Christmas good wishes and photographs from the King and Queen and Princess Mary came to assure them that they were not forgotten in England. And if the prayer of Their Majesties, “May God protect you and bring you home safe!” was not to be fulfilled for all of them, they faced what was to come with confidence and eagerness, longing only for more stirring work, and a chance of doing their share of honourable service. It was a pause in the fighting then. The great retreat on Paris and the battle of the Marne were over, and the baffled enemy had made his first attempt to strike out to the westward for the Channel ports. He had been stopped after desperate fighting by the wasted regiments of our little army, and the troops on both sides were settling down into the long trench warfare of the next four years. The British part of the line was woefully short of men, and guns and munitions of all kinds; and to those who knew the real state of affairs the outlook was very dark, for in England there were no trained reserves to send to the Front--plenty of brave men, but no soldiers. Happily the country did not know in what peril its army was, and contingents were coming from India and Canada and Australia and New Zealand, and the confidence of the men at the Front was unfailing, and all hoped that the worst was over. It seems wonderful now that such confidence should have prevailed at the Front, and so little real anxiety in England; but the fighting men were full of the belief that they were man for man so superior to the enemy that he could never break through. Such gloomy faces as there were could be found only in England, not among the fighting men. In spite of snow and mud and suffering of all kinds, there was no gloom with them. [Illustration: Bt. Lieut-Col. E. J. CARTER] [Illustration: Major R. F. COX] [Illustration: Capt. LORD HUNTINGFIELD] [Illustration: Capt. NORMAN NEILL Brig.-Major, 7th British Cavalry Brigade (_Killed at Zwarteleen, 6th November 1914_)] [Illustration: Bt. Major R. S. HAMILTON-GRACE G.S.O. 2nd Hdqrs. Cav. Corps (_Killed in Motor accident at Burgues, 4th August 1915_)] [Illustration: Capt. F. C. COVELL] [Illustration: Bt. Major H. LL. JONES, D.S.O. (_Wounded in France with 4th Dragoon Guards, 28th October 1914_)] CHAPTER VII. 1915 IN FRANCE. The Regiment was now at full strength, officers and men and horses, and keen for a share in the fighting. The horses had suffered to some extent from the change of climate in the past six weeks, but only required a little rest and feeding-up. The men seemed fit and ready for anything.