I'm afraid she's in danger, and anyway
I long for a sight of her face as we long for the sun after a storm."
Captain Colton, with his cigarette poised between his thumb and
forefinger, looked John up and down.
"Good!" he said. "Frank statement of truth--I knew already. Nothing for
you to be ashamed of. If girl beautiful and noble as Mademoiselle Julie
Lannes looked at me as she has looked at you I'd break down walls and
run gantlets to reach her. Go, John, boy. Luck to you in all the things
in which you wish luck."
He held out his hand and John wrung it. And so, the terse captain
himself had a soft heart which he seldom showed!
The convoy started the next morning, John with five soldiers in an
armored automobile bringing up the rear. There were other men on the
flank and in front, and a captain commanded. The day was wintry and
gloomy. Heavy clouds obscured the sky, and the slush was deep in the
roads. A desolate wind moaned through the leafless trees, and afar the
cannon grumbled and groaned.
But neither the somber day nor the melancholy convoy affected John's
spirits. Chastel, a village of light--light for him--would be at the end
of his journey.
Despite mud, slush and snow, traveling was pleasant. The automobile had
made wonderful changes. One could go almost anywhere in it, and its
daring drivers whisked it gaily over fields, through forests and up
hills, which in reality could be called mountains.
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