If I might make bold to ask you of yourself, how comes it that an English girl is in such a wild spot as this, and amid the soldiers of France ?" "I am not English," answered the maiden, with a smile; "I am French upon my father's side, and my mother was a Scotchwoman.

I have lived in Scotland, where I learned your tongue; and I always spoke it with my mother so long as she lived.

It is as easy to me as my father's French." "And how come you to this wild spot in the heart of these forests, and with warfare all around ?" "I will tell you that, too.

My father has always been a man of action, who has loved travel and adventure.

Since the outbreak of this war in the west he has longed to be in the midst of it.