104
THE MARNE
she leaned forward. "This is what I want to say. I've come from the French front—pretty near the edge. They're dying there, boys—dying by thousands, now, this minute. . . . But that's not it I know: you want me to cut it out and I'm going to. . . . But this is why I began that way; because it was my first sight of—things of that sort. And I had to tell you———"
She stopped, pale, her pretty mouth twitching.
"What I really wanted to say is this. Since I came to Europe, nearly a year ago, I've got to know the country they're dying for—and I understand why they mean to go on and on dying—if they have to—till there isn't one of them left.
"Boys—I know France now—and she's worth it! Don't you make any mistake!
"I have to laugh now when I
