`` Do not you lose heart , Dr. dear ; they were just defended by foreigners , '' said Susan superbly . `` Wait you till the Germans come against the British ; there will be a very different story to tell and that you may tie to . '' The doctor shook his head again , but a little less gravely ; perhaps they all shared subconsciously in Susan 's belief that `` the thin grey line '' was unbreakable , even by the victorious rush of Germany 's ready millions . At any rate , when the terrible day came -- the first of many terrible days -- with the news that the British army was driven back they stared at each other in blank dismay . `` It -- it ca n't be true , '' gasped Nan , taking a brief refuge in temporary incredulity . `` I felt that there was to be bad news today , '' said Susan , `` for that cat-creature turned into Mr. Hyde this morning without rhyme or reason for it , and that was no good omen . '' '' ' A broken , a beaten , but not a demoralized , army , ' '' muttered the doctor , from a London dispatch . `` Can it be England 's army of which such a thing is said ? '' `` It will be a long time now before the war is ended , '' said Mrs. Blythe despairingly . Susan 's faith , which had for a moment been temporarily submerged , now reappeared triumphantly . `` Remember , Mrs. Dr. dear , that the British army is not the British navy . Never forget that . And the Russians are on their way , too , though Russians are people I do not know much about and consequently will not tie to . '' `` The Russians will not be in time to save Paris , '' said Walter gloomily . `` Paris is the heart of France -- and the road to it is open . Oh , I wish '' -- he stopped abruptly and went out . After a paralysed day the Ingleside folk found it was possible to `` carry on '' even in the face of ever-darkening bad news . Susan worked fiercely in her kitchen , the doctor went out on his round of visits , Nan and Di returned to their Red Cross activities ; Mrs. Blythe went to Charlottetown to attend a Red Cross Convention ; Rilla after relieving her feelings by a stormy fit of tears in Rainbow Valley and an outburst in her diary , remembered that she had elected to be brave and heroic . And , she thought , it really was heroic to volunteer to drive about the Glen and Four Winds one day , collecting promised Red Cross supplies with Abner Crawford 's old grey horse . One of the Ingleside horses was lame and the doctor needed the other , so there was nothing for it but the Crawford nag , a placid , unhasting , thick-skinned creature with an amiable habit of stopping every few yards to kick a fly off one leg with the foot of the other .
Rilla felt that this , coupled with the fact that the Germans were only fifty miles XXXXX Paris , was hardly to be endured .
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