Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-07-09
CHAPTER Y
Andenne

Andenne
MADAME JOOS was old for her fifty
1'1 years and heavy wlthal Hers was not
the finer quality OF human clay which
hardens in the fire Of adversely. She be.
came ill., almost seriously i'll. and had to
be nursed back into good health again
during nine long days And long these
days were, the longest Darcy had ever
known. To n man Of his temperament en-
forced inactivity was anathema in any con-
ditons; n gnawing doubt that he was not
Justified in remaining in Nerviers at all did
not improve matters Monsieur GARNER,
the cure, was a frequent though unob-
trusive visitor. He doctored the invalid.
and brought scraps Of accurate information
which filtered through the far-hung screen
of Chlans and the dense lines of German
infantry and guns. Thus the fugitives
knew when and where the British eXped-
tionary force actually landed on the Con-
tinent, They heard Of the gradual sapping
Of the defenses Of Liege, until Fort Loncin
fell and. with 1t, as events were to prove,
the shield which had protected Belgium for
nearly a fortnight The respite did not
avail King Albert and his heroic people
in so far as the occupation and ravaging
Of their beautiful country was concerned
But Calm-eyed historians in years to
come will appraise at its true value the
breathing space, slight though it was thus
secured for France and England.
Dalroy found 1t extraordinarily difficult
TO sift the true from the false in the crop
Of conflicting rumors In the first instance,
German legends had to be discounted.
From tho outset Of the campaign the
Kaisers armies were steadily regaled with
accounts of phenomenal successes else
where, Thus, when four army corps COM
manded now by Won KluCk, were nearly
demoralized by the steadfast valor of Cen
eral Leman and his stalwarts the men
were rallied by being told that the Crown
Prince was smashing his way to Paris
through Nancy and Verdun, Prodigies were
being performed in Poland and the North
Sea, and London was burnt by Zeppelins
almost daily. Nor did Belgian imagination
lag far behind in this contest of unveracity.
British and French troops were marching
to the Meuse by dozen roads the French
raid into Alsace was magnlfied into a great
military feat the British feet had squelched
the German navy by sinking nineteen
battleships the Kaiser, haggard and blear-
eyed, was alternately degrading and shoot
ing generals and issuing flamboyant procla-
nations. Finally. Russia was hattenng
out East Prussia and Galicia with the slow
crunchlng of a steamroler.
out of this maelstrom Of news" a level
headed soldier might, and did extract certain
hard facts The landing Of Sir John
Frenchs force took place exactly at the
time and place and in the numbers Dalroy
himself hau estimated, To throw a small
army into Flanders would have been folly.
Obviously. the British must join hands
with the French before offering battle. For
the rest--though he went out very little, and
alone, as being less risky-he recognized
the hour when the German machine re-
covered its momentum after the first un-
expected collapse. He saw order replace
chaos. lie watched the dragon crawling
ever onward and understood then that no
act of man could save Belgium, Nervicrs
was the best possible site for an observer
who knew how to use his eyes lie assumed
that what was occurring there was going
on with equal precision in LuXemburg and
along the line of the Vosges Mountains
Gradually, too, he reconciled his con-
science TO these days of waiting He be-
lieved now that. his services would be i'm
mensely more useful to the British COM
mander-in-chief in the field If he could
cross the French frontier rather than reach
London and the War Office by way Of the
Belgian coast. This decision lightened his
heart He was beginning to fear that the
welfare OF Irene Beresford was conflicting
! with duty. II was cheering to feel con-
WINGED that the odds and ends of nforma-
| ton picked up in Nerviers might prove OF
inestimabe value to the Allied cause
| For instance Liege was being laid low
| by eleven-inch howitzers, but he had seer
! seventeen-inch howitzers, each In three
| parts, each part drawn by forty horses OF
| toward the southwest There lay Namm
| and France, No need to doubt now where
| the chief theatre of the war would find II.
| habitat The German staff had blunderet
| in its initial strategy, but the defect wa,
| being repaired, All that had gone before
was mere prelude 10 the grim business
which would be transacted beyond the
! Meuse
During that period OF quiescence, certain
minor and personal elements affecting tn,
future passed from nebulous stage to Z
| state of quasi-acceptance There was not
| there could not be, any pronounced love
making between two people so situated al
] Dalroy and Irene Beresford But ewes
| can exchange messages which the lips dar,
| not utter, and these two began to realz,
that they were designed the one for tn,
other by a wise Providence. As that Il
precisely the right sentiment Of young foil
in love romance throve finely In Madam,
Beranger's little auberge In the Rue d,
| Niyers at Verviers. tender glance /
touch Of the hand a lighting of a trouble,
face when the dear one appears-thes,
things are excellent substitutes for IN,
| spoken word,
(CopyrlGht Edward T. clodel
CONTINUED TOMORROW