"Think!" exclaimed the countess, shrugging her shoulders. "A few months ago the thought of one of my boys mounting into the air would have kept me awake all of the night. And I slept like a child!"
"We grow used to almost everything, do we not?" Ruth said.
"War changes our outlook on life. Of course, I am not assured that he safely landed yesterday——"
"I can assure you of that, Madame, myself," said Ruth, without thinking far ahead when she said it.
"You, Mademoiselle?"
"Yes. I saw him—on the ground. He was all right," the girl added, dryly.
"You saw him after he left here!" exclaimed the countess. "I do not understand."
The girl saw she would have to go into particulars. But she did not tell the countess she had taken her trip to the field hospital with the secret agent, M. Lafrane.
"Dear me! That was so like him," the countess observed when she had heard the story of Aunt Abelard and her pullets. "His brother, too——"
"Is Count Allaire like his brother?" Ruth asked quietly.