'And after you have made them pay
five to one or ten to one in human
lives for the tangent, what then? Go
on! want to look at war face to face,
free Of the will-o' -the-wisp glamour that
draws on soldiers"
1--WE fall back to our first line Of de-
dense, fighting all the time. The Grays
occupy La Tir, which will be out of the
reach of our guns. Your house will
no longer be in danger, and we happen
to know that Westerling means to
make it his headquarters"
Our house Westerling's headquar-
ters!" she repeated. With a start that
brought her up erect, alert, challeng-
ing, her lashes Pickering, she recalled
that Westerling had said at parting
that he should see her IL war came.
This corroborated Lanstron's informa-
ton. One side wanted a spy in the
garden; the other a general in the
house. Was she expected to make a
choice? He had ceased to be Lanny.
He personified war. Westerling per-
sonified war. Il suppose you have
spies under his very nose-in his very
staff offices?" she asked.
and probably he has in ours" said
Lanstron, though we do our best to
prevent it."
What a pretty example Of trust
among civilized nations!" she OK,
claimed. you say that Westerling
who commands the killing on his side
will be in no danger. And, Lanny, are
you a person of such distinction in the
business Of killing that you also will
be out of danger?"
She did not see, as her eyes poured
her hot indignation into his, that his
manned hand was twitchi1g or how
he bit his lips and flushed before he re
Piled:
Each one goes where he is sent
link by link, down from the chief Of
staff Only in this way can you have
that solidarity, that harmonious eff
cheney which means victory"
can autocracy, tyranny over the
lives of all the adult males in countries
that boast of the ballot and self-gov
erning institutional" she put in.
But l hope" he went on, with the
quickening pulse and eager smile tina
used to greet call from Teller to "se
things going" in their cadet days, "tha
may take out squadron of dirigibles
After all this spy business. that would
be to my TASTE"
And If you caught a regiment IL
close formation with a shower O
bombs, that would be positively heav
emily, wouldn't it?" She bent neare
to him, her eyes flaming demand ant
| satire.
mo! War--necessary, horrible, hell
ish!" he replied. Something in he
, seemed to draw out the brutal trutl
she had asked for in place of euphoni
Gus terms.
| when became chief of intelligence
, found that an underground wire ha,
been laid to the castle from the Eight
division headquarters, which will b
7 our general staff headquarters in tim
: of war. The purpose was the same a
now, but abandoned as chimerical. Al
D that was necessary was to install tn
5 instrument, which Teller did l, toe
3 saw the plan as chimerical, yet it wa
4 a chance-the one out of Thousand
t II it should happen to succeed W
: should play with our cards conceale
and theirs on the table.
8 "The rest Of Feller's part you hav
I guessed already" he concluded. "Yo
Q can see how deaf, inoffensive oil
}, gardener would hardly seem to kno,
4 Gray soldier from Brown; how /
9 might no more occur to Westerling I
9 send him away than the family dog O
Q cat; how he might retain his quarter
q In the tower; how he could fudge th
atmosphere Of the staff, whether eIate
4 or depressed, pick up scraps of conye,