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<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_1" id="Page_1">[1]</a></span></p>




<h1>THE RED CROSS GIRLS<br />
WITH PERSHING TO<br />
VICTORY</h1>


<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_2" id="Page_2">[2]</a></span></p>
<div class="figcenter" style="width: 248px;">
<img src="https://brian.carnell.com/wiki/_media/etext:m:margaret-vandercook-red-cross-girls-with-pershing-to-victory-frontis.jpg" width="248" height="400" alt="NONA" title="" />
<span class="caption">NONA</span>
</div>




<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_3" id="Page_3">[3]</a></span></p>
<div class='bbox'>
<h1>The Red Cross Girls<br />
With Pershing to Victory</h1>

<h3>By</h3>

<h2>MARGARET VANDERCOOK</h2>

<div class='center'>
Author of "The Ranch Girls Series," "Stories<br />
about Camp Fire Girls Series," etc.<br />
<br /><br /><br />
<b>Illustrated</b><br />
<br /><br /><br />
The John C. Winston Company<br />
Philadelphia<br />
</div>
</div>
<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_4" id="Page_4">[4]</a></span></p>




<div class='copyright'>
Copyright, 1919, by<br />
<span class="smcap">The John C. Winston Co.</span><br />
</div>



<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_5" id="Page_5">[5]</a></span></p>
<h2>CONTENTS</h2>





<div class='center'>
<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" summary="Contents">
<tr><td align='left' colspan='2'><small>CHAPTER</small>&nbsp;</td><td align='right'><small>PAGE</small></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>I.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">With the American Army in France</span>&nbsp;</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_7">7</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>II.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Late Recruit</span>&nbsp;</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_24">24</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>III.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Toward Germany</span>&nbsp;</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_33">33</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>IV.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Luxemburg</span>&nbsp;</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_55">55</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>V.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Shoals</span>&nbsp;</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_66">66</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>VI.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Ride</span>&nbsp;</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_77">77</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>VII.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">An Unexpected Situation</span>&nbsp;</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_85">85</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>VIII.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Countess's Story</span>&nbsp;</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_98">98</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>IX.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'>"<span class="smcap">Life's Little Ironies</span>"&nbsp;</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_110">110</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>X.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Talk with Sonya</span>&nbsp;</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_123">123</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>XI.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Journey to Coblenz</span>&nbsp;</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_132">132</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>XII.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">New Year's Eve in Coblenz</span>&nbsp;</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_142">142</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>XIII.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Walk Along the River Bank</span>&nbsp;</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_158">158</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>XIV.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Major James Hersey</span>&nbsp;</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_169">169</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>XV.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Re-Entrance</span>&nbsp;</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_183">183</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>XVI.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Growing Friendship</span>&nbsp;</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_195">195</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>XVII.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Faith and Unfaith</span>&nbsp;</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_212">212</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>XVIII.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Reconciliation</span>&nbsp;</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_228">228</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>XIX.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">A Warning</span>&nbsp;</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_237">237</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>XX.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">Nora Jamison Explains</span>&nbsp;</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_245">245</a></td></tr>
<tr><td align='right'>XXI.&nbsp;</td><td align='left'><span class="smcap">The Rainbow Bridge</span>&nbsp;</td><td align='right'><a href="#Page_256">256</a></td></tr>
</table></div>

<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_7" id="Page_7">[7]</a></span></p>
<h2>THE RED CROSS GIRLS WITH PERSHING TO VICTORY</h2>



<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<h2>CHAPTER I</h2>

<div class='chaptertitle'><i>With The American Army in France</i><br /><br /></div>


<div class='cap'>IT was a bright winter day near the middle
of November, the ground hard with
frost and light flurries of snow in the
air.</div>

<p>Over the sloping French countryside
thousands of brown tents arose like innumerable,
giant anthills, while curling above
certain portions of the camp were long columns
of smoke. American soldiers were
walking about in a leisurely fashion, or
standing in groups talking. Some of them
were engaged in cleaning their guns or
other military accoutrements, a number
were investigating their kits.</p>

<p>Near one of the camp fires a private was
singing to the accompaniment of a guitar<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_8" id="Page_8">[8]</a></span>
and a banjo played by two other soldiers,
with a fairly large crowd surrounding them.
"Johnny get your gun, we've the Hun on
the run."</p>

<p>Over the entire American camp there
was an atmosphere of relaxation, of cheerfulness,
of duty accomplished. The eleventh
of November having passed, with the
armistice signed, the American soldiers
in France were now awaiting orders either
to return home to the United States or
else to march toward the Rhine. In this
particular neighborhood of Ch&acirc;teau-Thierry
no word had yet been received as
to what units were to form a part of the
American Army of Occupation, only the
information that the units were to be chosen
with regard to their military accomplishments
since their arrival in France.</p>

<p>Therefore the heroes of Ch&acirc;teau-Thierry
and of Belleau Woods, of St. Mihiel and
the Argonne Forest were ready to accept
whatever fate sent, "Home," or "The
Watch on the Rhine."</p>

<p>Finally ending his song the singer stood
up; he was wearing the uniform of the
United States Marines.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_9" id="Page_9">[9]</a></span></p>

<p>"I say don't stop singing, Navara. What's
a fellow to do these days without your
music, when we have no longer the noise
of the cannon or the shrieking of guns overhead
as a substitute?" one of the group
of soldiers exclaimed. "The quiet has
come so suddenly it is almost as hard to
grow accustomed to it, as it once was to
the infernal racket."</p>

<p>"Oh, Navara is expecting visitors, feminine
visitors. Some people have all the
luck!" Corporal Donald Hackett protested,
placing his banjo in its case and also rising.
He spoke with a slight southern drawl and
was a tall, fair young fellow with brilliant
blue eyes, and both his hair and skin burned
red by exposure to the outdoors.</p>

<p>"Come along then and be introduced to
my friends; a good many of you fellows
know them already," Carlo Navara answered.
"Mrs. David Clark and six Red
Cross nurses are motoring over from the
Red Cross hospital. I suppose you have
been told that sometime this afternoon
half a dozen of our men are to be cited.
An officer is coming from headquarters<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_10" id="Page_10">[10]</a></span>
to represent the commander in chief,
and present the medals. In a short time
we must be ready for inspection."</p>

<p>Moving off together the two men formed
an interesting contrast.</p>

<p>Carlo Navara was dark, a little below
medium height, with closely cut brown
hair, rather extraordinary black eyes and
an olive skin.</p>

<p>The young singer, an American of Italian
ancestry, had first fought among the snow-clad
hills of Italy. Wounded, he had
afterwards returned to the United States,
where a great career as a singer was opening
before him. Then the desire to fight in
France had driven him to surrender his
art and to serve as a volunteer in the
marine corps.</p>

<p>A moment later the two men disappeared
within their tents. An automobile with
the Red Cross insignia soon after drove up
before one of the entrances to the camp
where a sentry stood guard.</p>

<p>Stepping out of it first came a woman,
youthful of face and form, but whose
hair was nearly white, her eyes a deep blue<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_11" id="Page_11">[11]</a></span>
with dark lashes, and her color a bright
crimson from her drive through the winter
air.</p>

<p>Following her immediately was a young
girl, scarcely eighteen years old, who was
small and fair with pale blonde hair and
surprisingly dark brown eyes. Both the
woman and girl were wearing heavy fur
coats and small hats fitting close down over
their hair.</p>

<p>The older woman was Mrs. David Clark,
the wife of the chief surgeon of the Red
Cross hospital which was situated a few
miles from the present camp. Before her
marriage which had taken place only a
little more than six months before, she had
been Sonya Valesky.</p>

<p>The young girl was her ward, Bianca
Zoli.</p>

<p>"I declare, Sonya, I don't see how you
always manage to get ahead of the rest of
us considering your advanced years," another
girl exclaimed, jumping out of the
car and slipping on the icy ground until her
older friend caught firm hold of her.</p>

<p>"Do be careful, Nona Davis, and don't<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_12" id="Page_12">[12]</a></span>
be humorous until you are more sure of
your footing," Sonya Clark replied. "You
know when you return to New York I
want Captain Martin to find you as well
as when you said goodby to him. But
have you Dr. Clark's note to the officer of
the day? I'll ask the sentry to take it in
to him."</p>

<p>During the few moments Mrs. Clark
and Nona Davis were talking, four other
Red Cross nurses had followed their example
and were out of the automobile. They
were now walking up and down on the
frozen road for warmth and exercise.</p>

<p>They were Mildred Thornton and her
sister-in-law, Barbara Thornton, who had
been doing Red Cross nursing in nearly
every one of the allied countries since the
outbreak of the great war.</p>

<p>The other two girls had been nursing in
France only for the past year.</p>

<p>One of them, Ruth Carroll, was taller
than any of her companions and strongly
built, with dusky hair and grey eyes set
wide apart. Her companion was tiny, with
bright red hair, rather nondescript features<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_13" id="Page_13">[13]</a></span>
and a few freckles, in spite of the season
of the year, upon her upturned nose. Yet
Theodosia Thompson, with her full red
lips, her small, even white teeth and her
dancing light blue eyes under a fringe of
reddish brown lashes, was by no means
plain.</p>

<p>"Aren't you praying every moment,
Ruth, that we may be ordered forward
with the army of occupation into Germany?
Personally I shall not be happy
until I see with my own eyes the Germans
actually tasting the bitterness of defeat.
I made a vow to myself that I would not
go back home until General Pershing had
led our troops to victory, and a real victory
means the stars and stripes floating over a
portion of the German country."</p>

<p>The older and larger of the two American
girls smiled a slow, gentle smile characteristic
of her personality and in sharp contrast
with her companion's impetuous
speech and action.</p>

<p>Both girls were Kentuckians and had
been friends for years before sailing to do
Red Cross work in France.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_14" id="Page_14">[14]</a></span></p>

<p>"Well, I have never been so fierce a
character as you, Thea! To me victory
will seem assured the day peace is signed.
Yet if any of the divisions of soldiers
among whom we have been nursing are
ordered to Germany, certainly I hope our
Red Cross unit may accompany them. I
presume not nearly so many nurses will be
needed as in the fighting days, however."</p>

<p>In the interval, while this conversation
was taking place, Mrs. Clark's note had
been dispatched to the officer of the day.
At this moment Major Hersey appeared.</p>

<p>Major James Hersey, confidentially
known among his battalion as "Jimmie"
had the distinction of being one of the
youngest majors in the United States
army, and to his own regret was not only
less than twenty-five years old but looked
even younger.</p>

<p>"I am so awfully glad to see you, Mrs.
Clark," he began, blushing furiously without
apparent reason, as he spoke, which was
an uncomfortable habit.</p>

<p>"I want you to congratulate me. We
have just had a telephone message from<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_15" id="Page_15">[15]</a></span>
headquarters saying that we are to form a
part of the first big unit of the American
army occupational force. We are to begin
to move toward Germany at half past
five o'clock Sunday morning, and I am
tremendously pleased. Our orders are to
march two days and rest three and our
troops will move on a front of fifty miles
for two weeks when we expect to reach
the Rhine. But forgive my enthusiasm,
Mrs. Clark. You are the first person to
whom I have told the good news. Even
the men don't know yet. You'll say
hurrah with me." Major Hersey ended
boyishly, forgetting military etiquette in
his enthusiasm. He had a round, youthful
face, curly light brown hair and eyes of
nearly the same shade.</p>

<p>Later, when Sonya had offered her congratulations,
insisting, however, that she
was not surprised by the news if military
accomplishment had been considered, she
and Major Hersey led the way into the
American camp in the neighborhood of
Ch&acirc;teau-Thierry followed by the six American
girls.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_16" id="Page_16">[16]</a></span></p>

<p>Half an hour afterwards the same information
had been disseminated throughout
the camp. Lieutenant-Colonel Townsend
had also arrived to award the citations
and the Distinguished Service Crosses to
the officers and soldiers who had merited
the distinction.</p>

<p>Never were Sonya Clark and the six
Red Cross nurses to forget this, their
last picture of an American camp in France
before the great movement of the victorious
army toward the Rhine.</p>

<p>The clouds of the earlier afternoon had
grown heavier and more snow was falling
in larger flakes, so that the earth was
covered with a thin white carpet.</p>

<p>A cold wind was blowing across the winter
fields.</p>

<p>The American soldiers stood in long,
even lines, erect, rugged and efficient.</p>

<p>Sonya and her group of Red Cross nurses
managed to protect themselves a little
from the cold by standing behind a group
of officers and near one of the officer's
tents, not far from Lieutenant-Colonel
Townsend and Major Hersey. They were<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_17" id="Page_17">[17]</a></span>
the only women in the camp at the present
time.</p>

<p>Therefore the only feminine applause
emanated from them when the first young
officer came forward to receive his citation
from the hands of the Commanding Officer.</p>

<p>First Lieutenant Leon De Funiak was
a young French officer who had been
attached to a division of the United States
Marines.</p>

<p>In the name of the President he was
presented with the Distinguished Service
Cross for extraordinary heroism in action
near St. Mihiel on September 12 when
with excellent courage he had captured a
machine gun which he turned upon an
adjoining trench forcing the enemy occupants
to surrender.</p>

<p>The second award was made to Corporal
Donald Hackett, a friend of Carlo Navara's
and an acquaintance of the Red Cross
girls. Later, two citations were given to
privates with whom they had no acquaintance.</p>

<p>The afternoon sun was disappearing and
the wind growing colder.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_18" id="Page_18">[18]</a></span></p>

<p>Bianca Zoli, who stood between her
guardian and Nona Davis, shivered.</p>

<p>Unconscious of what she was doing she
also gave a little sigh due to fatigue and
cold. Younger than her companions she
was also more fragile in appearance.</p>

<p>Her guardian now turned toward her.</p>

<p>"I am sorry, Bianca, you are worn out.
I am afraid you should not have come with
us. Yet it is impossible to leave now until
the citations are over."</p>

<p>At this same moment, another name
was being announced by the Commanding
Officer. Instantly Bianca Zoli's manner
and appearance changed. Her cheeks became
a warm crimson, her dark eyes
glowed, her lips even trembled slightly
although she held the lower one firm with
her small white teeth.</p>

