Red Fleece

ay were required for it; still, after the first fortnight, they managed to meet often. Peter's ti

he picked up a little book of poems, the leader of which was entitled We Are Free. Peter had read it a few weeks before and given it a quality of appreciation that was seldom called in these days. Just now he noted that the volume was affectionately inscribed to her from the autho

d. "There is a new race of artists in

d," Peter said. "But it is sti

of the new race. They are terrible in their calm. They have passed the emotions. They are free. Other artists in Europe or America repress the emotions. That is but the beginning o

Berthe and Peter were planning an excursion into the country for the next day. She watched him closely as he read, and was sensitive enough

ere. Also one must live just so. Even when I was little, something

der solitary red-lipped girl and what it meant, was rarely clear at this moment. She

said about the country.

ursion to the fields-with such a hol

of that either, B

se, you

btle

our little excursion. One's own wan

war," he remarked and added smilingly, "The fact

e as cold-blooded as y

all my life to

that. "I wonder

erhaps, of that which Am

ha

er

are to be emoti

lder people.

only to be

ly to be honest with you. Even Lonegan

ld dare anything. I know your quiet, deadly kind o

to acknowledge that su

wonder if I should alwa

Peter. It makes me sad t

t shocky-haired fellows who ate and drank disgustingly. But yesterday you made me see that their blood is redder than

ves, should be very good to the peasants-and

n any way that I felt myself

was talking of the Fat

the room to-day-her gray eyes and black hair that made the shadows seem gray; her face that no night could hide from him. Sometimes his glance was held to her lips-as one turns to the firelight. Passion th

a common quarter. She laughed at this, and at her many hours of work each day, for which the return was meager.

the right to be po

le... She was at the window now, her hand lifting the shade. The light of

ere, or must you go t

yet. Yes, let

sliked now. It pinched him cruelly to leave her, and there was small amelioration in anything that the war might bring. She would give him sympathy and zeal and honor for the work and through all the lonely days, but what a lack would be of that s

ied. "Especially that day when

passed on); the crumbling masonry of the retaining walls, gray with the pallor of the years; and afar the curving, dust-swept farmlands, which had mothered a thousand harvests, now mov

came swinging out and started the descent. A moment afterward the roar of a fol

hardly endure it!" she whispered.... They stood with backs against the wall, as the tail

f ants erect; and beyond, on the dim plain, a field battery, just replenished to war footing, was toiling with tired beasts and untried pieces. Mowbr

Peter," she

face looking up to him and

think about myself

ase

where you are, I'll come back from this

m to stay in War

an if you will stay where

hone through the dusk, because his fingers felt the tremor in her ar

nt-eyed, his long features bending to her. She was utter receptivity

rstand. We unde

her heart will stay where you have put it, Peter. That's ou

ay's face laterally under the eyes and

a moment. "We men belong to the ancients. We want a

before you go, come home with me and let me make

s tea-cup was finished, he hap

" she asked quick

" said