| He Glared Defiantly About Him | [Frontispiece] |
| Aleck Turned it Upside Down and Rightside Up, But Failed to Find the Place | Facing [p. 54] |
| Into the Face of Death He Led the Remnant of His Brave Platoon | " [274] |
| The French Hospital's Greeting to the American Colonel | " [316] |
THE FLAG
CHAPTER I
Snow everywhere; freshly fallen, white and beautiful. It lay unsullied on the village roofs, and, trampled but not yet soiled, in the village streets. The spruce trees on the lawn at Bannerhall were weighted with it, and on the lawn itself it rested, like an ermine blanket, soft and satisfying. Down the steps of the porch that stretched across the front of the mansion, a boy ran, whistling, to the street.
He was slender and wiry, agile and sure-footed. He had barely reached the gate when the front door of the square, stately old brick house was opened and a woman came out on the porch and called to him.
"Pen!"
"Yes, Aunt Millicent." He turned to listen to her.
"Pen, don't forget that your grandfather's going to New York on the five-ten train, and that you are to be at the station to see him off."
"I won't forget, auntie."