<p>The name called was Private Carlo
Navara. The Distinguished Service Cross
was his award. Early in the previous
July he had crossed as a spy into the
enemy's lines and there secured information
which had proved of extraordinary value
to the commander in chief of the allied
armies.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_19" id="Page_19">[19]</a></span></p>

<p>Half an hour later, returning to the Red
Cross hospital, which lay a few miles
behind the American camp, Bianca Zoli
sat wrapped in a rug for further warmth,
yet her expression had continued radiant.
With her pale fair hair blowing from underneath
her fur cap, her eyes deep and dark
and happy underneath a little fringe of
snow which had fallen and clung to her
long lashes, she looked oddly pretty.</p>

<p>"Do you think, Sonya, that Carlo knew
he was to be cited this afternoon?" she
demanded. "He has always said that his
own share in the expedition into the German
lines last summer was a failure and that the
success was entirely due Lieutenant Wainwright,
Mildred Thornton's fianc&eacute;. Has
Carlo spoken to you on the subject recently?
Had he been told he was to be decorated?"</p>

<p>A little absently the older woman nodded,
at the present moment she was thinking
of other matters even more absorbing
than Carlo Navara's recent honor, proud
as she felt of her friend.</p>

<p>Earlier in the day her husband, Dr.
David Clark, the surgeon in charge of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_20" id="Page_20">[20]</a></span>
the Red Cross hospital, had confided in
her that a unit of his nurses and physicians
were to follow the American army to the
frontiers of Germany. Dr. Clark had also
asked his wife's advice with regard to the
nurses who had best accompany them.
Therefore, all the afternoon, with her
subconscious mind Sonya had been endeavoring
to meet and unravel this personal
problem, at the same time she shared in
the interest of the military ceremony to
which she had been a witness.</p>

<p>"Yes, I believe Carlo did know what he
might expect Bianca," she answered finally.
"At least he told me a day or so
ago he had received some word that there
was to be some public recognition of his
deed. I suppose Carlo did not like to
discuss the matter generally as he is a more
modest soldier than he is an artist."</p>

<p>The younger girl flushed.</p>

<p>"Just the same I should think Carlo
might also have confided in me. I wonder
if he will ever realize that you are not the
best friend he has in the world, even if he
does continue to think so."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_21" id="Page_21">[21]</a></span></p>

<p>The older woman smiled without replying.</p>

<p>Sonya knew that some day Bianca would
recover from her childish jealous relation
between herself and Carlo Navara.</p>

<p>Of late Carlo, himself, had grown entirely
sensible, appreciating the fact that her
marriage had ended forever his mistaken
romantic attachment for a woman so much
older than himself, to whose kindness in
caring for him during his illness in Italy he
believed he owed so much.</p>

<p>Moreover, Sonya's attention was soon
engaged in watching the storm. During
the past two hours the snow fall had been
growing heavier until now it lay thick
along the road and was blown into drifts
by the roadside. The wind was swirling in
fierce gusts and forming whirlwinds of
snow in unexpected places. Save for the
lights in their motor car the way was nearly
dark, as daylight had almost completely
disappeared.</p>

<p>Cautiously, although driving his car at
a fairly rapid pace, the chauffeur was
speeding toward the hospital. Then suddenly
without warning he stopped his car<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_22" id="Page_22">[22]</a></span>
so abruptly that its occupants were thrown
forward out of their seats.</p>

<p>"What is it, what has happened?"
Sonya Clark asked, as soon as she had
recovered sufficient breath, then opening
the door of the closed car she peered out
into the snow-covered road.</p>

<p>A little beyond she was able to see an
object lying in the road only a few feet
beyond their car.</p>

<p>In the semi-darkness and at the distance,
with the snow forming a thick veil between,
it was impossible to tell just what the
object might be. Partly covered with
snow and showing no sign of movement
it was probably an animal that had gone
astray and been frozen in the November
storm.</p>

<p>Quickly Sonya got out of the car followed
by Mildred Thornton and Ruth Carroll,
the other girls remaining in the automobile
at her request.</p>

<p>The chauffeur joined them.</p>

<p>The next moment the four of them were
bending over the figure of a young girl,
who was wearing a close fitting cap and a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_23" id="Page_23">[23]</a></span>
long dark blue coat, and sewed on her
sleeve a small Red Cross.</p>

<p>Yet when Sonya spoke to her, she showed
no sign of being able to reply and made no
movement, not even to the raising of her
lashes. When the chauffeur lifted and
placed her inside the car she still seemed
unconscious.</p>

<p>"I think we had best go on to the hospital
at once," Sonya commanded. "We
are not more than a few moments' journey
and whatever should be done for this girl
can be better accomplished there."</p>



<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_24" id="Page_24">[24]</a></span></p>
<h2>CHAPTER II</h2>

<div class='chaptertitle'><i>A Late Recruit</i><br /><br /></div>


<div class='cap'>A &nbsp; LITTLE before noon the following
day, Mrs. David Clark, the wife of
the surgeon in command of the Red
Cross hospital near Ch&acirc;teau-Thierry, entered
a small room in one of the towers of
the old French ch&acirc;teau, which had been
serving as a hospital for the American
wounded.</div>

<p>The room was in the portion of the building
set apart for the use of the Red Cross
nurses.</p>

<p>Opening the door quietly and without
knocking, Sonya stood for a moment in
silence upon the threshold, staring in
polite amazement at the figure she beheld
sitting upright in the small hospital bed.</p>

<p>The figure was that of a young girl with
straight brown hair cut short and parted
at one side, a rather thin white face with
a pointed chin and large hazel eyes. There<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_25" id="Page_25">[25]</a></span>
was a boyish, or perhaps more of a sprite-like
quality in her appearance. As Sonya looked
straightway she saw a fleeting picture of
Peter Pan, before the girl turned and spoke
to her.</p>

<p>"You are Mrs. Clark aren't you? You
are very kind to come to ask about me. I
am sorry I gave you so much trouble yesterday;
another mile or more and I should
have arrived safely at the hospital and been
none the worse for my long walk. You
won't mind if I go on eating a moment
longer, will you? I am dreadfully hungry
and I have just succeeded in persuading
the charming little girl who is taking care
of me that there is nothing in the world
the matter with me today, except the need
for food. I really feel no worse from
yesterday's experience, although it is nice
to be so deliciously warm after one has come
fairly near being frozen."</p>

<p>As the girl talked, the older woman came
and took a little chair beside the bed. The
newcomer to the hospital, who had been
rescued from the snow storm the afternoon
before, Sonya now discovered was not so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_26" id="Page_26">[26]</a></span>
young as she had originally believed. On
closer observation there were tiny lines
about the girl's eyes, a little droop at the
corners of her mouth, which might, however,
be due partly to fatigue and exposure.</p>

<p>"When you feel inclined and if you are
strong enough, I wonder if you will not
tell me something about yourself and where
you were trying to go when we picked you
up yesterday? Red Cross nurses have been
in many unexpected places since the beginning
of the war, yet one scarcely looks to
find one lost in the snow in such a picturesque
fashion," Sonya suggested half smiling
and half serious.</p>

<p>In answer to Sonya's speech, the girl
pushed the tray of food which by this time
she had finished eating, to the bottom of
her bed and sat resting her chin in the
palms of her hands. She was leaning
forward with her shoulders lifted and wearing
a little white flannel dressing sacque
which Bianca Zoli must have loaned to her.</p>

<p>"I want very much to explain to you,
Mrs. Clark, and I am entirely all right
again, only perhaps a little tired from my<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_27" id="Page_27">[27]</a></span>
adventure. I do not seem even to have
taken cold. First of all my name is Nora
Jamison and I have traveled all the way
from California to France, across a country
and across an ocean. Was it my good
fortune or my ill fortune that I landed in
Paris just three days before the armistice
was signed to begin my Red Cross nursing?
I have been looking forward to the opportunity
it seems to me for years. Oh, I
have done war nursing, but near one of
the California camps."</p>

<p>The girl turned her eyes at this moment
to glance out the small window cut into
the wall just beside her bed.</p>

<p>They were remarkable eyes, Sonya had
already observed, sometimes a light brown
in shade, then flecked with green and grey
tones. Not in any sense was the rest of
the face beautiful, although oddly interesting,
the nose long and delicate, the lips
thin with slightly irregular white teeth.</p>

<p>"I want to see what this French country
is like, Mrs. Clark, see it until I shall never
forget its desolation as compared to the
fruitfulness and tranquility of our own.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_28" id="Page_28">[28]</a></span>
Some day when I return home I mean to
make some of my own country people share
my impression with me."</p>

<p>Then without further explanation of her
meaning she turned again to her companion.</p>

<p>"I wonder if you are going to be willing
to do me a great favor? Strange, I know,
to be asking a favor of some one who has
never seen one and knows nothing of one,
save that I am already in your debt! I
want you to take me with you as one of
your Red Cross nurses to work with the
army of occupation on the Rhine. Please
don't refuse me yet.</p>

<p>"When I arrived in Paris three days
before the signing of the armistice I was
kept waiting there until the day after the
celebration. Then I was told that if I
preferred I could stay on in Paris a week or
more and go back home, since now that
the war was over, there would be less need
for Red Cross nurses. Yet somehow I
managed to plead my cause and the morning
after the armistice I was ordered to report
to Dr. Clark at his hospital near Ch&acirc;teau-Thierry.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_29" id="Page_29">[29]</a></span>
Probably there would be nurses
who were tired and would now wish to be
discharged and sent home. I was told that
a letter had been written Dr. Clark to
expect me. There was a very especial
reason why I wished to come to this neighborhood
which I would like to tell you
later. Well, I had a fairly difficult journey
from Paris. I was alone and know almost
no French. But there was no one to send
with me and even the Red Cross organization
relaxed just a little with the prospect
of peace. Nevertheless nothing happened
to me of any importance until I reached the
station where I was told some one would
be waiting to drive me to the hospital.
There was no one. But the mistake was
mine, because I thought an old Frenchman
told me the Red Cross hospital was only
five miles away. At present, knowing my
own failure to understand French I think
that he probably said fifteen miles. However,
I feel I must have walked nearer
fifty, if I may exaggerate the actual facts.
I kept asking in my best French to be told
the proper direction and thinking I understood<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_30" id="Page_30">[30]</a></span>
and then getting lost. When I
started out from the little French station
it was early in the morning and really not
very cold; you must not think I am
altogether without judgment. But now
that I am safely here, you will take me with
you to Germany? Just think how far I
have traveled for this chance! Your other
nurses have had their opportunity."</p>

<p>Two bright spots of color were at this
moment glowing on the girl's cheeks, her
lips and eyes were eager as a child.</p>

<p>Nevertheless Sonya shook her head.</p>

<p>"I am sorry, Miss Jamison, but I'm
afraid I can't promise anything. In the
first place, my husband has already made
the choice of the Red Cross nurses who are
to form his unit. He selected his staff of
nurses and physicians last night. There is
no time for delay. The division of troops
we are to serve leaves before dawn Sunday
morning. The Red Cross units will bring
up the rear. We will probably move later
on the same morning. Don't think I am
not sympathetic; why you must feel like
the last of our American troops who reached<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_31" id="Page_31">[31]</a></span>
Ch&acirc;teau-Thierry the morning of the armistice.
Major Hersey told me it was difficult
to keep them from fighting, armistice, or no
armistice. But you will be able to remain
here at the hospital for a time. We still
have a number of the wounded to be cared
for and more than half the staff will stay
behind."</p>

<p>The new nurse covered her eyes for a
moment with her hands, they were beautiful
nurse's hands, with long slender, firm
fingers.</p>

<p>"Mrs. Clark, I haven't any immediate
family, the one person I cared for and to
whom I was engaged was killed here in the
neighborhood of Ch&acirc;teau-Thierry at one
of the first engagements of the United States
troops. We had planned to do wonderful
things with our life together after the war
was past and he was safely home. Now, I
haven't the courage, not for a time anyhow,
to go on with what we hoped to do. I must
have work, change, movement. I am very
strong, see how quickly I have recovered
from yesterday. To stay here at the hospital
and work now that the war is over<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_32" id="Page_32">[32]</a></span>
would of course be better than going home
at once. But the hospital will be sure to
close in a little time and the men sent nearer
the coast so as to be ready to sail as soon
as they are able. May I at least talk to
Dr. Clark? Will you ask him to give me
a few moments? I shall be dressed in a
little while and can come to his office."</p>

<p>Sonya rose up from her chair and stood
hesitating a moment.</p>

<p>There was something in the girl's story,
something in her face which was oddly
wistful and appealing. More than an
ordinary loss lay behind her quickly told
tragedy.</p>

<p>"Why, yes, I'll speak to Dr. Clark if you
desire it and in any case he will wish to
know you have recovered. Yet I am afraid
I cannot truthfully hold out much hope to
you. As a matter of fact I have not personally
the least influence with my husband
in professional matters. If I had, well I
should like to take you with our Red Cross
unit to the Rhine," and Sonya stooped,
obeying an unusual impulse and kissed the
new girl lightly on the forehead before
leaving her.</p>



<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_33" id="Page_33">[33]</a></span></p>
<h2>CHAPTER III</h2>

<div class='chaptertitle'><i>Toward Germany</i><br /><br /></div>

<div class='poem'>
"Happy is he who takes the open road,<br />
<span style="margin-left: 1em;">From rosy sunburst till the stars ascend.</span><br />
Light is his heart, though heavy be his load,<br />
<span style="margin-left: 1em;">If love but waits him at his journey's end."</span><br />
<br /></div>


<div class='cap'>THE two Red Cross nurses, Theodosia
Thompson and Ruth Carroll
were standing together at the edge
of a bleak field in the dawn of a mid-November
morning. Their companion was
a young American physician. "What an
extraordinary quotation under the present
circumstances, Thea! But then, since
you are a bundle of contradictions, I presume
you suggest that love will await us
at our journey's end when you really
mean hate. I wonder to what extent the
Germans will hate us and how difficult life
will be among them when we occupy their
cities on the Rhine."</div>

