Next moment there came a resounding crash, easily audible above the tornado raging in the garden, followed by the sound of splintering glass.  Hush Hall rocked.  The Mess waiter appeared.

“A shell has just came in through the dining-room window, sirr,” he informed the Mess President, “and broke three of they new cups!”

“How tiresome!” said the Brigadier.  “Dug-outs, everybody!”

V

There were no casualties, which was rather miraculous.  Late in the afternoon Brigade Headquarters ventured upon another stroll in the garden.  The tumult had ceased, and the setting Sabbath sun glowed peacefully upon the battered countenance of Hush Hall.  The damage was not very extensive, for the house was stoutly built.  Still, two bedrooms, recently occupied, were a wreck of broken glass and splintered plaster, while the gravel outside was littered with lead sheeting and twisted chimney-cans.  The shell which had aroused the indignation of the Mess waiter by entering the dining-room window, had in reality hit the ground directly beneath it.  Six feet higher, and the Brigadier’s order to clear the house would have been entirely superfluous.

The Brigade Major and the Staff Captain surveyed the unruffled surface of the lake—­a haunt of ancient peace in the rays of the setting sun.  Upon the bosom thereof floated a single, majestic, one-eyed swan, performing intricate toilet exercises.  It was Edgar.

“He must have a darned good dug-out somewhere!” observed the Brigade Major enviously.

III

WINTER SPORTS:  VARIOUS

I

Hush Hall having become an even less desirable place of residence than had hitherto been thought possible, Headquarters very sensibly sent for their invaluable friends, Box and Cox, of the Royal Engineers, and requested that they would proceed to make the place proof against shells and weather, forthwith, if not sooner.

Those phlegmatic experts made a thorough investigation of the resources of the establishment, and departed mysteriously, after the fashion of the common plumber of civilisation, into space.  Three days later they returned, accompanied by a horde of acolytes, who, with characteristic contempt for the pathetic appeals upon the notice-boards, proceeded to dump down lumber, sandbags, and corrugated iron roofing in the most exposed portions of the garden.

This done, some set out to shore up the ceilings of the basement with mighty battens of wood, and to convert that region into a nest of cunningly devised bedrooms.  Others reinforced the flooring above with a layer of earth and brick rubble three feet deep.  On the top of all this they relaid not only the original floor, but eke the carpet.

“The only difference from before, sir,” explained Box to the admiring Staff Captain, “is that people will have to walk up three steps to get into the dining-room now, instead of going in on the level.”