The Red Planet

unt tells me that I ought to love Germans, either I admit the obligation and declare that, as I am a miserable sinner, I have no compunction in breaking it, or, if he is a very sanct

fortune never met him in the flesh. If there are any saintly pacifists in Wellingsford, they keep sedulously out of my way, and they certainly do not haunt my Service Club. And these are the only

er, and her sisters, the daughters of an eminent publicist who seems to have reared his eminence on bones of talk flung at him by Carlisle, George Eliot, Lewes, Monckton Milnes, and is now, doubtless, recording their toe-prints on the banks of Acheron, I never could and never can abide. My angel of a wife saw good in them, and she loved the tiny Randall, of whom I too was fond; so, for her sake, I always treated them with courtesy and kindness. Also for Randall's father's sake. He was a bluff, honest, stock-broking Briton who fancied pigeons and bred greyhounds for coursing, and cared less for literature and art than does the equally honest Mrs. Marigold in my kitchen. But his wife and her sisters led what they called the intellectual life. They regarded it as a heritage from their pompous ass of a father. Of course they were not eighteen-sixty, or even eighteen-eighty. They prided themselves on developing the hereditary tradition of culture to its extreme modern

oke me from an afternoon nap with the information t

t you say

r, and she said: 'Will you be so kind a

a woman. He would have defended my slumbers before a charge of

, thin, nervous woman wearing pince-ne

sed for dis

ch, "I am in such great trouble and I co

he matter

y, without telling any of us good-bye, and he hasn't wri

take any

cked it himself, a thing he has nev

mings loved the domestic brass-band. To leave his home without valedictory m

knew of any reason f

"by the stoppage of The Albemarle Rev

my inability to condole

oom for it in a be-bombed

rd amid the din," she sighed. "And no other papers-except t

ed publicity is as useful as a German Field Marshal o

Randall called the Cause and dribbled awa

rgument with the good lady which might have become exacerbated. Besides, she would only h

grimly. She was silent. I bent forward. "Wouldn'

lean shoulder

patriotic, Major," she said with an unaccustomed little catch in her throat-and for the very first time I found in her something sympathetic-"but," she continued,

tion on earth that's shrieking aloud for intellectual brilliance, it's the British Army! Do you think it's a refuge for fools? Do you think any born imbecile is good enough to outwit the German Headquarters Staff? Do you think the lives of hundreds of his men-and perhaps the fate

s showed on each si

t it in that light b

God, illimitable. But intellect is rare-especially in the ranks of God's own chosen, the British officer. And Randall is of the kind we want as officers. As for a commission,

e back for an artful fellow. But I had underrated h

nd then she burst out disconcertingly: "Do you think

her point of view, was talking of real things also. But how did she come to know about her son's amou

sn't dreadful, but a remarkably sweet and modest young woman,

ense," she s

hy

cau

That a common young person should decline to

e," I smiled, "whether she

hone on my writing-table and

where Phyll

e. I've just left her to come to sp

e and sound. There's no likelihoo

lunacy are you talking? You might as well

respectful, Betty,"

Betty's side of the co

d I, "you can make y

the boy have go

her side and touched her hand. "I think his swift brain has realised at last that all his smart knowledge hasn't brought him

really t

the path of wisdom leads to the Germ

nce for a moment or two. Then she brok

ngland that, in her heart of hearts,

wanting in Christian charity and ordinary understanding; and of how many tangled knots of human motive, impulse, and emotion this war is a

er. I did my best to reassure and comfort her;

uite well

ll having bolted, so to speak, it seemed only n

andall had bolted an

nd his ordinary inflexibility of attitude could only have been ascertained by

noticed that my little bits of local

said I, "don

good

ing on in this town. So I should esteem it a favour if you would tell me at onc

ar," said he gravely, fixing me with his clear eye,

tain

, sir," sa

the mysterious relations between Betty and Boyce and Gedge, what with young Dacre's full exoneration of Boyce, what with young Randall's split with Gedge and his impeccable attitude towards Phyllis, things were c

whole lot!" I exc

by holding a trench against an overwhelming German attack, had achieved glorious renown. The Brigadier-General had specially congratulated the Colonel, and the Colonel had specially complimented

g passionately to the lives of those near and dear to us. But as to those near and dear to others, who are killed-well-we pay them the passing tribute not even of a tear, but only of a sign. They died gloriously for their country. What can we say more? If we-we survivors, not only invalids and women and other stay-at-homes, but also comrades on the field-were

ut from our thoughts Frank Etherington the dead, you must not account it to us as lack of human p

the Victoria Cross. But you mustn't set your heart on it. That would be foolish. Hundre

our V. C?' 'I haven't got it.' 'Then go back at once and get it or I shan't love you.' Poor darling!" Suddenly the laughter in her eyes quickened into something very bright and beautiful. "T

ar, the most wonderful woman

at I am always with you in spirit an

e she gathered me in her brave arms on the open quay at Sout

die, what you'll find

" sa

.S.O. r

d the little bronze cross, my eyes grew

e adventure in Carlisle with the plunge into the Wellingsford Canal. And so did Sir Anthony. They were very brave, however, the little man and Edith, in their dinner-talk with Betty. But I saw that the past fortnight had aged them both by a year or m

that young Randall

her informe

. "Does she know wh

" sa

ell you?" sai

f port to the light

shness, my dear ol

ch of an idiot to see the connection? As soon as the Carlisle business became known, this young scoundrel flies the country. Couldn't I see an inc

in this infernal litt

rything gets known-the unimportant half. The rest

en until we went into the drawing-room, where Betty

o-seater when Betty, who had been lurking

if I came in for a

ear?" said I.

rds we were comfortably

p to-day about

d," s

r-stool. She has an unconscious knack of getting in

a remarkably well-fa

ut her sweet intimacy? If Willie Connor's Territorial regiment, like so many others, had been ordered out to India, and

very gratifying to know," she said. "

at about

l you," s

but it interested me. I have since learned its substantial

ittle Phyllis Gedge, ever since she was a blue-eyed child. My wife had a great deal to do with it. She was a woman of dauntless cour

xistence. They were struggling people in those days, and before her death my wife used to employ her, when she could, for household sewing and whatnot. And tiny Phyllis, in a childless home, became a petted darling. When my great loneliness came upon me, it was a solace to have the little dainty prattling thing to spend an occasional h

nners. Her holidays, poor child, were somewhat dreary, for her father, an anti-social creature, had scarce a friend in the town. Save for here and there an invitation to tea from Betty or myself, she did not cross the thr

r Randall used also to come to my house. Now and then by c

her acquaintance with Randall was not an

tea-table. When Randall went into the office to speak, presumably, about a defective draught in the kitchen range, and really about things quite different, the ethics of the matter depended entirely on Randall's point of view. Their meetings had been contrived by no unmaidenly subterfuge on the part of Phyllis. She knew him to be above her in social station. She kept him off as long as she could. But que voulez-vous? Randall was a very good-looking, brilliant,

om my sight of them in February in Wellings Park. Since then

e matter, I must say that when Betty had ended I took up my little parable and told her of all that Randall ha

That is why I have always hated the statues of Egypt. There