<p>Ruth Carroll, who had begun her speech<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_34" id="Page_34">[34]</a></span>
as an answer to the other girl, now concluded
it by turning her gaze upon Dr.
Hugh Raymond, who made no effort at the
moment to answer so unanswerable a
question.</p>

<p>"Oh, I was not thinking of the entrance
of our American troops into Germany, but
into Belgium and the little devastated
French villages which have not seen a
friendly face in over four years," Theodosia
Thompson replied. "Our soldiers
must first pass through the rescued towns.
But actually, Ruth, I was not thinking
deeply at all. With the knowledge that we
were soon to take the open road, the verse
came into my mind. Please don't always
be so matter of fact."</p>

<p>Possibly the two girls were talking because
it is so difficult for girls to remain
silent for any length of time even under
the most amazing conditions. At this
moment, peering steadfastly through the
grey light of the approaching day, with
Dr. Raymond beside them, they were
beholding one of the greatest spectacles in
human history, the first movement of the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_35" id="Page_35">[35]</a></span>
American Army of Occupation toward the
Rhine.</p>

<p>In line with the vision of the three
watchers at this instant khaki-clad figures
were marching slowly forward with their
faces turned toward the east. Behind them
down the long road <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'amunition'">ammunition</ins> and supply
trains were lumbering; cannons and big guns
were groaning their way onward as in time
of war. But although it was not war, but
the vanguard of peace, nevertheless the
American soldiers were prepared for war,
should the armistice be ended at any
moment. Overhead observation balloons
were floating, which were to move more
rapidly than the army and form a part of
the advance guard.</p>

<p>"We are scheduled to enter Virton some
time tomorrow, Miss Thompson. Virton
is the first town across the Belgian border,
then Briey and Longwy and then the little
Duchy of Luxemburg. It is a great trek
and I am glad to be allowed to join it. Yet
somehow I wish we were sending our
nurses in dirigibles so as to make the journey
more quickly and safely. We have suffered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_36" id="Page_36">[36]</a></span>
so much from German treachery in the
past that I can't quite trust them on this
march. Yet personally I wish I could have
gone with the soldiers."</p>

<p>The young American doctor spoke slowly
and solemnly. He was a tall slender fellow
with sandy hair and a rather finely cut
face, a little Roman in type. His manner
was also slightly dictatorial, as if he were
a much older and wiser person than his
feminine audience, although he was scarcely
twenty-five.</p>

<p>Theodosia Thompson paid no attention
to his remarks although he seemed to be
addressing her; however Ruth Carroll listened
as interestedly as any one could have
desired.</p>

<p>Dr. Raymond had not been as friendly
with the Red Cross nurses at the Ch&acirc;teau-Thierry
hospital as one might naturally
have expected, considering the fact that
they had worked and dreamed and prayed
under the same roof during the last thrilling
months before the close of the war. But he
was supposed not to care for women or
girls, either because he was too shy, or<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_37" id="Page_37">[37]</a></span>
because he suffered from an undue sense
of superiority. Notwithstanding, he apparently
made a mild exception in favor of
Ruth Carroll, although for her intimate
friend and companion, Thea Thompson,
ordinarily he had to make an effort to conceal
his dislike.</p>

<p>Over the French country this morning
the snow of a few days before had hardened
and been beaten down into a frost covered
layer of mud, yet the wind had become a
little quieter and not so piercingly cold.</p>

<p>"Don't you think we had best go back
to the hospital in a few moments, Thea?"
Ruth at this instant inquired. "There are
still preparations for us to make before
our Red Cross unit takes its place in the
line of march. As a matter of fact I don't
think I slept three hours last night, and
neither Dr. Clark nor Mrs. Clark made a
pretence of going to bed."</p>

<p>Thea linked her arm in Ruth's.</p>

<p>The young physician who was their companion
wore a curious, rapt expression.
He was still gazing after the moving army,
and seemed not to have heard.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_38" id="Page_38">[38]</a></span></p>

<p>"Goodby, Dr. Raymond." Thea made
a little curtsey that was unexpectedly
graceful. "Thank you for suggesting to
Ruth that she see the first breaking of
camp of the American Army of Occupation.
I know you had not intended that I accompany
you, yet thank you just the same.
Never so long as I live shall I forget this
daybreak in France! Why, it is as if an
old world had ended on the eleventh of
November and a new one was beginning
today! Besides who knows what experiences
may lie ahead, or <i>romances</i>, Dr. Raymond.
You see now the war has ended,
perhaps even you may wake up to other
interesting facts in life beside professional
ones."</p>

<p>With an odd, challenging expression,
Thea Thompson watched the young doctor's
face, expecting him at least to change
color or show some sign of annoyance.
However, as he was a good deal taller than
she, he merely looked over her head and
toward Ruth Carroll.</p>

<p>"If you will forgive me, Miss Carroll, I
won't return with you just this minute. I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_39" id="Page_39">[39]</a></span>
have nothing very special to look after and
I want to see as much of this first movement
of our army as possible. Afterwards our
Red Cross motors and ambulances will
probably have to keep in the rear."</p>

<p>Then the two girls moved away toward
the Red Cross hospital choosing their
route along a path near the edge of the road,
so as not to be in the way of the oncoming
trucks.</p>

<p>"I do wish you would try not to talk
personalities on a morning like this, Thea
dear," Ruth urged gently, "and particularly
not to Dr. Raymond. I have told you it
makes him uncomfortable. He is really
not aware that there is a woman or a girl
in the world in any personal fashion. I am
sure the very word <i>romance</i> irritates him.
I presume that is why you used it. Don't
get into mischief now that the war is over,
Thea, because you may have less hard work
when you have been so good all the past
year. I feel it specially because I know
you did not naturally care for nursing and
only began it at first in order to come to
France with me. Still you have been very<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_40" id="Page_40">[40]</a></span>
successful and perhaps may wish to keep
on with nursing as a profession after we
return home?"</p>

<p>A little sound that was neither assent
nor refusal followed.</p>

<p>Then Thea Thompson shook her head.
"Let's don't discuss either the past or the
future just now, Ruth. Thank heaven the
present is sufficient! I've an idea that once
our soldiers reach the Rhine and settle
down they will be needing entertainment
as much as they will need nursing. Personally
I intend to have a little relief from this
long strain and have as good a time as
possible. Oh, don't look so shocked, Ruth.
I don't intend to do anything especially
wicked, play a little perhaps and be a little
frivolous. You and I are certainly contrasts
as Kentucky girls! You know there may
be a chance we may run across a little
princess somewhere in hiding and that she
may fall in love with one of our American
soldiers. American soldiers are greater than
kings these days, and princesses are in need
of protection. So perhaps I may be a looker-on
at some one else's romance and not have<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_41" id="Page_41">[41]</a></span>
one of my own. I have been a looker-on
at many things I have wished for myself
before today, Ruth, as you know. But
please let us hurry. I promised Mrs. Clark
we would not stay away from the hospital
but a short time and I wish to keep my word.
She does not like me particularly, or at
least I seem to puzzle her."</p>

<p>Ruth Carroll shook her head. The girl
beside her had not had a happy childhood
or young girlhood, so perhaps it was natural
that she should wish, as she expressed it,
"just to have a good time."</p>

<p>"You puzzle a good many people, Thea,
including me and sometimes you even
puzzle yourself. But you know I have
always believed the good would win in the
end. Don't spoil your nursing record. We
are very fortunate to have been chosen to
form a part of the Red Cross unit to follow
the army."</p>

<p>At this moment the grey November
clouds parted and a pale rose appeared in
the sky.</p>

<p>The two girls were reaching the neighborhood
of their Red Cross hospital. Drawn<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_42" id="Page_42">[42]</a></span>
up nearby were half a dozen Red Cross
ambulances, an equal number of closed
cars and several large trucks for carrying
medical supplies.</p>

<p>Moving about and directing the hospital
orderlies was Dr. David Clark, the surgeon
in command of the hospital. He had been
ordered to take charge of the Red Cross
unit, who were to follow the division of
American troops from the neighborhood
of Ch&acirc;teau-Thierry to the Rhine to assist
in policing Germany.</p>

<p>With him at the moment, and aiding in
a hundred small ways, was his wife, Sonya
Clark.</p>

<p>As the two nurses approached and Dr.
Clark caught sight of them, he frowned
with disapproval and surprise.</p>

<p>At the instant it seemed impossible to
guess what two of his nurses could be doing
off duty at daybreak on this morning of all
mornings.</p>

<p>Sonya understood and nodded sympathetically.</p>

<p>"You have been to see our troops break
camp and start for Germany? I remember<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_43" id="Page_43">[43]</a></span>
you asked permission. I envy you girls
the experience, although we shall probably
see many extraordinary sights before this
day is over. We shall leave in a few hours;
naturally it will not take long for us in
motor cars, to catch up with the soldiers
who are traveling afoot. You will be ready.
I hope the sky at present is a good omen
of the future."</p>

<p>And Sonya pointed to the rose light
overhead.</p>

<p>Later in the day, the Red Cross unit
from the hospital in the neighborhood of
Ch&acirc;teau-Thierry took its place in the rear
of the line of march of the American Army
of Occupation toward Germany.</p>

<p>By this time the sun was shining and
the roads had become comparatively clear.
Hospital supplies had been sent on ahead
with a group of hospital orderlies, Dr.
Clark and a corps of his physicians following
soon after.</p>

<p>In a later automobile Mrs. Clark had
with her half a dozen Red Cross nurses,
and in a second Miss Blackstone, the former
superintendent of the hospital, an equal<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_44" id="Page_44">[44]</a></span>
number. Also there was a third automobile
filled with physicians and orderlies who were
to keep as close to the two other cars as
circumstances allowed.</p>

<p>Across No Man's land on this November
morning, from the northern end of France
to the southern, were passing the victorious
allied armies, three hundred thousand American
troops led by Pershing to victory, and
an equal or greater number of French and
British.</p>

<p>In the car with Sonya the American girls
had but little to say to one another during
the first part of their journey. Not only
was the land before them desolate beyond
description, but filled with tragic memories.</p>

<p>Early in the afternoon, reaching the edge
of a little French town, the Red Cross
automobiles stopped. The occupants were
in no great hurry to move forward. In
advance the cavalry had swept on to prepare
the way, but the infantry was going
ahead slowly and would encamp for the
night. This division of the Red Cross
intended keeping in the background so
that in case the men became ill, they could<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_45" id="Page_45">[45]</a></span>
drop out and be overtaken by nurses and
physicians.</p>

<p>The girls were glad of the rest and also
extraordinarily hungry, having spent the
greater part of the night and every moment
since daylight in preparation for the advance.</p>

<p>Their three cars had stopped in front of
a small farmhouse on the outskirts of the
town.</p>

<p>Approaching the house, Sonya and Dr.
Raymond believed it to be empty. The
blinds were closed, the pathway to the
front door untrodden. Yet it had once
been a gay little house of French grey with
bright blue shutters.</p>

<p>A knock at the door and both Sonya and
the young physician thought they heard
scurrying noises inside. Yet knocking again
there was no reply.</p>

<p>"Shall I try pushing the little front door
open, Mrs. Clark? It is pretty cold eating
outside. I can't quite understand the
situation. The French people know we are
their friends; they have been told to expect
nothing but kindness and consideration
from us. Do look, already the French<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_46" id="Page_46">[46]</a></span>
civilians are coming out from the village
to welcome us. Our little house is surely
uninhabited or it would not be so inhospitable."</p>

<p>Following Dr. Raymond's suggestion,
Sonya turned.</p>

<p>Standing not far away in a group were
the six Red Cross nurses for whom she felt
especially responsible, Nona Davis and
Mildred Thornton, the two girls who were
her intimate and devoted friends and who
had made exceptional sacrifices to remain
in Europe now that the war was ended.
There were also the two comparatively new
nurses, Ruth Carroll and Theodosia Thompson,
and Bianca Zoli. The sixth girl was
the Red Cross nurse, Nora Jamison, who
had arrived so late at the hospital. Nevertheless
she had been chosen by Dr. Clark
to form a member of his Red Cross unit
who were to follow the army of occupation.</p>

<p>Beyond them was another group of
nurses and physicians.</p>

<p>To Sonya's surprise she saw approaching
at this moment from the little French town
close by between fifty and a hundred persons.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_47" id="Page_47">[47]</a></span>
Some of them were old men and
women hobbling along on sticks, their
faces gaunt and haggard with past suffering,
but shining now with happiness. A dozen
or more little French girls were marching
abreast, one of them carrying a small
American flag, another a French. Both
flags were evidently home made and must
have been carefully hidden from the Germans
during their long occupancy of the
French village. With them were five or six
American soldiers who had been taken prisoners
by the Germans and were now being
allowed to rejoin their own comrades.</p>

<p>"We haven't a great deal of food, I know,"
Sonya began impulsively. "But don't
you think, Dr. Raymond, we might ask
the friends who have come to welcome us
and who seem hungriest to share our food?
A great quantity of supplies are to follow
us and we will probably wait for a few
days somewhere along the line of march.
Dr. Clark told me he wanted us to be prepared
to care for the wounded American
soldiers we meet along the way, soldiers
who have been imprisoned in Germany<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_48" id="Page_48">[48]</a></span>
and must have suffered untold tortures
from improper treatment. Then, if any
of our own soldiers are taken ill along the
route of march, Dr. Clark is to see they
are left in a comfortable hospital with the
necessary supplies and it may be we shall
be delayed to look after them."</p>

<p>Forgetting her effort to enter the little
house, Sonya at this instant moved away
from Dr. Raymond to rejoin the other
Red Cross nurses.</p>

<p>In French fashion some of the old peasants
were kissing the hands of their allies.
Miss Blackstone and a physician had
already unwound a dirty bandage from the
arm of an American soldier and were examining
his wound. Sonya had no desire to
be left out of the little crowd of French
and American friends.</p>

<p>Within fifteen minutes, however, she had
again returned to the little house. This
time she was accompanied by an old French
peasant woman to whom she had explained
the situation, inquiring if the farmhouse
was in truth uninhabited.</p>

