THE FRONTIER

CONTENTS


PART I

CHAPTER PAGE

I A HEAD BETWEEN THE BUSHES 3

II THE GIRL WITH THE BARE ARMS 17

III THE VIOLET PAMPHLET 30

IV PHILIPPE AND HIS WIFE 46

V THE SHEET OF NOTE-PAPER 58

VI THE PLASTER STATUE 66

VII EVE TRIUMPHANT 76

VIII THE TRAP 94


PART II

I THE TWO WOMEN 107

II PHILIPPE TELLS A LIE 118

III FATHER AND SON 133

IV THE ENQUIRIES 150

V THE THUNDERCLAP 164

VI THE BUTTE-AUX-LOUPS 177

VII MARTHE ASKS A QUESTION 195

VIII THE STAGES TO CALVARY 208


PART III

I THE ARMED VIGIL 233

II THEY WHO GO TO THEIR DEATH 249

III IDEAS AND FACTS 268

IV THE SACRED SOIL 281




THE FRONTIER




PART I




CHAPTER I

A HEAD BETWEEN THE BUSHES


"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."

"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."

"Fiddle-de-dee!" he exclaimed. "All they've got to do is to put up a
solid post, instead of their old bit of wood." And he added, in a tone
of pride, "The French post, two yards off, doesn't budge, you know!"

"Well, of course not! It's made of cast-iron and cemented into the
stone."