Then like a child she clasped her hands together and said , as simply as Jims could have done , `` Please send us better news tomorrow . '' She knelt there a long time , and when she went back to Ingleside she was calm and resolute . The doctor had arrived home , tired but triumphant , little Douglas Haig Marwood having made a safe landing on the shores of time . Gertrude was still pacing restlessly but Mrs. Blythe and Susan had reacted from the shock , and Susan was already planning a new line of defence for the channel ports . `` As long as we can hold them , '' she declared , `` the situation is saved . Paris has really no military significance . '' `` Do n't , '' said Gertrude sharply , as if Susan had run something into her . She thought the old worn phrase ` no military significance ' nothing short of ghastly mockery under the circumstances , and more terrible to endure than the voice of despair would have been . `` I heard up at Marwood 's of the line being broken , '' said the doctor , `` but this story of the Germans shelling Paris seems to be rather incredible . Even if they broke through they were fifty miles from Paris at the nearest point and how could they get their artillery close enough to shell it in so short a time ? Depend upon it , girls , that part of the message ca n't be true . I 'm going to try to try a long-distance call to town myself . '' The doctor was no more successful than Rilla had been , but his point of view cheered them all a little , and helped them through the evening . And at nine o'clock a long-distance message came through at last , that helped them through the night . `` The line broke only in one place , before St. Quentin , '' said the doctor , as he hung up the receiver , `` and the British troops are retreating in good order . That 's not so bad . As for the shells that are falling on Paris , they are coming from a distance of seventy miles -- from some amazing long-range gun the Germans have invented and sprung with the opening offensive . That is all the news to date , and Dr. Holland says it is reliable . '' `` It would have been dreadful news yesterday , '' said Gertrude , `` but compared to what we heard this morning it is almost like good news . But still , '' she added , trying to smile , `` I am afraid I will not sleep much tonight . ''
`` There is one thing XXXXX be thankful for at any rate , Miss Oliver , dear , '' said Susan , `` and that is that Cousin Sophia did not come in today .
as before from if of than through to under upon