<p>At present it was the French woman who<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_49" id="Page_49">[49]</a></span>
hammered, not gently but with the utmost
firmness upon the closed door.</p>

<p>"It may not be possible, madame, that
we enter in at the front door," she explained.
"It is my impression that la petite Louisa
has never once unfastened this door since
she opened it to the German soldiers who
afterwards took away her mother and older
sister. She has been here ever since all
alone, as her father and brother were of
course with the army. La petite Louisa has
since that time been distrait, not you
understand exactly in her right senses, but
harmless. It is not that her French neighbors
have neglected her. I have myself tried
to take her home to be with me, but always
she comes back to the little grey house."</p>

<p>The old peasant shrugged her shoulders,
as she continued banging on the door and
talking at the same time.</p>

<p>"There have been so many things to
endure. One more forsaken, half starved
child! What would you do? Her family
was not well known in our village; they had
moved here from Paris a short time before
the war and were said to have been wealthy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_50" id="Page_50">[50]</a></span>
people who had fallen into misfortune. So
after a time, it may not seem kind, but life
has been too hard some of the days even
for kindness, so finally we left the little girl
alone. Neighbors have given her food when
there was food to give. Even a few of the
enemy soldiers have sometimes tried to
make friends and persuade her to eat, but
always she would rush away from them with
the great fear."</p>

<p>Not altogether sure of what the old
French peasant was trying to make plain
to her, yet convinced enough of the tragedy
of the story, Sonya laid her hand on the
old woman's arm.</p>

<p>"Don't you think we had best not
frighten the little girl then by trying to
enter her house. Some one else in the
village I feel sure will offer us hospitality.
And yet something should be done for the
little girl, now the war is past she must be
made to understand she need not be afraid,"
Sonya expostulated.</p>

<p>However, the French woman continued
knocking.</p>

<p>She also had been calling out in French,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_51" id="Page_51">[51]</a></span>
reassuring the little girl inside, pleading
with her. "La petite Louisa."</p>

<p>And now Sonya heard footsteps drawing
near the closed door. The next moment
the door partly opened, disclosing the most
pathetic child's figure she had ever seen.</p>

<p>The little girl was perhaps twelve years
old and did not look like the usual French
child, for though her hair was coal black,
her eyes were a violet blue, fringed by the
blackest lashes, her skin almost an unearthly
pallor. In spite of her look of hunger she
was clean and not only scrupulously, but
exquisitely dressed in a little silk and serge
frock made with care and taste.</p>

<p>The child's eyes were what held Sonya,
however, they were at once so terrified and
so sad.</p>

<p>Looking past the two women at the
crowd outside, she would have fallen except
that Sonya's arm went swiftly around her
while she tried to explain that they were
friends.</p>

<p>Afterwards Sonya and the Red Cross
nurses discovered that the little house was
furnished very differently from the ordinary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_52" id="Page_52">[52]</a></span>
French farmhouse, with possessions which
must have come from some handsomer
home.</p>

<p>In the dining room they ate their luncheon
on a French oak table with beautiful carved
feet and found that the sideboard and chairs
were also of handsome French oak.</p>

<p>The little room soon became crowded,
not only with the Red Cross girls and
physicians, but with a number of the French
people who came in to assist in the celebration.
Beyond gifts of chocolate and bread,
they refused to accept other food, explaining
that the portion of the American army
which had passed through their village
earlier in the day had given them supplies.</p>

<p>Yet the little French girl in whose home
the celebration was taking place would
neither eat nor speak to her French acquaintances
or to the strange Americans.</p>

<p>Sonya and Miss Blackstone confided to
each other their impression that the little
girl was probably unable to speak, fright
and exhaustion having oftentimes this effect
upon highly nervous temperaments.</p>

<p>However, in the midst of the luncheon,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_53" id="Page_53">[53]</a></span>
suddenly the little French girl slipped over
beside the new Red Cross nurse, Nora
Jamison, and took tight hold of her hand.
She even allowed her to tempt her into eating
small morsels of food.</p>

<p>By accident the new nurse was sitting
next Sonya Clark and Sonya turned to her,
mystified by the little French girl's impetuous
action.</p>

<p>"I wonder how you managed that, Miss
Jamison?" she inquired. "I have been
trying to make friends with our little French
hostess ever since my meeting with her
and she would have nothing to do with me.
You seem not to have noticed her and she
has given her confidence to you."</p>

<p>Still holding the little French girl's hand
Nora Jamison nodded.</p>

<p>"You will find I am a kind of Pied Piper,
Mrs. Clark. I had always nursed children
before I began war work and am especially
fond of them."</p>

<p>Sonya shook her head.</p>

<p>"It is Peter Pan I thought of when I
first saw you. I wonder if you are one of
the lucky persons who never grow up?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_54" id="Page_54">[54]</a></span>
I've an idea you will be a great help to us
when we finally reach Germany. We don't
want the German children to think of us
as ogres and one wonders what stories
their parents may now be telling them of
our American soldiers."</p>

<p>Then so many things distracted Sonya
Clark's attention that she thought no more
of the little deserted French girl until she
and Bianca looked for her to say goodby
and found that the child had disappeared.</p>



<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_55" id="Page_55">[55]</a></span></p>
<h2>CHAPTER IV</h2>

<div class='chaptertitle'><i>Luxemburg</i><br /><br /></div>


<div class='cap'>IN the afternoon, traveling in the direction
of Belgium, there was an unexpected
movement under the broad seat
of the Red Cross car which startled its
occupants.</div>

<p>The first exclamation came from Bianca
Zoli who happened to be sitting just over a
space where a large box of provisions
originally had been stored. The box had
been removed, however, and the food eaten
at luncheon.</p>

<p>"I am absurd!" Bianca exclaimed, clutching
at Nora Jamison's hand, as she was
sitting beside her. "But I thought I felt
something stir. I wonder if the excitement
of our journey is having a strange influence
upon me?"</p>

<p>"I don't think so," the older girl returned,
"I have been conscious of life, a movement
of some kind underneath us ever since we<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_56" id="Page_56">[56]</a></span>
left the little French farmhouse. I say I
have been conscious, no, I have not been
exactly that, only puzzled and uncomfortable."</p>

<p>Leaning over, Nora at this instant lifted
the curtain, and Bianca bending forward
at the same time, they both became aware of
the figure of the little French girl who had
vanished a few moments before their departure
from her home.</p>

<p>"Sonya!" Bianca called.</p>

<p>This was scarcely necessary, since by
this time every occupant of the car knew
equally well what had happened and curiously
enough, without discussion, understood
the explanation for the child's action.</p>

<p>The little girl had believed that this
group of women and girls, wearing the Red
Cross of service, were her friends and if
possible would protect her from what she
feared most in all the world, the grey uniformed
German soldiers. Also they were
leaving the neighborhood where she had
lived under a burden of terror.</p>

<p>Her one desire was to escape from the
captured town where the Germans had been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_57" id="Page_57">[57]</a></span>
in authority so many weary months. As
Nora Jamison and Bianca both struggled
to assist the child, they found she could
scarcely help herself, so stiff had she
become from her uncomfortable position.</p>

<p>Yet she managed with their aid to climb
up and sit crowded close between Bianca
and Nora Jamison.</p>

<p>"What are you going to do with this
child, Sonya?" Bianca demanded, more
sympathetic than she cared to reveal,
remembering her own childhood, which
had been more lonely and difficult than any
one had ever realized. Not even Sonya,
who had come to her rescue in those past
days in Italy, more from a combination of
circumstance than from any great affection
for her, had ever understood.</p>

<p>In response Sonya bit her lips and
frowned. There was something about the
little French girl which had attracted her
strongly at the first sight of her, an attraction
she could not have explained, unless it
were compassion, and yet she had seen many
pathetic, forsaken children during her war
work in France.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_58" id="Page_58">[58]</a></span></p>

<p>"I am sure I don't know, Bianca," she
replied finally. "I suppose we can leave
the child with some French family along
our route. However, most of them have
responsibilities enough of their own, without
our adding a child whose last name we
do not even know and who appears unable to
tell us anything about herself."</p>

<p>"We cannot take the child back to her
own home, even if we could turn back,
which is of course out of the question. I
would not have the courage to leave the
little girl alone there, when she has showed
so plainly her wish to escape. Oh, well,
life is full enough of problems and some
one will surely take the child off our hands!
people in adversity are wonderfully kind
to one another; our life in France during
the war has taught us that much."</p>

<p>Both Sonya and Bianca were speaking
English so that the little interloper would
not be able to understand what they were
saying.</p>

<p>"I wonder why we cannot take 'La
petite Louisa' along with us, Sonya? After
all one little girl more or less won't matter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_59" id="Page_59">[59]</a></span>
and we may need her for our mascot in
the new work that lies before us. I don't
know why I feel the Red Cross nursing with
the army of occupation will have new
difficulties our former nursing did not have.
Perhaps because the soldiers will probably
not be seriously ill and are likely to be a
great deal more bored," Mildred Thornton
urged.</p>

<p>Sonya shook her head.</p>

<p>"Mildred, it is a little embarrassing to
have to speak of it, but please remember
my husband is something of a martinet in
matters of Red Cross discipline. I am
afraid he will not think we have the right
to add a little girl to our responsibilities.
However, the child is with us now not by
our choice, and we must make her as comfortable
as possible until we have some
inspiration concerning her. Miss Jamison,
you will look after her, won't you, since she
seems to prefer you?"</p>

<p>But already Nora Jamison had assumed
that the care of the little French girl had
been entrusted to her as a matter of course.</p>

<p>Later, the journey through France and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_60" id="Page_60">[60]</a></span>
into Belgium and thence into Luxemburg
became, not only for the American army
but for the Red Cross units which accompanied
it, a triumphant procession.</p>

<p>In every little village along their route
bells were rung, schools closed while the
children and the citizens gathered in the
streets to shout their welcome. Through
the country at each crossroads groups of
men, women and young people were found
waiting to express their thankfulness either
with smiles or tears.</p>

<p>Thirty-six hours after leaving their hospital
near Ch&acirc;teau-Thierry, Mrs. Clark
and her Red Cross workers crossed the
frontier of Belgium and entered the little
town of Virton.</p>

<p>In Virton, at the Red Cross headquarters,
awaiting them they found orders from Dr.
David Clark. As promptly as possible they
were to proceed to the capital of Luxemburg
and there establish a temporary Red Cross
hospital. Dr. Hugh Raymond was to take
charge with Miss Blackstone as superintendent,
the Red Cross nurses assuming their
usual duties. Before their arrival arrangements<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_61" id="Page_61">[61]</a></span>
for their reception would have been
made and a house secured for their temporary
hospital.</p>

<p>This was necessary since along the route
of march numbers of soldiers were being
attacked by influenza and must be cared for.
Ordinary hospitals were already overcrowded
with wounded American soldiers
who had been prisoners in Germany.</p>

<p>Therefore, obeying orders, this particular
Red Cross unit entered Luxemburg a few
hours before the arrival of General Pershing
at the head of his victorious troops.</p>

<p>It was early morning when the Red
Cross girls drove into the little duchy,
which has occasioned Europe trouble out
of all proportion to its size. Actually the
duchy of Luxemburg is only nine hundred
and ninety-nine square miles and has a
population of three hundred thousand persons.</p>

<p>Just as surely as Germany tore up her
treaty with Belgium as a "scrap of paper,"
when at the outbreak of the war it suited
her convenience, as surely had she marched
her army across Luxemburg in spite of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_62" id="Page_62">[62]</a></span>
the protest of its young Grand Duchess
Marie Adelaide.</p>

<p>However, when Germany continued to use
Luxemburg as an occupied province, the
Grand Duchess was supposed to have
changed her policy and to have become
a German ally.</p>

<p>On the morning when the American
Red Cross entered her capital, the grey
swarm of German soldiers was hurrying
rapidly homeward, broken and defeated,
while the American army under General
Pershing was hourly expected.</p>

<p>To make way for the more important
reception and to give as little trouble as
possible, the American Red Cross drove
directly to the house which had been set
apart for their use. The house proved to
be a large, old fashioned place with wide
windows and a broad veranda, and on the
principal street of the city not far from the
Grand Ducal Palace.</p>

<p>After a few hours of intensive work
toward transforming a one-time private
residence into a temporary hospital, the
entire staff deserted their labors to gather
on the broad veranda.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_63" id="Page_63">[63]</a></span></p>

<p>The news had reached them that General
Pershing had entered the capital city of
Luxemburg and would pass their headquarters
on his way to the Grand Ducal
Palace for his formal reception by the
Grand Duchess.</p>

<p>Later a portion of the American army
itself marched by.</p>

<p>From their balcony the American girls
could see the stars and stripes mingling
with the red, white and blue of the small
principality.</p>

<p>Never in their past experience had they
seen a welcome to equal the welcome given
by the citizens of Luxemburg to the troops
which General Pershing had led to victory.
If the Grand Ducal family had been won
over to the German cause, how deeply the
people of Luxemburg had sympathized
with the allies was proved by this single
day's greeting.</p>

<p>Together with the people in the streets
the Red Cross workers found they were
shouting themselves hoarse. Yet the shouts
were barely heard amid the blowing of
whistles, the ringing of bells.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_64" id="Page_64">[64]</a></span></p>

<p>In the hearts of the inhabitants of the
tiny duchy apparently there was a great
love for the soldiers of the greatest democracy
in the world.</p>

<p>From every window along their route of
march flowers rained down upon the soldiers,
children crowding close presented each
American doughboy with a bunch of chrysanthemums;
one of them carried a banner
on which was inscribed, "The Day of
Glory has Arrived."</p>

<p>Turning to speak to Mildred Thornton
who stood beside her, Nona Davis found
to her surprise that her cheeks were wet
with tears. She had not been conscious
of them until this instant.</p>

<p>"It pays almost, doesn't it, Mildred, for
all the suffering we have witnessed in
Europe in the past four years to see the
rejoicing of the little nations of Europe over
the victory of democracy? Even if the
little Grand Duchess is pro-German in
sentiment, it is plain enough that her people
must have loathed the German occupation
of their country. I would not be surprised
if the passing of our soldiers may not mean<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_65" id="Page_65">[65]</a></span>
a change of government in Luxemburg.
Under the circumstances I wonder how long
our Red Cross unit may remain?"</p>

