La Frontière

Excerpt: "They've done it!"

"What?"

"The German frontier-post ... at the circus of the Butte-aux-Loups."

"What about it?"

"Knocked down."

"Nonsense!"

"See for yourself."

Old Morestal stepped aside. His wife came out of the drawing-room and went and

stood by the telescope, on its tripod, at the end of the terrace.

"I can see nothing," she said, presently.

"Don't you see a tree standing out above the others, with lighter foliage?"

"Yes."

"And, to the right of that tree, a little lower down, an empty space

surrounded by fir-trees?"

"Yes."

"That's the circus of the Butte-aux-Loups and it marks the frontier at that

spot."

[Pg 4]

"Ah, I've got it!... There it is!... You mean on the ground, don't you? Lying

flat on the grass, exactly as if it had been rooted up by last night's

storm...."

"What are you talking about? It has been fairly felled with an axe: you can

see the gash from here."

"So I can ... so I can...."

She stood up and shook her head:

"That makes the third time this year.... It will mean more unpleasantness."