It seemed to him that he wasn’t Peter Champneys the artist any more, the lover of beauty, the man who was to rebuild the house of his forebears, and for whom a great fortune was waiting over there in America.  He was just a soul in torment, living his bit of hell, hating it with a cold impatience, an incurable anger.  One thing only kept him from losing all hope for mankind:  at times he had piercing, blinding glimpses of the soul of plain men laid bare.  With torment, a humanity larger even than his art was born in him.

At the end of the third year a sniper got him.  He was wounded so badly that at first it was thought a leg would have to be amputated.  But even in that hideous welter of the nations, Peter Champneys wasn’t unknown.  Overburdened and busy as they were, doctors and nurses fought for the life of the American artist.  He came to to hear a poilu in his ward praising the saints that it was his hand and not the painter’s that had gone, and another say philosophically that if one of two had to be blinded, he was glad M. Champneys’s eyes had been saved.

“You will see for us, Monsieur,” said he cheerfully.  And in his heart Peter swore to himself that he would.  He would see for the plain people, the common people of God.

As soon as he was able to be moved, the Hemingways and Emma Campbell came and took him home.  Now, a spirit like his cannot see and hear and know such things as Peter had been experiencing for three years, without showing signs of the conflict.  Peter had changed physically as well as spiritually.  His face had paled to an ivory tone, the features had a cameo sharpness and purity of outline; cheeks and chin were covered with a heavy, jet-black beard,—­as if his countenance were in morning for its lost boyishness.  And out of this thin, quiet, black-haired, black-bearded face looked a pair of golden eyes of an almost intolerable clarity. Don Pedro Mrs. Hemingway called him laughingly, and El Conquistador.  Secretly, she was immensely proud of him.

Peter didn’t recuperate as quickly and completely as had been hoped.  He was weary with an almost hopeless weariness, and Mrs. Hemingway, who watched him with the affection of an older sister, was worried about his condition.  She didn’t like his apathy.  He was as gentle, as considerate, and even more exquisitely sympathetic than of old.  But in all things that concerned himself, he was quietly disinterested.  She and Hemingway had several long talks.  Then Hemingway began to get busy.  Presently he suggested, that it might be a very good idea if Peter should go over to America for a while, and look after those interests to which he hadn’t given a thought since he had put on a uniform.  After all, Hemingway reminded him, his uncle had placed considerable trust in him.  It was only fair now that Chadwick Champneys’s wishes should come in for at least a little attention, wasn’t it?