The Huns , Dr. dear , will never be brought to brook by notes . And now , '' concluded Susan , tucking Jims in the crook of her gaunt arms and marching downstairs , `` having cried my cry and said my say I shall take a brace , and if I can not look pleasant I will look as pleasant as I can . '' CHAPTER XV UNTIL THE DAY BREAK `` The Germans have recaptured Premysl , '' said Susan despairingly , looking up from her newspaper , `` and now I suppose we will have to begin calling it by that uncivilised name again . Cousin Sophia was in when the mail came and when she heard the news she hove a sigh up from the depths of her stomach , Mrs. Dr. dear , and said , ` Ah yes , and they will get Petrograd next I have no doubt . ' I said to her , ` My knowledge of geography is not so profound as I wish it was but I have an idea that it is quite a walk from Premysl to Petrograd . ' Cousin Sophia sighed again and said , ` The Grand Duke Nicholas is not the man I took him to be . ' ` Do not let him know that , ' said I. ` It might hurt his feelings and he has likely enough to worry him as it is . But you can not cheer Cousin Sophia up , no matter how sarcastic you are , Mrs. Dr. dear . She sighed for the third time and groaned out , ` But the Russians are retreating fast , ' and I said , ` Well , what of it ? They have plenty of room for retreating , have they not ? ' But all the same , Mrs. Dr. dear , though I would never admit it to Cousin Sophia , I do not like the situation on the eastern front . '' Nobody else liked it either ; but all summer the Russian retreat went on -- a long-drawn-out agony . `` I wonder if I shall ever again be able to await the coming of the mail with feelings of composure -- never to speak of pleasure , '' said Gertrude Oliver . `` The thought that haunts me night and day is -- will the Germans smash Russia completely and then hurl their eastern army , flushed with victory , against the western front ? '' `` They will not , Miss Oliver dear , '' said Susan , assuming the role of prophetess . `` In the first place , the Almighty will not allow it , in the second , Grand Duke Nicholas , though he may have been a disappointment to us in some respects , knows how to run away decently and in order , and that is a very useful knowledge when Germans are chasing you . Norman Douglas declares he is just luring them on and killing ten of them to one he loses . But I am of the opinion he can not help himself and is just doing the best he can under the circumstances , the same as the rest of us . So do not go so far afield to borrow trouble , Miss Oliver dear , when there is plenty of it already camping on our very doorstep . '' Walter had gone to Kingsport the first of June .
Nan , Di and Faith had gone also to do Red Cross work XXXXX their vacation .
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