Sally must have continued staring inside the room for several moments before she slowly became aware that there was a human figure seated in a chair in the shadow near one of the half fallen walls. The figure was that of a young soldier. He was asleep when Sally discovered him and incredibly dirty. His hair was long and matted, hanging thick over his forehead. One arm was wrapped in a soiled bandage. Yet Sally did not feel frightened, only faint and ill for an instant from pity. Coming to their farm house after a few days in Paris, Sally had seen trains filled with wounded soldiers. In Paris she also had noticed blinded and invalided men being led along the streets by their families or friends, yet never so piteous a figure as this. CHAPTER IX A MYSTERY Sally's little cry of astonishment must have awakened the soldier. The terror on his face when he first beheld her took away any thought of fear from the girl. Besides it was all too strange! Why should he, a soldier, be afraid, and of her? And why should he be in hiding in this queer tumble-down old place? For he _was_ in hiding, there was no doubt of this from his furtive manner. Some instinct in Sally, or perhaps the fact that she had seen so much hunger since her arrival in this portion of France, made her immediately take out her little package of bread which Mere 'Toinette had given her and thrust it forward. She was standing framed in the arch made by the two fallen walls, not having moved since the moment of her amazing discovery. The soldier's hunger was greater than his fear, for he almost snatched the food from Sally's hands and, as he ate it she could not bear watching him. There is something dreadful in the sight of a human being ravenously hungry. Afterwards, when he did not speak, Sally found herself making the first remarks, and unconsciously and stupidly, not realizing what she was doing at the moment, she spoke in English. The next instant, to her surprise, the soldier replied in the same tongue, although it seemed to Sally that he spoke with a foreign accent, what the accent was she did not know. Sally had not a great deal of experience, neither was she particularly clever. "What are you doing here?" is what she naturally inquired. The soldier hesitated and placed his hand to his forehead, looking at the girl dazedly. "Why am I hiding here?" he repeated. Then almost childishly he went on: "I am hiding, hiding because no one must find me, else I would be shot at once. I don't know how long I have been here alone. I am very cold." "But I don't understand your reason," Sally argued. "Why don't you find some one to take care of you? You cannot be living here; besides you could not have been here long without food or water or you would have died." "But I have had a little food and water," the soldier replied. "I found a few cans of food in a closet and there is water in one of the rooms."