<p>Mildred Thornton shook her head.</p>

<p>"Impossible to guess of course, Nona.
And yet I am glad of the opportunity. We
shall have nursed in one more country in
Europe and perhaps even little Luxemburg
will offer us new experiences and new
friends."</p>



<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_66" id="Page_66">[66]</a></span></p>
<h2>CHAPTER V</h2>

<div class='chaptertitle'><i>Shoals</i><br /><br /></div>


<div class='cap'>DURING the thirty odd years of her
life, Sonya Valesky, now Mrs.
David Clark, had been through
many and varied adventures; some of
them, in her young womanhood in Russia,
had been tragic, others merely difficult.
But after a few days in Luxemburg, amid
the effort to establish the temporary Red
Cross hospital, Sonya believed that she
had rarely suffered a more trying interlude.</div>

<p>It was not the actual work of the hospital
arrangements or the care of the sick. Of
the first Miss Blackstone took charge and
she was eminently capable; for the second
Dr. Hugh Raymond was responsible. Both
of them had able assistants. The upper
part of the house was set apart for the
care of the officers and soldiers suffering
from influenza, and there were about twenty
cases; the second floor was reserved as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_67" id="Page_67">[67]</a></span>
sleeping quarters for the staff with a few
extra rooms for patients who were ill and
in need of attention from other causes so
they should not be exposed to contagion.
On the lower floor was a reception room,
dining room and kitchen, with the drawing
room for convalescents.</p>

<p>But as usual Sonya Clark's task was
looking after the Red Cross nurses, seeing
not only that they were in good health,
but as happy and contented as possible,
giving their best service and in little danger
of breakers ahead.</p>

<p>Nevertheless, within forty-eight hours
after the passing of the American troops
through Luxemburg, it appeared to Sonya
that some unexpected change had taken
place in her group of Red Cross nurses.</p>

<p>What they were actually ordered to do
they did in a fairly dutiful fashion, but the
old enthusiasm, the old passionate desire
for service had vanished. Among the entire
group of nurses a relaxation of discipline
had taken place. The excitement of their
journey, the knowledge that the war had
ended in the allied victory, a natural<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_68" id="Page_68">[68]</a></span>
desire for pleasure after so long a strain,
apparently possessed them alike, except
Nora Jamison who was comparatively new
to the work, and seemed in every way an
unusual girl.</p>

<p>Frankly Bianca Zoli confessed to Sonya,
not long after their arrival in Luxemburg,
that she was weary of the endless waiting
upon the nurses and patients and needed a
short rest. And Sonya agreed that this was
true. Bianca was younger than any member
of their Red Cross unit and had been
faithful and untiring in her devotion for
many months during the final allied struggle
for victory. Moreover, Bianca also appeared
slightly depressed and Sonya wisely
guessed this was partly due to the long
separation from Carlo Navara, which Bianca
must see was inevitable. With his regiment
Carlo was moving toward the Rhine
and nothing was apt to be less in his mind
for the time being than his friendship for
the young girl whom he undoubtedly
regarded only in a semi-brotherly spirit
composed of indifference and affection.</p>

<p>Since the greater part of the nursing at<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_69" id="Page_69">[69]</a></span>
the temporary hospital in Luxemburg was
the care of the soldiers who were ill with
influenza, and feeling that Bianca was not
altogether in the right state of health to
battle with the contagion, Sonya requested
Miss Blackstone to permit her to have a
half holiday, doing no work that was not
voluntary.</p>

<p>But with Nona Davis and Mildred Thornton,
the two Red Cross nurses who had
given the most valuable personal service,
since the outbreak of the war, the situation
was more serious and far more difficult to
meet.</p>

<p>They did not neglect their duties, this
would have been impossible to either of
them, and yet in a way it was plain that
they were no longer wholly absorbed by
them and to use an old expression, their
hearts were no longer in what they were
doing.</p>

<p>Yet Sonya understood; both girls were
engaged to be married to young American
officers who were at present in the United
States. With the signing of the armistice
they had hoped to return home. It was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_70" id="Page_70">[70]</a></span>
possible they had made a mistake in
agreeing to Dr. Clark's request that they
remain for a time longer in Europe, forming
a part of his Red Cross unit, who were to
care for the soldiers of the American Army
of Occupation.</p>

<p>With Mildred Thornton the engagement
was comparatively recent. During the
latter part of July she had nursed through
a dangerous illness, following a wound, an
American lieutenant<a name="FNanchor_A_1" id="FNanchor_A_1"></a><a href="#Footnote_A_1" class="fnanchor">[A]</a> who, together with
Carlo Navara, had crossed into the German
lines, securing important secret information,
afterwards invaluable to Marshal Foch.</p>

<p>Of longer standing was Nona Davis's
romance, which had not been of such plain
sailing. In the early months after the entry
of the United States into the world war, in
an American camp in France, she had met
and renewed an acquaintance with Lieutenant
John Martin which had begun as
children years before in the old city of
Charleston, South Carolina. Soon after
Lieutenant Martin had declared his affection,
but believing him arrogant and domineering,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_71" id="Page_71">[71]</a></span>
Nona had not at that time returned
his love.</p>

<p>Later, meeting again upon a United
States hospital ship, coming back from
France, Nona had discovered Lieutenant
Martin, now Captain Martin, blinded
through a gallant action on the battlefields
of France.</p>

<p>It was then that their former positions
were reversed, for Captain Martin would
not accept a devotion which he believed
born of pity and declined marrying Nona
unless his sight were restored. A short
time before a letter from New York announced
that after an operation, Captain
Martin had the right to believe his sight
would be fully regained. Therefore would
Nona marry him as soon as it could be
arranged? And Nona's answer had been to
cable, "Yes."<a name="FNanchor_B_2" id="FNanchor_B_2"></a><a href="#Footnote_B_2" class="fnanchor">[B]</a></p>

<p>However, both Mildred Thornton and
Nona Davis having already sacrificed so
much to their four years of Red Cross
service in Europe, had decided to make this
ultimate sacrifice in the postponing of their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_72" id="Page_72">[72]</a></span>
happiness. Yet here during the temporary
pause of their Red Cross unit in Luxemburg,
Sonya was able to see that the two girls were
finding their self-surrender harder to accept
bravely than they had anticipated. Whenever
it was possible without neglecting their
duties they were apt to wander off for
mutual sympathy and confidences. Even
Sonya found herself often ignored or forgotten.
Sometimes she feared that they
might harbor a slight resentment, because
it was her husband, Dr. David Clark, who
had asked the personal sacrifice.</p>

<p>With two other of her Red Cross nurses
Sonya had neither much sympathy nor
understanding. Ruth Carroll had never
interested her particularly; she was a large,
quiet girl, ordinarily a dutiful and fairly
reliable nurse, but without special gifts,
although as a matter of fact, Dr. Clark
had not shared in his wife's disparaging
opinion.</p>

<p>However, Sonya knew herself to be prejudiced
and not so much by Ruth herself as
by reason of her close friendship with
Theodosia Thompson and the younger
girl's undoubted influence upon her.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_73" id="Page_73">[73]</a></span></p>

<p>Thea had been right in her supposition
that Mrs. Clark neither liked nor trusted
her particularly, although Sonya herself
had scarcely been aware of her own point
of view until after the beginning of the
journey of her Red Cross unit toward
Germany. Since then Sonya was not at
all sure that Thea might not prove an
uncomfortable if not an actually mischievous
influence.</p>

<p>One of Dr. Clark's old students at a
prominent New York Medical University
and afterwards his assistant, Dr. Hugh
Raymond, was a young physician in whom
the older man had extraordinary confidence
and for whom he hoped great things. In
the Red Cross hospital near Ch&acirc;teau-Thierry
he had done splendid and untiring
work. But both Sonya and her husband
had often smiled over the young doctor's
apparent dislike of women and girls. Not
even with Sonya herself had he been willing
to be more than coldly friendly.</p>

<p>Yet since the movement of their unit
toward the Rhine, Sonya had noticed an
odd change in him. At first it had appeared<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_74" id="Page_74">[74]</a></span>
as if Thea's attempts to make him show an
interest in her had simply annoyed him.
Later she seemed to provoke him. Recently
Sonya believed Thea was having a marked
effect upon him, sometimes aggravating
and at other times pleasing him. And
although Sonya believed she understood
human nature, she also realized that nothing
would irritate her husband more profoundly
than to discover any kind of
personal feeling existing between his nurses
and physicians. During all the Red Cross
work in Europe from this complication
they had been singularly free.</p>

<p>Moreover, Sonya did not consider that
Theodosia Thompson was seriously interested
in Dr. Raymond. It was her personal
opinion that Thea simply desired admiration
and attention, because her nature was
restless and dissatisfied.</p>

<p>And it was with the two nurses, Ruth
Carroll and Theodosia Thompson, that
Sonya had her first real grievance since the
beginning of her Red Cross work.</p>

<p>Among the patients who had been brought
to the temporary Luxemburg hospital was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_75" id="Page_75">[75]</a></span>
Major James Hersey, who had been in
command of a battalion near Ch&acirc;teau-Thierry
and had been taken ill with influenza
along the route of the march toward
Germany.</p>

<p>Perhaps Major Jimmie had been longing
too ardently to accompany his picked
troops to the left bank of the Rhine; however,
he was at present pretty seriously ill.</p>

<p>All day Sonya had been caring for him
and at about four o'clock in the afternoon
she was beginning to feel that she was
growing too tired to be left alone. Major
Hersey was delirious and already it was
long past the hour when Theodosia Thompson
had been expected to relieve her. Yet
she continued to wait patiently, not daring
to leave her charge even for a moment.</p>

<p>Four o'clock passed and then five and
no one entered the sick room, not even one
of the Red Cross physicians, and Sonya had
been expecting a call from Dr. Raymond
some time during the afternoon.</p>

<p>At a little after five, Miss Blackstone
stepped in unannounced. She was the
superintendent of the hospital and Sonya<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_76" id="Page_76">[76]</a></span>
discovered her looking both worried and
worn. She was a large, plain, middle-aged
woman who had worked with Dr. Clark
for a number of years before his marriage
to Sonya, and although she and Sonya had
not liked each other in the early days of
their acquaintance, they had become far
more friendly since.</p>

<p>"I am more sorry than I can say, Mrs.
Clark, not to have sent some one in to
help you, but the most amazing thing has
happened. Just after lunch Miss Thompson
and Miss Carroll asked permission to take
a short motor ride with Dr. Raymond and
Dr. Mendel. Dr. Raymond assured me
himself that they would not be gone over
an hour. It has been much nearer three
hours and I hardly know what to do. Some
accident must have <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'occured'">occurred</ins>. What do you
think we should do?"</p>

<p>Sonya shrugged her shoulders.</p>

<p>"Do? Why nothing but wait. I have
an idea nothing has happened beyond the
fact that they have forgotten their responsibilities."</p>

<div class="footnotes"><h3>FOOTNOTES:</h3>

<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_A_1" id="Footnote_A_1"></a><a href="#FNanchor_A_1"><span class="label">[A]</span></a> See Red Cross Girls with United States Marines.</p></div>

<div class="footnote"><p><a name="Footnote_B_2" id="Footnote_B_2"></a><a href="#FNanchor_B_2"><span class="label">[B]</span></a> See Red Cross Girls Afloat with the Flag.</p></div>
</div>


<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_77" id="Page_77">[77]</a></span></p>
<h2>CHAPTER VI</h2>

<div class='chaptertitle'><i>The Ride</i><br /><br /></div>


<div class='cap'>IT was true, as Miss Blackstone had said,
that the little party of four, the two
Red Cross nurses and two physicians,
had started out with the intention of taking
only a short drive and returning to the
hospital in plenty of time for their duties.</div>

<p>And in spite of the fact that Sonya might
be cherishing an unreasonable prejudice,
the drive had been proposed by Dr. Raymond
first to Theodosia Thompson with
the suggestion that she ask Ruth Carroll
to accompany them and that he invite Dr.
Leon Mendel who was also one of the
Red Cross staff.</p>

<p>Early in the morning of the same day
a note had been sent to the hospital and
a motor car offered to the American Red
Cross unit during their stay in Luxemburg.
As the note had been delivered to Dr.
Raymond he had considered it only courtesy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_78" id="Page_78">[78]</a></span>
to accept the kindness. He had also been
quite selfishly interested in seeing the capital
city of Luxemburg and the neighboring
country and in enjoying a short respite
from his continuous work of establishing
the temporary hospital.</p>

<p>If Sonya was annoyed by the young
doctor's attitude toward Thea Thompson,
assuredly he was more so. Certainly he
was not at present under the impression
that he actually liked her, only that she
had somehow made him realize that he
must have always appeared too self-centered
and too serious, and that he needed waking
up. And certainly Thea was stimulating
and now and then amusing.</p>

<p>This afternoon as he was feeling tired he
proposed that she occupy the front seat of
the little motor car with him, Ruth and
Dr. Mendel sitting in the rear.</p>

<p>Following no guide except their own
impressions they drove through the city,
first past the Grand Ducal Palace then the
handsome residences of the nobility and
finally to the open country on the outskirts
of the city.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_79" id="Page_79">[79]</a></span></p>

<p>To all four of the occupants of the car
it seemed to have had wings, so short a
time did their drive absorb.</p>

<p>Nevertheless Thea and Dr. Raymond
had not enjoyed each other particularly.</p>

<p>They were both tired and Thea was having
one of the attacks of depression from
which she often suffered. She looked both
homely and pale, and even her eyes were
less blue beneath their straight, red-brown
lashes. Only her red hair breaking into
irrepressible little waves under her small
hat was full of life and charm.</p>

<p>Reaching the end of the main road from
which two country lanes branched off into
less inhabited portions of the countryside,
Dr. Raymond turned to speak to Ruth
Carroll and Dr. Mendel.</p>

<p>"I am sorry, it seems to me our ride has
scarcely begun, and yet I feel we had best
turn back here. We might allow ourselves
a little more time but I am afraid if we try
one of these unexplored roads we may lose
ourselves somewhere."</p>

