"You would like to be together," he had said confidentially in Bob's ear. "They are very charming and considerate," said Mrs. Dashwood when Bob told her. "I do not care very much for Belgians, as a rule, but the Van Drissels are exceptionally nice people." Dennis said nothing, but he had his own thoughts. He did not like mademoiselle's bright black eyes, and the lieutenant's perpetual smile had begun to get on his nerves. Mrs. Dashwood had kept up very bravely, though her heart was sad enough in all conscience, and when eleven o'clock struck, and Dennis, who had been living at high pressure, suddenly yawned and said: "Would you mind, mater, if I turned in? I'm as tired as a dog." Mrs. Dashwood made no demur, but signed to her eldest son to remain a little longer. "Come into the drawing-room, Bob," she said, when they heard Dennis close his bedroom door with a bang. "I have a letter from your father which I want you to read. I did not show it to Dennis because he is excited enough already." "Any news, dear?" questioned the captain as they seated themselves on the great padded settee, into which one sank so luxuriously that one never wanted to get out of it again. "Yes, there is news. I suppose he has really told me more than he ought to have done. The date of the Great Push is fixed. But here is the letter; it only came this evening, and you can read it aloud to me." As he did so, Captain Bob's eyebrows lifted, for the brigadier had been remarkably outspoken. * * * * * "We are going to make a simultaneous advance, we and the French on our right," he wrote in one place. "Our sector will bear the brunt of it. The thing has been kept wonderfully quiet, and so far the enemy knows nothing. All their attention is turned on the 'Clown' Prince's insane operations against Verdun, and the German General Staff seem to have forgotten the Somme region altogether, and to underrate the British as usual. But there will be a big surprise for them. "My fellows are in fine fettle; in fact, so is the whole army corps in this region," he continued. "You should see the artillery we have massed ready for the preliminary bombardment, which promises to be the biggest in history. I hope Bob will be out in time, but I have no news of Dennis, and, between ourselves, I am not really sorry." * * * * * "By Jove! the governor's let himself go for once in his life," said Bob, when he had finished the letter. "Half a minute, mater, I'll show you all these places on the map, and then when the thing comes off you will be able to follow it," and, going out into the hall where his brother's kit was ready for the morning and his own simple outfit with it, he returned with a chart of that sector of the British line where it joined up with the French.