"Maman! à quel saint prie-t-on--" began Jeanne. Ah! but no, a
recollection flashed across her mind and was reinforced by other
memories. "J'en ai fini avec les saints," she mused, proceeding to
the other end of the room where, full of intention, she busied herself
among some books. Yes, she was now quite disillusioned; that latest
blow, on her recent tenth birthday, had confirmed finally her
long-growing suspicion--prayer to the saints was unavailing.
After a time; "Maman, pour que Papa vienne en permission à qui faut-il
que l'on s'adresse?"
"A son colonel, mon enfant. Mais, ma fi-fille, tu sais...!"
Jeanne, with an air of having something to decide for herself, paid
no heed, but resumed the study of her picture-book description of the
French Army, murmuring: "Un colonel--est-ce que c'est comme un saint,
ou bien est-ce que c'est comme le bon Dieu lui-même?"
Some moments of deep silence spent in intense study ended with a
triumphant: "Bon! j'y suis." That was exactly what she had wished
to discover, the very source of power. "'Les officiers attachés à un
général pour l'exécution et la transmission de ses ordres,'" re-read
Jeanne, and commented, "Et tout cela s'appelle l'_é-tat ma-jor_ du
général. Bon! c'est bien comme je le pensais; c'est le général qui est
à la tête de tout."
Her course was now quite clear. She urged and encouraged herself: "Il
faut absolument que Papa vienne en permission. _Je--le--veux!_" And,
that her intentions might not be thwarted, absolute secrecy must
be maintained, at least in so far as the chapter relating to her
terrestrial tactics was concerned; no one would oppose intercession
_auprès du bon Dieu_.
"Il faut m'adresser à tous les deux en même temps," pronounced Jeanne,
taking a sheet of note-paper. "J'écris directement au général" (since
time and space have to be allowed for in earthly negotiations, the
order must be thus)--"et je prie le bon Dieu en personne." That both
positions should be assailed simultaneously, operations must be
begun in this quarter in the morning, at the hour of the first postal
delivery.
"Point de saints, ni de colonels--maintenant je
comprends--l'_é-tat-ma-jor_ dans l'Armée et les saints au Paradis,
c'est tout comme!"
* * * * *