The Monticellonian., 1915-03-04

eHeu NItH d sldTl. TleHls dS ueSpeI- ate as the one around the house be- came features of this period, which was only a warming-up practice for the war demon before the orgy of impending assault on the main line.
 Marta began to realize the immen- sity of the chessboard and of the forces engaged in more than the bare statement of numbers and distances. If first attack on a position failed. the wires from the Galland house re- peated their orders to concentrate more guns and attack again. In the end the Browns always yielded, but grudgingly, calculatingly, never be- ing taken by surprise. The few of them who fell prisoners said, God with us! We shall win in the end!" and answered no questions. Gradually the Gray army began to feel that it was battling with mystery which was fighting under cover, falling back under eover-a tenacious, watchful mystery that sent sprays of death into every finger of flesh that the Grays thrust forward in assault.
 Another position taken. Our ad- vance continues" was the only news that Westerling gave to the army, his people, and the world, which forgot it's sports and murders and divorce cases in following the progress of the first great European war for two gen. erations. He made no mention of the costs; Ais casualty lists were secret The Gray hosts were sweeping for ward as slow, irresistible tide; this by Partow's own admission. He an nounced the loss of position as promptly as the Grays its taking. He published a daily list of casualties so meager in contrast to their own that the Grays thought 1t false; he made known the names Of the killed and wounded to their relatives. Yet the seeming candor of his press bureau included no straw of information of military value to the enemy
 Westerling never went to tea at the Gallands' with the other officers, for it was part of his cultivation of great ness to keep aloof from his subordi- mates. His meetings with Marta hap pened casually when he went out into the garden. Only oIce had he made any reference to the And then" of their interview in the arbor
 q am winning battlts for you!" he had exclaimed with the thing in his eyes which sine loathedt
 bar uas ouniyaInt .oviDo that she had tricked him into sending men to be killed in ord,r to please her. She despised herself for the way he confided in her; Nt she had to go on keeping his confidence, re- turning a tender glance witt one that held out hope. She learntd not to shudder when. he spoke of s loss of "only ten thousand" In order to rally herself when she grew fainthearted to her task, she learned to picture the | lines of his face hard-set wih five against-three brutality, while il com fort he ordered multitudes to death, and, in contrast, to recall the smile of Dellarme, who asked his soldiers to undergo no risk that he would not share And after every success he would remark that he was so much nearer Engadir, that position of the main line of defense whose weakness she had revealed.
 Your Engadir," he came to say Then we shall again profit by you information; that is, unless they have fortified since you received it."
 They haven't. They had already fortifiedl" she thought. She was al ways seeing the mockery of his word. In the light of her own knowledge ant her own part, which never escaped her consciousness. One chamber O
 her mind was acting for him; a sec and chamber was perfectly aware tha
 the other was acting.
 "One position more-the Twin Boul
 der Redoubt, 1t is called" he an
 nouneed at last We shall not pres.
 hard in front We shall drive fl
 masses on either side and storm ths
 Hanks"
 This she was telephoning to Lan
 stron few minutes later and having
 Tn return, all the news of the Browns
 The sheer fascination of knowing wha
 both sides were doing exerted it's spel in keeping her to her part
 They've lost four hundred thousand men now. Lanny," she said
 And we only hundred thousand We're whiting them down." answered
 Lanstron
 ! "Whittling them down What ghastly expression!" she gasped. "Yo, are as bad as Westerling and I an
 worse than either of you! I-I an nounced the four hundred thousand al if they were a score-a score in game fn our favor am helping I Lanny? All my sacrifice isn't fo , nothing?" she asked for the hun , dredth time.
 'Immeasurably. You have saved u l many lives!" he replied
 : And cost them many?" she asked l Yes, Marta, no doubt" he admitted 3 but no more than they would hay, 3 lost in the end. It is only the mount !. ing up of thair casualties that cal
 end the war. Thus the lesson mus } be taught"
 r And can be of most help when tn - attack on the main defense is begun :? 3 Yes"
 !, And when Westerling finds that m 8 information is false about Engadir-- F then"
 3 She had never put the question t
 him in this way before. What woul 3 Westerling do if he found her out f My God, Marta!" he exclaimed. q r. I'd had any sense would have though