Frederick Britten Austin

“ The ravine was lashed by a tornado of shell and bullets. Caught in its depths, unseen yet precisely imagined from above, men were clambering in an agony of desperation to escape from the death that crashed unceasingly overhead and hailed about them. The white shrapnel-puffs were countless against the dark background of the trees.
For a quarter of an hour the fierce fire continued, was answered in bitter anger from the opposing trenches. Then on both sides it died away. The dead in the valley lay in quiet. ”

“ They were trenches in another landscape from those the memory of which lay like a scar across his soul. At the entrance to the sandbagged, wrecked farmhouse which served him as a home, the soldier courrier was in the act of extracting letters from his wallet. The Colonel took the bundle destined for him. At the sight of the topmost envelope he stopped as though he had seen a ghost. With trembling fingers he tore it open, read:
My hero! I understood! I understood! Oh, didn't you know I understood? How grand you are—more than a man! ”

“ The company fell into fours, doubled out of the courtyard into the darkness to form a screen across the valley behind which the men above could seek safety. From the widening ravine the rifle-fire swelled in intensity, was a continuous loud, reëchoing clatter. Above, sharp, definite reports rang out, were rapidly multiplied. It was the grande garde, firing at will. He glanced to the other wall of the ravine and smiled in grim satisfaction. His orders were being obeyed. The long line of trenches he knew to be there lay in silence and darkness. ”

“ We met only to-day? What if we have only to-day to live?”
She leaned back, away from him, yet held in his grasp.
“Oh, no, no, no! I mustn't listen!” Her bosom filled. Her eyes closed. She crumpled suddenly in his arms.
NEXT morning, mounted upon a fine-bred chestnut mare, a zealous Zouave at the bridle, she waited in the great courtyard behind the Chateau. She had offered her knowledge of the locality to the Colonel, and gladly he had accepted it. He came toward her now on his noble black horse, bending down in grave talk with the chef-de-bataillon walking by his stirrup. ”

“ A German soldier entered and saluted. He brought a message from the trenches above. It explained the little burst of fire, warned him. The officer stood for a moment in thought; then his face lighted up with malicious pleasure. The clever blue eyes saw a sequence of events—the messenger from the Countess, whose sudden scramble over the opposing parapet had drawn the German fire, imploring rescue of the distressed; a French commander, intoxicated with love for a beautiful woman, catching fire at the news, issuing wild orders, seeing only is mistress in imminent danger ”

“ The animal sprang over the low parapet, disappeared.
AN artillery officer came up, reported himself as the observer of the newly arrived battery. He evinced professional interest in the Chateau, seemed eager to make it a target for his guns. The Colonel explained the situation.
All through the multitudinous tasks and responsibilities of the day, his soul yearned out to the lonely woman below. To risk his life in an endeavor to see her would have been more than joy; it would have been the satisfaction of a need of his being—but his life was pledged to France. ”

“ She shook her head.
“No, cher ami, I remain with you.”
“But if we are attacked and have to retire to the other side of the ravine? You cannot remain in the trenches.”
“No. I should remain in my house until you advance again.” She turned an appealing, coquettish glance upon him. “Should I be something to fight for?” She checked his protestations. “No, cher ami, I know all your arguments. They are useless. What did you say last night? What if we have only to-day to live?” ”

“ He found himself in a large, lofty hall, dimly illumined by the candle held by a little, bent old woman. “Par ici, monsieur!” she said.
She led him through salon after salon. In the flickering light he could only just discern that they were richly furnished. At last she stopped and tapped at a closed door.
He was admitted into an apartment of costly and tasteful comfort, lighted with warm, soft radiance from a shaded pedestal-lamp. Pine-logs were burning on the hearth of a high stone fireplace. To one side stood a grand piano. A great dog stretched before the hearth growled surlily. ”

“ Vicious little bursts of rifle-fire at scattered parties or individuals who hazarded themselves for a moment out of cover betokened the vigilance of both sides, and on both sides the many spadefuls of earth tossed into the air showed that the work of strengthening the positions was proceeding feverishly. So far, no artillery had entered into al the fray, but at any moment the first shell from one party or the other might come whining across the gulf. ”

“ We have had many visits from the German cavalry, but no violence. They saw, perhaps, that I was not afraid. Now the people are beginning to creep back to their homes.”
He nodded his head sympathetically, described how the peasants of the Aisne Valley crept back to their farms, continued their field-tasks close behind the trenches, apparently indifferent to the shrapnel and the marmites,
“Yes,” she murmured, gazing thoughtfully into the fire, “amidst so much death, the flame of life burns ever higher—will not, must not be extinguished.” ”

“ The distant artillery roll was nearer. There had been one inexplicable burst of fire some miles away to the right. As night fell, he ordered the new trenches to be manned with the bulk of his force, leaving outposts on the plateau above the ravine and down the valley. One company only he retained near the Chateau.
That evening he sat again in the salon of his hostess. All was quiet. The dog snored in front of the hearth. At his request, the Countess seated herself at the piano, played dreamily with bowed head. ”

“ No longer very young,—she was at least thirty,—her instantly, felt charm came accentuated by a hint of incomplete maturity. Those quiet eyes could still look at life with a questioning scrutiny, receptive of the new experience. ”

“ She stiffened, fending him off. “Without love? If to love is to suffer,” he said, in a voice deeply harmonious, “to love is also to live. And I've waited so long to live—have waited for you, my twin soul! ”

“ She quenched her personality, transfused, she felt, her life-force into him as he worked, an emotionless intellect. With his chefs-de-bataillon he elaborated plans of defense; nothing was left to chance; nothing could be misunderstood. Personally he supervised, corrected, the placing of the trenches, the emplacements of the mitrailleuses. In the afternoon he rode over to the colonel of the adjoining regiment and perfected arrangements. From the brigade commander he obtained promise of a battery in support on the morrow. ”

“ When they returned to the salon, it was to find another German officer waiting. Unseen by her, they exchanged a significant look.
There was a sharp, hissing, ugly rush in the air, followed by a crash in the courtyard.
BY a fortunate chance, the Colonel was near when the panting Marie scrambled over the parapet to the accompaniment of a dozen rifle-bullets. On the point of collapse, the old woman sank into his arms, stammered confused, unintelligible words, gave him the scrap of paper. ”

“ All that day those of the regiment not required for outposts labored hard at the new intrenchments on the high western edge of the ravine—a long, long line of delving men. Ranges were marked out; reserves of ammunition, food and water carried up. ”

“ The regiment on our left extends to the head of the ravine. The orders I received this morning left me to choose on which side of the ravine I should place my trenches. We advance no farther. We are only a screen, but the screen must be maintained, must not be risked. I am obliged to choose the other side of the ravine. We shall almost certainly be attacked. ”