we get to the Rhine we probably shall be billeted in a house where we can have ordinary comforts. I know I shall have difficulty in accustoming myself to civilized life again, won’t you, J. Elfreda?”
“Not so that you could notice it,” was Miss Briggs’ brief reply. “I – ”
“Hulloa the cellar!” shouted a voice from above.
“Enter,” answered Grace.
A sergeant of infantry crunched in, coughed as he inhaled the smoke, and, snapping to attention, saluted, which both girls returned.
“What is it, Sergeant?” asked Grace.
“Captain Rowland wishes you to report at his headquarters at half past seven o’clock, Madame.”
“Very good, Sergeant. Where are the captain’s headquarters?”
“Four dumps down the street from here, to the right as you go out, down one flight to the cellar.”
“Thank you. Will you have a nip of tea? We still have some left.”
The sergeant accepted a tin-cup of tea, gulped it down, thanked them, and saluting tramped out.
“Queer fellows those doughboys,” murmured Grace. “All gold, but odd josies every one of them.”
“Is that what you are thinking of? Were I in your place I should be thinking of what I am going to say to Captain Rowland this evening. This is the summons I have been waiting for. You understand what this means, do you not, Grace?”
“I presume so. However, I will cross that bridge when I come to it.”
“Humph! That is more than you did to-day,” grumbled J. Elfreda Briggs.
Half an hour later, after a final look into the steel mirror, Grace, accompanied by Miss Briggs, left the cellar and started for Captain Rowland’s headquarters, Grace having first pinned her croix de guerre and Distinguished Service Cross to her breast. She had neglected to wear them in the confusion of the start that morning, though being supposed to wear them at all times when in uniform.
CHAPTER III
THE IRON HAND
CAPTAIN ROWLAND sat at a table that had seen more prosperous days, and the camp chair that he was using creaked ominously. Elfreda Briggs feared that it was about to collapse under him, for the captain was not a slight man by any means.
Neither Overton girl had ever before met Captain Rowland, but they had heard of him as a severe man, cold and not always as just as were most of his fellow officers, so rumor had said.
Mrs. Smythe was seated on a camp stool just back of the captain, and with her was a young woman that Grace had never seen before, though she afterwards learned that the girl was Marie Debussy, a French woman, who, it appeared, was acting as the supervisor’s maid. Except for the lieutenant who had assisted Mrs. Smythe on the occasion of her rescue from the river, there were no others present.
“Are you Mrs. Grace Gray?” demanded the captain, fixing a stern look on Grace Harlowe.
“I am, sir.”
“What right have you to those decorations?” he demanded, pointing an accusing finger at her.
Grace for the instant was staggered. She found herself at a loss to answer.
“Sir?”
He repeated the question, but more sharply accentuated than before.
“With all respect, sir, your question carries with it an inference not at all creditable to me.”
Elfreda Briggs was proud of Grace. She could not have said it better herself, and being a lawyer, Elfreda ordinarily was quite equal to making the retort courteous.
The face of the army officer hardened, but before he could reply, Grace continued.
“The decorations, sir, were awarded to me, one by the commander-in-chief and the other by the French Government.”
“For what?”
“I have frequently asked myself that very same question, sir,” replied the Overton girl.
“This is a military inquiry, Mrs. Gray. You will answer my questions directly. Why were you awarded the decorations you are wearing?”
Grace’s face hardened ever so little, and Elfreda looked for an explosion, but none came.
“If you will pardon me, I must be excused from answering. The records will show why I am wearing them. General Gordon knows something of this matter. May I ask why you are pressing me on this point, sir?”
“You may. It has been said that you were wearing decorations to which you had no right. This is a very serious accusation, Madame.”
Grace caught her breath sharply.
“Then the person who told you that either was misinformed or was telling a malicious falsehood,” she declared with some heat, fixing a steady look on Mrs. Chadsey Smythe.
“You see, Captain! The woman is an impertinent creature,” interjected Mrs. Smythe.
The captain waved a hand for her to be silent.
“I will attend to that phase of the matter later on. You wrecked an automobile to-day and imperilled the lives of your passengers. I am informed that previous to the accident you had been driving recklessly, doing so with the intent to intimidate your passenger, and at the same time endangering other lives. Is this true?”
“I was driving rather fast, I will admit, sir.”
“Why?”
“Mrs. Smythe ordered me to do so, and accused me of being afraid to speed up, so I speeded up. That, however, had nothing to do with the accident. At the time of the crash I was following an officer’s car. A truck crowded me against the bridge railing. Understand, sir, I am not excusing myself. In a way I was not wholly blameless for the accident, because I was driving too fast for the crowded condition of the road. So far as intent was concerned, it is foolish to assume that there could have been anything of that sort. I had my own neck to consider as well as those of my passengers.”
“How fast were you driving?”
“About thirty-five miles an hour, I should say.”
“What experience have you had in driving a car?”
“I have been driving an ambulance on the western front for many months, sir. Previously to coming overseas I had been driving for several years. I consider myself a fairly successful driver.”
“I understand that you have had accidents before this one?”
“Naturally, sir. One cannot drive an ambulance at the front in wartime without having more or less trouble, as you know, and I cannot understand why so much should have been made of this accident by my superior. It was an accident, I was driving fast, but I deny most emphatically that I was careless or that a slower rate of speed would have prevented the collision.”
“Others will be the judge of that, Mrs. Gray,”
