promise that France shall rise in beauty from its ruins."



VII. HOME AGAIN

The next day, they were able to move Father Meraut to his own
home. In spite of the excitement and strain, he seemed but little
the worse for his experience, and the happiness of being again
with his family quite offset the effect of his dangerous journey.
Mother Meraut was a famous nurse, and when he was safely
installed in a bed in a corner of the room which was their living-
room and kitchen in one, she was able to give him her best care.
There he lay, following her with his eyes as she made good things
for him to eat or carried on the regular activities of her home.
Pierre and Pierrette sat beside his bed and talked to him, or,
better still, got him to tell them stories of the things that had
happened during his brief stay in the Army. Pierre brought the
little raveled-out dog, with which he was now on the friendliest
terms, to see him, and Madame Coudert also came to call now and
then, bringing a cake or some other dainty to the invalid.

If only the Germans had gone from their trenches on the Aisne,
they and every one else in Rheims would have been quite
comfortable, but alas! this was not to be. The Germans stayed
where they were, and each day sent a new rain of shells upon the
unfortunate City. The inhabitants grew accustomed to it, as one
grows used to thundershowers in April. "Hello! it's beginning to
sprinkle," they would say when a shell burst, spattering mud and
dirt upon the passers-by. Signs appeared upon the street, "Safe