<p>Ruth made a little nod of agreement
even though her expression revealed disappointment.
Dr. Mendel made no reply.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_80" id="Page_80">[80]</a></span></p>

<p>But unexpectedly Dr. Raymond felt a
hand laid lightly on his coat sleeve.</p>

<p>"Please do go a little further," Thea
begged. "I wonder if you know that
although I am a country girl I have ridden
in automobiles only a few times in my life
before coming to France."</p>

<p>Hesitating the young doctor slowed down
his car as if expecting to turn around.</p>

<p>"I am not in the habit of neglecting my
duty for any reason whatsoever, Miss
Thompson. I have just explained that I
dared not attempt a strange country road
for fear we might go astray and our return
to the hospital be seriously delayed."</p>

<p>Undoubtedly the young Red Cross doctor's
manner was self-righteous and precise,
but in answer Thea laughed.</p>

<p>It was an odd laugh which made him
flush uncomfortably.</p>

<p>"Oh, please do go back then at once!"
she said. "Nothing would make me ask
you to disregard your duty. Really Dr.
Raymond, it is a wonderful experience to
know any one who so perfectly answers
all the requirements of a model character.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_81" id="Page_81">[81]</a></span>
Besides I know you would never do anything
because I asked you, although as a
matter of fact, we all have the right to our
usual two hours off duty this afternoon and
less than half of that time has gone by."</p>

<p>There was a little sting of bad temper in
Thea Thompson's manner and words which
undoubtedly were her heritage along with
her brilliant red-gold hair.</p>

<p>Instead of replying Dr. Raymond drove
his car, not backward toward the hospital
as he had announced his intention of doing,
but into one of the country roads leading
into an entirely unknown locality.</p>

<p>It would have been difficult for him to
have explained his impetuous action.</p>

<p>Half an hour later, at the end of a road
which led apparently nowhere, Dr. Raymond
stopped his car.</p>

<p>"I think I have already managed to
lose the way, thanks to you, Miss Thompson,"
he announced irritably, "However,
I suppose we can simply turn around and
go back. Certainly this part of the country
is entirely uninteresting without a house or
an individual in sight. I was very foolish<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_82" id="Page_82">[82]</a></span>
to agree to your request and shall certainly
reproach myself if any one has been in
special need of me at the hospital. I only
trust we may be able to return as quickly
as we have made the trip."</p>

<p>However, Thea made no reply to this
reproachful speech except to jump to her
feet.</p>

<p>"Look!" she cried dramatically. "What
a perfectly charming picture in that field
over there! I told you I was from Kentucky
and yet I never saw any one ride so beautifully!"</p>

<p>Naturally Thea's companions followed
her suggestion.</p>

<p>Just beyond the end of their road was a
wide open field thick with winter stubble.
In the centre was a tall hurdle intended
for jumping.</p>

<p>Riding toward this hurdle at a swift pace
was a young girl; she was wearing a close
fitting, scarlet riding habit, a little dark
hat of some kind and high riding boots.</p>

<p>Her horse was almost equally slim and
beautiful, and horse and rider had the suggestion
of oneness which is the attribute of
perfect riding.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_83" id="Page_83">[83]</a></span></p>

<p>There was no other human being in sight.</p>

<p>The girl was making straight for the
hurdle. Evidently she and her horse were
both in the habit of jumping for neither
showed the least sign of nervousness.</p>

<p>Breathless with admiration and interest
the two American girls and their companions
watched.</p>

<p>The horse rose in the air, his head a
little forward, the rider holding the bridle
with just the right degree of freedom and
firmness.</p>

<p>She was sitting perfectly still, her body
in entire accord with the movement of her
horse. No one beholding her would have
dreamed of an accident. Yet when the
horse had actually cleared the hurdle without
difficulty and had reached the ground
on the further side, the girl must have
released her hold. In any event she fell
forward over the horse's head, one of the
front hoofs striking her.</p>

<p>First out of the car was Thea Thompson
followed by Dr. Raymond, then Ruth and
the other Red Cross physician.</p>

<p>The girl they found to be unconscious
from a wound in her forehead.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_84" id="Page_84">[84]</a></span></p>

<p>"I don't see why we seem to be in the
habit of rescuing people nearly every time
I go out in a motor car," said Thea. "Certainly
I never saw so pretty a girl as this
one, I hope she is not seriously hurt."</p>

<p>Dr. Raymond wore his most professional
air.</p>

<p>"It is impossible to say at present," he
returned severely.</p>



<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_85" id="Page_85">[85]</a></span></p>
<h2>CHAPTER VII</h2>

<div class='chaptertitle'><i>An Unexpected Situation</i><br /><br /></div>


<div class='cap'>"BUT I don't wish to leave the hospital,
I am comfortable here and Mrs.
Clark says they are pleased to have
me. Besides I could not possibly be moved
just now, I am sure I could not endure it."</div>

<p>The young girl who was talking lay surrounded
by pillows in a wide, old-fashioned
bed in the American Red Cross hospital in
Luxemburg.</p>

<p>Partly from excitement and also because
it was characteristic, a brilliant color flamed
the girl's cheeks. At present there was a
little frown between her dark, finely lined
brows.</p>

<p>"You must be glad not to have me at
home for a time, knowing how we disagree
on every important question. And, as for
my absence from the palace, I am sure it
can only be a relief. You know just how
popular I am there at present in the midst
of&mdash;"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_86" id="Page_86">[86]</a></span></p>

<p>The woman who was standing beside the
bed, leaning over at this instant placed her
fingers on the girl's lips.</p>

<p>"Don't talk nonsense and under no circumstances
speak of so serious a matter
where we may be overheard by strangers,
my dear child. Please realize that the
Americans are unknown people to us and
if there are reasons why it is best we should
be cordial, there is an even more important
reason why, at present, we should keep our
own council. A girl's opinions on matters
of state are really not vital, unless the girl
chances to be the Grand Duchess Marie
Adelaide. As her cousin you perhaps take
yourself too seriously. But I am not offering
you advice, merely telling you that your
father desires that you be moved to your
own home as soon as your physicians think
it advisable. The court physician will call
on you at the hospital this afternoon. Both
your father and I are at a loss to understand
how you managed to fall from your horse
when ordinarily you are so skilful a rider."</p>

<p>The speaker was a severe, elderly person,
rather massive, and dressed in a heavy black<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_87" id="Page_87">[87]</a></span>
silk gown, with her white hair piled high
under an imposing bonnet and her thin
lips drawn into an annoyed line.</p>

<p>Nevertheless, she managed to keep the
tones of her voice fairly even.</p>

<p>"Naturally enough I realize, Charlotta,
that you would refuse to be influenced by
me, although for that matter you have never
been influenced by any one from the time
you were a child."</p>

<p>The girl bit her lips.</p>

<p>"I am afraid I am not well enough to
argue at present and my unfortunate disposition,
Tante, is rather a time-worn
subject between us. I shall do no harm
here, only rest and have a little peace from
our everlasting discussions. Besides, you
do not seem to consider the fact that I
happen to be rather seriously hurt. No one
knows how seriously at present, a broken
arm and a cut on one's head are not comfortable
afflictions, even if they are not
dangerous. But the physicians at the
American Red Cross hospital who were good
enough to rescue and bring me here seem
to believe there may be other complications<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_88" id="Page_88">[88]</a></span>
and that I had best stay where I am for
the present. Please be as gracious as
possible, I have asked Mrs. Clark to come
in this afternoon and be introduced to
you. Her husband is a prominent American
surgeon who has gone on with General
Pershing toward Germany. She is here
with a few other Red Cross nurses caring
for a number of American soldiers until
they are well enough to be moved. I think
we owe her special courtesy as a guest in
our country."</p>

<p>"I am apt to forget the fact Charlotta,
or what is required of me, even though I do
regard it as unfortunate that the American
army should have left us a special reminder
of their visit, once having passed through
our country."</p>

<p>There was an iciness in the manner of the
Countess Scherin which gave one the right
to believe that she had no enthusiasm for
the American army, whatever personal
reasons of state might compel her to courtesy.</p>

<p>Before replying the young Countess Charlotta
<ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Sherin'">Scherin</ins> dropped back on her pillows.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_89" id="Page_89">[89]</a></span></p>

<p>"If you don't mind, Tante, would you
mind ringing the bell? I am sure you would
prefer seeing Mrs. Clark in the drawing-room
and I am suffering a good deal just
at this moment and would like to be quiet.
After all you know this house is mine and
this bed on which I am at present lying was
once my own mother's. If for reasons of
state I was allowed to offer my house to
the American Red Cross during their stay
in Luxemburg, it seems to me like fate that
I should be brought here after my accident.
But please don't mention to Mrs. Clark
that this is my house. It was offered to
the American Red Cross in the name of
the city."</p>

<p>A moment later Bianca Zoli appeared
to escort their distinguished visitor downstairs.</p>

<p>About to leave the room she beheld an
imploring glance in the dark eyes of the
girl on the bed and going closer heard her
whisper:</p>

<p>"Do please come back as soon as you
can, I don't really need anything except
that I am lonely."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_90" id="Page_90">[90]</a></span></p>

<p>Returning fifteen minutes later, it was
then after five o'clock and dusk was gathering
in the fine, old-fashioned chamber, so
Bianca Zoli quietly sat down without speaking
in the chair which had just been vacated
by the elderly countess.</p>

<p>The girl upon the bed appeared to be
asleep at the moment, but as Bianca had
no other duty to occupy her it struck her
that it might be entertaining to sit in the
big, strange room watching her companion
and thinking of her story, or at least of its
brief outline which was all she knew at
present.</p>

<p>Having witnessed the girl's accident and
finding her unconscious and therefore unable
to explain her name or identity, it had
appeared to both the young American
physicians and nurses that the best solution
would be to bring her as swiftly as
possible to their own hospital. After she
had received the necessary attention there
would be time and opportunity to discover
her family and friends.</p>

<p>A few hours afterwards, when the girl
herself returned to consciousness, she explained<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_91" id="Page_91">[91]</a></span>
that she was the young Countess
Charlotta Scherin and lived with her father
and aunt on their estate at a short distance
from the city. The greater part of her time,
however, she spent at the Grand Palace with
her cousins, the Grand Duchess Marie
Adelaide and her five younger sisters.</p>

<p>She seemed to be in a great deal of pain
and yet not particularly unhappy over her
accident, only asking that her father be
informed that she was in safe hands. And
if it were possible and not too much trouble
could she remain at the American Red
Cross hospital until her recovery?</p>

<p>Yet Bianca had only considered her companion
for a few moments when she became
aware that the other girl had opened her
eyes and was looking with the deepest
interest at her.</p>

<p>"I am so glad to have the chance to
know American girls," she began. "It
may strike you as odd but I have wanted
to know them all my life and now through
my accident I am to have the opportunity.
But you look very young and fragile to have
undertaken Red Cross work during the war.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_92" id="Page_92">[92]</a></span>
I believe it is the courage, the way in which
you go ahead and do what you wish and
face the consequences afterwards, that I so
much admire."</p>

<p>Bianca shook her head.</p>

<p>"It is odd your saying this to me of all
persons, because I used to feel a good deal
as you do. You see I am not altogether an
American girl; my mother was an Italian
and my father an American, but I have been
living in the United States and I confess I
have tried to make myself as like one as
possible. But do you think you ought to
talk? I'll talk to you if you like, although
I am not very interesting; I'm afraid you
must be suffering a great deal."</p>

<p>Bianca made this final remark because
her companion was evidently struggling to
keep back the tears which had suddenly
filled her eyes.</p>

<p>"Yes, do please talk to me, I am suffering,
but I think it is more because I am worried
and unhappy than because I am in such
pain that I lose my self-control. I have
always prided myself on being able to
endure physical pain. What are you thinking
about?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_93" id="Page_93">[93]</a></span></p>

<p>Bianca's large dark eyes which were her
only southern inheritance had unexpectedly
assumed a questioning expression, although
her lips had framed no question.</p>

<p>"Why, I was merely thinking of how odd
life is and how few persons, even young
girls are particularly happy. A moment
ago I was sitting here envying you because
your life seemed so wonderful to me. You
have been brought up amid wealth and
have a title of your own and live a part of
the time in a palace with real duchesses. I
suppose my speech does not sound very
democratic, yet I think you might find a
good many American girls who would envy
you for these same reasons."</p>

<p>"Then they would be extremely stupid,"
the other girl answered, "because freedom
is sometimes the most important thing in
the world to an individual as it may be to
a state.</p>

<p>"Suppose, oh, leaving me out of the question
altogether, but just suppose that any
girl's mother had died when the girl was a
baby only one year old. Then suppose the
child had been brought up by her father<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_94" id="Page_94">[94]</a></span>
and aunt both of whom were twice the age
of the girl's own mother. Then remember
her mother was French and the girl always
loved only the things which concerned her
mother, had learned to speak her language
and had written letters to all her family,
but had never been allowed to visit them
because the girl's father and aunt believed
only in German ideals and in German customs
and wished to separate her wholly
from her mother's country and people.
Moreover, they had neither of them ever
been able to forgive her because she had
not been a boy and so been trained for the
army, the German army if possible. Then
suppose the girl had loved only the outdoors
and horses and dogs as if she had been a
boy, but because she was a girl had to be
trained in all the German ways. As for
living in a palace, it is hard sometimes to
do and say the proper thing all the time,
when you feel they don't believe in the
things you believe. Oh, I am not saying
the fault is not mine&mdash;"</p>

<p>The girl stopped an instant.</p>

<p>"But I was not supposed to be talking
about myself, still you must have guessed."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_95" id="Page_95">[95]</a></span></p>

<p>"I should not have guessed unless you
wished me to guess," Bianca replied in the
prim little fashion of her childhood which
she had never lost from her manner and
which amused and pleased her friends.</p>

<p>"No, you would not have guessed, you
are a dear," the Countess Charlotta
answered with an impulsiveness which was an
entire contrast to Bianca's nature.</p>

