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Page 97
"Must you go up there in the cold dark?" she said. "It's like leaving
the world. It's dangerous enough in the day, but you have a bright sky
then. In the night it's terrible!"
"Don't you fear for me, little sister," said Lannes. "Why, I like the
night for some reasons. You can slip by your enemies in the dark, and if
you're flying low the cannon don't have half the chance at you. Besides,
I've the air over these regions all mapped and graded now. I know all
the roads and paths, the meeting places of the clouds, points suitable
for ambush, aerial fields, meadows and forests. Oh, it's home up there!
Don't you worry, and do you write, too, to Madame, my mother, in Paris,
that I'm perfectly safe."
Lannes kissed her and went away abruptly. John was sure that an attempt
to hide emotion caused his brusque departure.
"Believe everything he tells you, Mademoiselle Julie," he said. "I've
come to the conclusion that nothing can ever trap your brother. Besides
courage and skill he has luck. The stars always shine for him."
"They're not shining tonight," said Picard, looking up at the dusky sky.
"But I believe, Mr. Scott, that you are right," said Julie.
"He'll certainly come to us at M�nouville tomorrow night," said John,
speaking in English--all the conversation hitherto had been in French,
"and I think we'll have a pleasant ride through the forest in the
morning, Miss Lannes. You'll let me call you Miss Lannes, once or twice,
in my language, won't you? I like to hear the sound of it."
"I've no objection, Mr. Scott," she replied also in English. She did not
blush, but looked directly at him with bright eyes. John was conscious
of something cool and strong. She was very young, she was French, and
she had lived a sheltered life, but he realized once more that human
beings are the same everywhere and that war, the leveler, had broken
down all barriers.
"I've not heard who is to be our commander, Miss Lannes," he continued
in English, "but I'll be here early in the morning. May I wish you happy
dreams and a pleasant awakening, as they say at home?"
"But you have two homes now, France and America."
"That's so, and I'm beginning to love one as much as the other. Any
way, to the re-seeing, Miss Lannes, which I believe is equivalent to _au
revoir_."
He made a very fine bow, one that would have done credit to a trained
old courtier, and withdrew. The fierce and watchful eyes of Suzanne
followed him.
John was up at dawn, as strong and well as he had ever been in his life.
As he was putting on his uniform an orderly arrived with a note from
Lieutenant Hector Legar�, telling him to report at once for duty with a
party that was going to M�nouville.
The start was made quickly. John found that the women with surgical
supplies were traveling in carts. The soldiers, about twenty in number,
walked. John and the doctor walked with them. All the automobiles were
in use carrying troops to the front, but the carts were strong and
comfortable and John did not mind. It ought to be a pleasant trip.
CHAPTER XIII
THE MIDDLE AGES
The little party moved away without attracting notice. In a time of such
prodigious movement the going or coming of a few individuals was a
matter of no concern. The hood that Julie Lannes had drawn over her hair
and face, and her plain brown dress might have been those of a nun. She
too passed before unseeing eyes.
Lieutenant Legar� was a neutral person, arousing no interest in John who
walked by the side of the gigantic Picard, the stalwart Suzanne being in
one of the carts beside Julie. The faint throbbing of the guns, now a
distinct part of nature, came to them from a line many miles away, but
John took no notice of it. He had returned to the world among pleasant
people, and this was one of the finest mornings in early autumn that he
had ever seen.
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