never want to hear it again----"

"Nor I----"

It was as if they were alone at the table, seeing the things which they
had left behind. What did these people know who had stayed at home? The
words were sacred--not to be sung; to be whispered--over the graves
of--France.




CHAPTER II

STUFFED BIRDS


I

The Country Club was, as Judge Bannister had been the first to declare,
"an excrescence."

Under the old régime, there had been no need for country clubs. The
houses on the great estates had been thrown open for the county families
and their friends. There had been meat and drink for man and beast.

The servant problem had, however, in these latter days, put a curb on
generous impulse. There were no more niggers underfoot, and hospitality
was necessarily curtailed. The people who at the time of the August
Horse Show had once packed great hampers with delicious foods, and who