<p>"But what I wanted to explain to you is
that you were envying what you thought
were my circumstances. You were not
really thinking of me at all. You see one
might be a princess and be very unhappy
and one might be a very humble person
and just the opposite. Then I think we
ought to realize that a princess may be
very horrid and a beggar maid most wonderful."</p>

<p>The young countess hesitated.</p>

<p>"I thought that what I have just said is
what Americans believed. Don't they think
that human beings are equal and that it
all depends on what they do with their
own lives, what they are able to make of
themselves?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_96" id="Page_96">[96]</a></span></p>

<p>Bianca shook her head.</p>

<p>"I don't know, you had better talk to
some one else on this question instead of
to me. I am not at all clever, even my best
friends, Sonya Clark and Carlo Navara, do
not think I am clever. But there is one
thing I understand at present. You have
told me a great many interesting facts about
yourself, but there is something else on
your mind which you have not confided to
me. It is something which makes you
wish you were an American girl because
you believe in that case you could do what
you like. I think you wish to confide in
some one, but can't quite decide. If I were
in your place I would try not to worry
until you are better, then if you want some
one to talk to, don't choose me. I should
never be able to give you any worthwhile
advice. But talk to Mrs. Clark, Sonya
Clark. She has had a very unusual life
and is one of the most wonderful friends in
the world!"</p>

<p>The older girl was by this time lying
back on her pillows and gazing at Bianca
with an odd smile.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_97" id="Page_97">[97]</a></span></p>

<p>"You know," she said finally, "I would
not be surprised if your friends are mistaken
in thinking you are not clever. Perhaps
I shall take your advice. I suppose I had
best try now to go to sleep, I am afraid
I have already talked too much."</p>



<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_98" id="Page_98">[98]</a></span></p>
<h2>CHAPTER VIII</h2>

<div class='chaptertitle'><i>The Countess's Story</i><br /><br /></div>


<div class='cap'>A &nbsp; FEW days later it had become
unnecessary for the little Countess
Charlotta to confide her secret to
Bianca Zoli, or Sonya, or to any one else
at the temporary Red Cross hospital in the
capital city of Luxemburg. Already her
history had been openly discussed by
visitors to the hospital, even by the servants
who were assisting with the household work.</div>

<p>It was a well-known fact, apparently,
that marriage was being arranged for the
youthful countess by her father and aunt
to an elderly German nobleman.</p>

<p>Nor was the little countess's opposition
to the match, her refusal to consider it as a
possibility any more of a secret than the
knowledge that no attention was being paid
her protests.</p>

<p>Inquiring the name of the girl who might
be regarded as the prettiest and the most<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_99" id="Page_99">[99]</a></span>
wilful among the daughters of the noble
families of Luxemburg, one undoubtedly
would have been told, Charlotta Scherin.
During the past four years perhaps her
mixture of German and French blood had
been a disturbing inheritance.</p>

<p>Shortly after the passing of a portion of
the American Army of Occupation through
the little country, many were the rumors
and talks of political changes and readjustments
which would probably take place,
but to these the small American Red Cross
unit decided to give little heed.</p>

<p>One thing they were obliged to hear, the
Grand Duchess Marie Adelaide had not
pleased all her subjects by her surrender
to German ideas and designs during the
recent years when the German army had
used her kingdom as a passageway to
France.</p>

<p>In spite of her verbal protest against the
breaking of the treaty which declared her
country neutral, once the Germans had
entered her duchy the Grand Duchess had
appeared to sympathize with the invaders.</p>

<p>Now, whether it was the world talk of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">[100]</a></span>
democracy, the victory of the allies, or
the old love of the little duchy of Luxemburg
for France, the people of the small
kingdom were assuredly considering a
change of government.</p>

<p>Yet this problem did not trouble or affect
the affairs of the Red Cross hospital. Nor
did the little Countess Charlotta appear
deeply interested, insisting that her family
would make the same effort to compel her
marriage without regard to political reforms.</p>

<p>Certainly the young Luxemburg countess,
whatever her upbringing, was not a reserved
character. Instead she seemed to
love nothing so well as to discuss her own
past, present and future with the group of
American girls and to have them tell her
as much as they would of their own histories.</p>

<p>One way or another apparently the
Countess Charlotta was in the habit of
managing to do what she liked.</p>

<p>The thing she wished at present was to
remain as long as possible at the American
Red Cross hospital.</p>

<p>It was true at first the two Red Cross<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">[101]</a></span>
physicians who had been her rescuers
advised against her removal from the
hospital. Influenced by them, or perhaps
sharing their view, her own physician had
given the same opinion. But now a number
of days having passed without fresh complications,
undoubtedly the Countess Charlotta
might have returned home had she
so desired.</p>

<p>Yet since she did not so desire and
declined to stir from her bed, naturally
Sonya felt obliged to insist upon her remaining
until she had completely recovered.</p>

<p>The old house in which the Red Cross
was now established Sonya had since learned
was the property of the girl who was in a
sense an accidental patient.</p>

<p>The Countess Charlotta was not a troublesome
invalid, Sonya's chief difficulty being
that the Red Cross girls so enjoyed the
newcomer's society it was difficult to keep
them out of her room during any of their
spare moments.</p>

<p>Certainly she was brave and made as
little as possible of her physical suffering,
and then her insatiate curiosity about
American girls was a charm in itself.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">[102]</a></span></p>

<p>As a matter of fact it was Charlotta who
soon knew more of the history of the present
group of Red Cross girls than any one of
their number had ever formerly known.</p>

<p>Both Mildred Thornton and Nona Davis
told her of their own engagements, perhaps
unwisely sympathizing with the difference
in their own futures and hers.</p>

<p>Bianca Zoli spared nothing of her past
save the betrayal of her country's secrets
by her Italian mother, a fact to which she
never alluded.</p>

<p>Sonya even discovered herself relating
anecdotes of her own somewhat long and
checkered career for the benefit of the
newcomer who was at once the guest of the
hospital and its hostess. She even spoke of
her recent marriage to Dr. David Clark
and the fact that his Red Cross unit would
establish a hospital in one of the old castles
on the Rhine as soon as the American
Army of Occupation were in possession of
Coblenz.</p>

<p>Ruth Carroll reported that she had not
so interesting a story to tell as she knew
the little countess would have liked to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">[103]</a></span>
hear. Her life had been fairly prosaic;
her father was a country doctor in a little
Kentucky town and she had never left
home until the interest in the war led her
to study nursing and later to join the Red
Cross service in France.</p>

<p>Regardless of Charlotta's openly expressed
unbelief, Ruth insisted that never
in her life, not even as a little girl, had
she possessed a real admirer.</p>

<p>In compensation Ruth could only declare
that if Theodosia Thompson cared to tell
of her past it would form a contrast to her
own humdrum tale.</p>

<p>It chanced that Bianca Zoli was also in
the little countess's room when one evening
after supper Theodosia dropped in to rest
and talk before going upstairs to bed.</p>

<p>Her duties were over for the day and it
seemed to both the other girls that she
appeared tired and cross. Yet the work at
the hospital at present was not severe.
Most of the American soldiers, who had
suffered attacks of influenza on their eastward
march, were now nearly well, while
a few of them had already left the hospital<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">[104]</a></span>
at Luxemburg for one of the convalescent
hospitals in southern France.</p>

<p>In their brief acquaintance Bianca and
Charlotta had become intimate friends, for
one reason because Bianca had more time
to devote to her than the regular Red Cross
nurses. But there was another strange
bond in the difference in their temperaments,
since concealment of her emotions
was the habit of Bianca's life, while Charlotta
apparently never concealed anything.</p>

<p>Yet Bianca was talking of Carlo Navara
and their friendship when Theodosia interrupted
her unconscious revelation of her
affection for the young American soldier
and singer.</p>

<p>"Perhaps you would rather I did not
come in," Theodosia protested, standing a
moment on the threshold and frowning.</p>

<p>Then, when both girls had insisted on
her entrance, she came and sat down in a
large chair with her small feet thrust under
her.</p>

<p>Bianca was sitting on the edge of Charlotta's
bed, both of them having been
examining a box of jewelry which the young<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">[105]</a></span>
countess had demanded sent from her home
earlier in the day.</p>

<p>The big room was very comfortable with
a few pieces of old furniture which had not
been removed from this chamber to give
place to the regular hospital accommodations.</p>

<p>A shaded electric light was on a table
near the bed throwing its warm lights on
Bianca Zoli's fair hair and on the Countess
Charlotta's black curls which she had tied
with a band of bright blue velvet.</p>

<p>"You children look very young and very
fortunate," Theodosia began, her tone a
little envious.</p>

<p>"It must be agreeable, Countess Charlotta,
not to be a Miss Nobody of Nowhere,
even if you have difficulties of your own to
contend with."</p>

<p>Theodosia made a queer little face,
wrinkling her small nose, the dark light
appearing in the centres of her large, pale
blue eyes.</p>

<p>"I don't think I could make up my mind
even in my present condition to marry a
German nobleman, but a nobleman of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">[106]</a></span>
another variety I think I would accept
regardless of his age and the democratic
ideas which are supposed to possess my
country. As a matter of fact, I don't
suppose any girls in the world ever wanted
to marry into the nobility more than
American girls before the war. I rather
wonder if we have altogether changed.
But at any rate I have nothing to offer to
anybody, neither beauty, nor brains, nor
money, nor family."</p>

<p>Then observing that both her companions
appeared shocked by her pessimism Theodosia
laughed, her expression changing with
extraordinary swiftness.</p>

<p>"I wonder if you girls would like to hear
a little of my history. I hope you won't be
bored. After all it is only fair that we should
know something of each other before we
can form fair judgments. I wish I had the
courage to confide in Mrs. Clark, but I
don't think she likes me.</p>

<p>"I might as well tell the worst or the
best of myself first. My mother was a
dancer. I don't know much about her
except that she was ill and came to a little<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_107" id="Page_107">[107]</a></span>
Kentucky town to try to recover. My
father was a boy, younger than she, and
fell desperately in love. He married her
without a cent and against the will of his
older brother, a small farmer. Well, my
mother died and my father died soon
after when I was a few years old. Afterwards
I was brought up by a very unpleasant
old uncle of the story book variety, who
disliked me and everything about me.</p>

<p>"I never had any friends except Ruth
Carroll, who is an angel and has always
been good to me. People in little towns are
still suspicious of an ancestry like mine. I
want to be a dancer myself, but I have
never had the opportunity. So I studied
nursing because Ruth was studying and
because I wanted to help in the war and
most of all, to get away from Cloverport,
Kentucky.</p>

<p>"There is my history in a nutshell, but
what is really interesting in life isn't the
chapters one has already read, it is the
chapters to come. I hope we may soon go
on to Coblenz. I am sure we will have an
interesting time there. Only of course I am<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">[108]</a></span>
sorry, Countess Charlotta, that you will
not be with us."</p>

<p>Older than her companions, Theodosia's
dramatic Irish instinct was somewhat overwhelming.
Even the little Luxemburg
countess felt her own story of less interest
and importance by comparison.</p>

<p>Fortunately Theodosia had also an Irish
sense of humor and observing the awestruck
expressions of her companions, suddenly
she laughed a gay little laugh which
was one of the attractions of her odd and
not always pleasing personality.</p>

<p>"Oh, you must not take what I have
just told you too seriously. Ruth Carroll,
who understands me better than any one
else, says I get more pleasure than sorrow
out of my queer history. As for the dancing
I only wish to do folk dancing and Mrs.
Clark tells me the soldiers are beginning
to be interested in folk dancing as one of
the methods of amusing themselves. I
told her how much I was interested and she
told me there might be a chance to help
entertain the soldiers as well as nurse them,
after the army of occupation settles down<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">[109]</a></span>
for a long watch upon the Rhine. Goodnight,"
and even more quickly than she had
appeared, Thea, as her friends called her,
slipped out of the big chair and disappeared.</p>

<p>A few minutes later Bianca went her way
to bed. She was wearing a small pin which
the Countess Charlotta had given her, not
only as a mark of her friendship, but for a
secret reason which only the two girls were
to know.</p>

<p>So it chanced that the group of Red
Cross girls and the little Luxemburg countess
became fairly well acquainted with
each other's past histories because of the
natural fondness of girls for confiding in
one another. Only Nora Jamison never
talked of herself, and though appearing
perfectly friendly, seemed to devote all her
spare time to the companionship of the
little French girl, Louisa.</p>



<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">[110]</a></span></p>
<h2>CHAPTER IX</h2>

<div class='chaptertitle'>"<i>Life's Little Ironies</i>"<br /><br /></div>


<div class='cap'>ONE afternoon the Countess Charlotta
was alone in her room walking
up and down in a restless fashion
for a girl who had been so recently injured.
Her forehead was still bandaged and her
arm in a plaster cast, but otherwise she was
apparently well. Nevertheless, she showed
the results of the strain of her accident and
perhaps of her personal problem.</div>

<p>She looked older than one would have
supposed from her half-joking and half-serious
conversations with Bianca Zoli and
the other Red Cross girls.</p>

<p>In spite of her natural gayety and the
warmth and color of her nature, which she
had inherited from her French ancestry,
the girl faced a difficult future.</p>

<p>All her life it seemed to her she had been
in opposition to her surroundings, throwing
herself powerlessly against ideas and conditions<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">[111]</a></span>
she could not alter. Everything that
belonged to the old German order of existence
she had always hated. From the time
of her babyhood her father had appeared
to her as a narrow tyrant insisting that she
should spend her days in a routine which
pleased him, without consulting either her
wishes or her talents. As a matter of fact,
the small countess had a will of her own
and resented dictation.</p>

<p>Never would the little Charlotta even in
her earliest youth do what might naturally
have been expected of her! From the
first her wilfulness, her entire lack of interest
in ladylike pursuits had been a source of
trouble and anxiety to her governesses.</p>

<p>One characteristic of the small Charlotta
was that she never seemed able to remain
still long enough to learn the things which
were required of her. Her one desire was to
be outdoors riding on horseback over the
fields, or playing with the children in the
village, or in the small cottages on her
father's estate.</p>

