I went to my billet at Madame Chéri’s house, from which I had been absent some days. I had the key of the front door now, and let myself into the hall. The dining-room door was open, and I heard the voices of the little French family, laughing, crying, hysterical. Surely hysterical! “_O mon Dieu! O mon petit Toto! Comme tu es grandi! Comme tu es maigre!_” I stood outside the door, understanding the thing that had happened. In the centre of the room stood a tall, gaunt boy in ragged clothes, in the embrace of Madame Chéri, and with one hand clutched by Hélène, and the other by the little Madeleine, her sister. It was Edouard who had come back. He had unloosed a pack from his shoulder, and it lay on the carpet beside him, with a little flag on a broken stick. He was haggard, with high cheek-bones prominent through his white, tightly-drawn skin, and his eyes were sunk in deep sockets. His hair was in a wild mop of black, disordered locks. He stood there, with tears streaming from his eyes, and the only words he said were: “_Maman! O maman! maman!_” I went quietly upstairs, and changed my clothes, which were all muddy. Presently there was a tap at my door, and Hélène stood there, transfigured with joy. She spoke in French. “Edouard has come back! My brother! He travelled on an English lorry.” “Thank God for that,” I said. “What gladness for you all!” “He has grown tall,” said Hélène. She mopped her eyes and laughed and cried at the same time. “Tall as a giant, but oh, so thin! They starved him all the time. He fed only on cabbages. They put him to work digging trenches behind the line--under fire. The brutes! The devils!” Her eyes were lit up by passion at the thought of this cruelty and her brother’s suffering. Then her expression changed to a look of pride. “He says he is glad to have been under fire--like father. He hated it, though, at the time, and said he was frightened! I can’t believe that. Edouard was always brave.” “There’s no courage that takes away the fear of shellfire--as far as I’m concerned,” I told her, but she only laughed and said, “You men make a pose of being afraid.” She spoke of Edouard again, hugging the thought of his return. “If only he were not so thin, and so tired. I find him changed. The poor boy cries at the sight of _maman_--like a baby.” “I don’t wonder,” I said. “I should feel like that if I had been a prisoner of war, and was now home again.” Madame Chéri’s voice called from downstairs: “Hélène! _Dù es-tu? Edouard veut te voir!_” “Edouard wants me,” said Hélène. She seemed rejoiced at the thought that Edouard had missed her, even for this minute. She took my hand and kissed it, as though wishing me to share her joy, and to be part of it; and then ran downstairs. XVIII I went out to the Officers’ Club which had been established in Lille, and found Brand there, and Fortune, and young Clatworthy, who made a place for me at their table.