<p>The dignity and importance of her own
social position never seemed to enter Charlotta's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">[112]</a></span>
mind, even after her family had
devoted long hours to bringing the fact
before her attention.</p>

<p>Reaching sixteen it had become her duty
to play a small part in the little court of
her cousin, the Grand Duchess. But although
the court life was simple and far less
formal than in countries of greater wealth
and size than the little duchy of Luxemburg,
nevertheless Charlotta found even
the mild formalism irksome.</p>

<p>The real difficulty lay in the fact that
the members of the Grand Duchess's court
were Germans in thought, in ancestry and
in their ideals.</p>

<p>Now the little Countess Charlotta faced
a life when she must always remain surrounded
with these same influences; influences
that she hated and that had always
repelled and antagonized her.</p>

<p>What matter if the Germans had failed
in their war against freedom, if her own
freedom was still denied her? Moreover,
since the German failure her father appeared
more than ever determined to force
her marriage.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">[113]</a></span></p>

<p>If the German nobility were in disgrace,
if the men surrounding the Kaiser had fallen
with their master from their high estate,
at least the Count Scherin of Luxemburg
was faithful to old principles. Luxemburg
was a neutral state and there could be no
interference with his personal ideas and
designs.</p>

<p>Moreover, a few moments before the
Countess Charlotta had received her father's
ultimatum and had just concluded the reading
of his note which demanded that she
return home within the next thirty-six hours.</p>

<p>Well, she would be more sorry to say
farewell to her friends than they would
ever appreciate. Besides, she must go
away from the Red Cross hospital without
the inspiration and the aid she had hoped
to receive from her contact with a group of
American girls. How much she had hoped
to learn from the example of their courage.
Surely some of them must have broken
away from family traditions in coming
from their own homes into foreign lands to
nurse the wounded! And she had dreamed
she might learn to follow their example.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">[114]</a></span></p>

<p>But how quiet the house seemed at present.
It was strange to recall that her
accident had brought her to this house
where her mother had lived as a girl, a
house which had been a part of her inheritance
from her mother, although she had
rarely been inside it.</p>

<p>If only one of the Red Cross girls would
come and talk with her. There was so little
time left when this would be possible and
she so dreaded her own society. What
would she do when she returned to the old
narrowness of her past existence with the
eternal disagreements?</p>

<p>Never except when she was outdoors
could Charlotta endure being alone.</p>

<p>For the first time since her accident the
little countess was almost completely dressed
in a brown costume which Bianca had with
great difficulty adjusted over her injured
arm.</p>

<p>Walking to her door Charlotta opened it,
glancing out into the wide hall.</p>

<p>If she had thought to mention it to Mrs.
Clark, she would surely have gained permission
to wander over this floor of her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_115" id="Page_115">[115]</a></span>
mother's former home. As a matter of fact,
she had not been inside the place for a
number of years, as the property she had
inherited from her mother was in the hands
of a business agent.</p>

<p>Stepping out into the wide hall Charlotta
started toward the front window which
overlooked the grounds. In a moment,
however, she saw that the space before the
window was occupied by a wheeled chair
and that an American officer was seated
there letting the sunlight stream over him.</p>

<p>Undismayed Charlotta walked forward.</p>

<p>"You have been ill and are better, I am
glad," she said simply.</p>

<p>She had a curious lack of self-consciousness
and a friendliness which was very
charming.</p>

<p>The young officer attempted to rise.</p>

<p>"Why, yes, I am better, thank you. I
have been stupidly ill from an attack of
influenza just as my men were on the march
toward Germany and I should have given
anything in the world to have been able to
go along with them. However, I must
not grumble. I am right again so you<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">[116]</a></span>
need not be afraid of me. We have been
kept pretty well isolated from you. But
won't you have this chair?"</p>

<p>The girl shook her head.</p>

<p>"You are very kind and you can be quite
certain I am not afraid of you. Sit down
again, I know you will refuse to confess it,
but you do look pretty weak still. And
there is nothing the matter with me. Oh,
I have a few bruises and a broken arm,
but after all they are not serious. I wonder
now what I was actually trying to
do when I flung myself off my horse.
Have you ever been desperate enough
not to care what happened to you?"</p>

<p>"But you don't mean, Countess Charlotta&mdash;"</p>

<p>"How do you know my name?" the girl
answered quickly, as if wishing to forget
what she had just confessed. "Are you
not Major James Hersey, one of the
youngest majors in the United States
overseas service? I think I have been
hearing a good deal of you from Bianca
Zoli and the other Red Cross girls."</p>

<p>Major Jimmie Hersey colored through his<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">[117]</a></span>
pallor, according to his annoying boyish
habit.</p>

<p>"Well, Countess Charlotta, surely <i>you</i>
have not counted on remaining a mystery&mdash;not
to the American soldiers who have been
ill here in your house, your guests in a
fashion. We have seldom had so romantic
an experience as having a countess as a
patient along with the American doughboys
and in the selfsame hospital. But I
really can't sit here and talk to you while
you stand. At least you will let me bring
you a chair?"</p>

<p>With a good deal of satisfaction Charlotta
nodded her head, her hair showing even
duskier in contrast with the white bandage
over her forehead.</p>

<p>Talking to American girls she had found
extraordinarily entertaining, but to talk to
a young American officer might be even
more agreeable. It certainly would be a
novelty, as this youthful major was the
first American man with whom she had
ever exchanged a word, save the two young
American Red Cross physicians.</p>

<p>"I want to congratulate you on your<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">[118]</a></span>
victory," Charlotta added, when the chair
had been secured and she had seated herself
upon it in an entirely friendly and informal
attitude. "Always my sympathies have
been with the allies from the very first.
You see my mother was French and I suppose
I am like her. I believe French people
have the love of freedom in their blood
just as you Americans have."</p>

<p>"I say, I thought there was something
unusual about you," Major Jimmie answered
impetuously. "I really can't imagine
your being even half German. But that is
not very polite of me and anyhow your
country is not German. I have been reading
about Luxemburg. You were once a part
of France and after the French revolution
became one of the ten departments, known
as the department of forests, the Forest
Canton. Except for your Grand Ducal
family you have never been German in
sentiment."</p>

<p>The Countess Charlotta hummed the line
of a popular version of the national anthem
of Luxemburg at the present time.</p>

<p>"Prussians will we not become." Then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">[119]</a></span>
as she could not help being confidential she
added:</p>

<p>"But suppose, suppose you were going
to be forced into a German marriage, what,
what would you do? I hate it, hate it,
and yet&mdash;"</p>

<p>"Well, nothing on earth would induce me
to consider it," Major Jimmie answered,
his brown eyes shining and his face a deeper
crimson. "You must forgive me, but you
know I can't see anything straight about
Germany yet and the thought of a girl
like you marrying one of the brutes,&mdash;but
perhaps I ought not to say anything as we
are strangers and I might be tempted into
saying too much."</p>

<p>"You could not say too much," Charlotta
returned encouragingly. "I wish you would
give me your advice. If I had been a boy
I would have run away and fought against
Germany and been killed, or if I had not
been killed perhaps my family would have
cast me off. I am thinking of running away
anyhow, only I don't know just where to
go. Do you think I could get to America
without being discovered? Perhaps I might<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">[120]</a></span>
dress as a soldier. You see I can speak
English and French and German. I had to
learn languages as a child even when I
hated studying and now I'm glad. Then
you know I can ride and shoot pretty well.
I don't know why my father ever consented
to have me taught, save that it amused him
a little to have me show the tastes he would
have liked in a son."</p>

<p>Major Hersey felt himself growing a little
confused, as if he were losing his sense of
proportion. He was not much given to
reading, but he remembered two delightful
romances, one "A Lady of Quality," the
other "The Prisoner of Zenda." Here he
was finding the two stories melting into
one in the person of the girl beside him.
Well the situation was surprising even a
little thrilling!</p>

<p>Yet Major Jimmie knew what his own
ideals required of him.</p>

<p>"I am sorry, I am afraid I don't dare
offer you advice. Haven't you some woman
who is your friend to whom you could
appeal? There is Mrs. Clark; I have been
knowing her some time when I was in camp<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">[121]</a></span>
not far from her Red Cross hospital near
Ch&acirc;teau-Thierry. Why not talk to her?
Still, if I were you I would not try running
away, certainly not to the United States.
It is pretty far and you could never make
it. Excuse me, but you know it is amusing
to hear you talk of dressing as a soldier. I
am afraid you would not get away with the
disguise five minutes. Wonder if you have
half an idea what a soldier has to undergo
before he can get aboard a transport for
home."</p>

<p>The young American officer laughed and
then his expression grew serious.</p>

<p>"Please don't say a thing like that again,
even in jest and please don't even think it.
I know a girl who has been brought up as
you have been thinks she knows something
about the world, when in reality she knows
nothing, anyhow, nothing that is ugly or
real. I say, here comes Mrs. Clark now,
why not ask her to help you?"</p>

<p>At this moment Sonya Clark was advancing
down the hall to escort her patient,
Major James Hersey, back to his own room.</p>

<p>A little surprised on discovering the intimacy<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">[122]</a></span>
of the conversation, which was undoubtedly
taking place between the young
officer and the girl who had certainly not
known each other half an hour before,
Sonya stopped and looked toward them.</p>

<p>Then she smiled at the little picture they
made together and came forward to join
them.</p>



<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_123" id="Page_123">[123]</a></span></p>
<h2>CHAPTER X</h2>

<div class='chaptertitle'><i>The Talk with Sonya</i><br /><br /></div>


<div class='cap'>"BUT, my dear child, surely you must
see my position! The Red Cross
unit of which I am a member has
asked the hospitality of your country in
order that we may care for a number of
our ill soldiers until they are sufficiently
recovered to be sent away. I am deeply
sorry and troubled for you. But how can
I show my appreciation of the courtesy&mdash;and
I know our continued presence in
Luxemburg has been an embarrassment&mdash;by
a betrayal of confidence? It would be a
betrayal if I were to aid you in getting
away from your home and country without
your father's knowledge. In a way it
would not only be a personal discourtesy
and deceit, there might even be international
difficulties. You are related to
the Grand Ducal family while I, well, very
unimportant persons can make important<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">[124]</a></span>
difficulties these days! So I am afraid I
must refuse what you ask. But surely if
you speak plainly to your father and make
him understand your feeling in the matter,
he will not demand a sacrifice of your youth
and happiness. Of course I don't know the
laws or the customs of your country, but
an enforced marriage these days appears as
an impossibility."</div>

<p>"It is not a question of law or custom,
Mrs. Clark; only in reigning families are
marriages actually arranged," the Countess
Charlotta answered. "Of course you know,
however, that in Germany the consent of
the parents to a marriage is almost essential,
and my father is German born and was
brought up in Germany, coming to Luxemburg
when he was near middle age. But I
am not trying to pretend to you that I
am actually being forced into this marriage,
since in the end in spite of my pretence of
bravery it will be my own cowardice which
will condemn me to it. I simply do not
feel I can go on living at home with my
father and aunt if I refuse my consent.
All my life I have been a disappointment to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">[125]</a></span>
them and the atmosphere of our existence
has been one long disagreement with antagonism
between us on every possible
subject. You see I have a good deal of
money in my own right and the man my
father wishes me to marry is an old friend
of his, who has lost his fortune through the
war. My father is very bitter over the
result of the war, even if he may be forced
to pretend otherwise. I think he wishes to
give my fortune to his friend as much as
he wishes to see me a proper German wife.
But don't worry about me, Mrs. Clark, I
<i>do</i> see your point of view and am sorry to
have troubled you."</p>

<p>It was past the usual hour of bed-time in
the Red Cross hospital and Sonya had come
in to talk to the young Luxemburg countess
on her way to her own room.</p>

<p>She got up now and began walking up
and down, feeling worried and uncertain.
The young countess's situation, her beauty
and charm, made a deep appeal and yet
she was powerless to do what she asked and
help her to escape from her uncongenial
environment.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">[126]</a></span></p>

<p>The girl's suggestion had been singularly
childlike. She wished to be allowed to go
away from Luxemburg with the Red Cross
girls secretly and to remain in hiding with
them.</p>

<p>"I am not a useful person at present,"
she had pleaded, "I think because I have
never wished to be, but as soon as my arm
is well I am sure you will find, Mrs. Clark,
that I can do a good many things that might
be worth while. It would not be Red Cross
work perhaps, but I could help with the
translating, I suppose there may be a good
deal of confusion of tongues when the army
of occupation reaches the Rhine."</p>

<p>Sonya was thinking of this speech now
as she watched the shadows in the old room,
lighted only by a single lamp. A curious
freak of circumstance that this same room
had once been the Countess Charlotta's
mother's.</p>

<p>"Do you think I might talk to your
father? Would it do the least good? I
suppose he would only think me extraordinarily
impertinent?" Sonya queried.</p>

<p>In the years of her work with the Red<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">[127]</a></span>
Cross since the beginning of the war perhaps
she had had a singular experience.
Instead of finding as most women had,
that she had given herself wholly and entirely
to the needs of the soldiers, it seemed
to Sonya that the greatest and most
important demands upon her had been
made by the Red Cross girls.</p>

<p>Always it was young girls who came to
her with their problems, their disappointments
and difficulties. And sometimes the
difficulties were associated with their work,
but more often with their emotions. But
then it seemed that love and war had always
gone hand in hand, and at least the girls
she had cared for had kept themselves
free from unfortunate entanglements.
The soldiers they had chosen for their
friends were fine and generous. But with
the little Luxemburg countess, Sonya felt
it might be difficult to guess what her
future might hold. She was wilful, beautiful
and unhappy, with perhaps but few
congenial friends among her former associates.</p>

<p>At this instant the Countess Charlotta
shook her head, smiling.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">[128]</a></span></p>

<p>"No, I don't think it would do any good
for you to talk to my father, Mrs. Clark.
As a matter of fact, it would make things
more difficult for me to have him discover
I have discussed my private affairs with a
comparative stranger. I shall probably say
goodby to you tomorrow and go back home,
but I want you to realize, Mrs. Clark, how
much I have appreciated everybody's kindness
to me here and how much I like and
admire American girls. Indeed, I would
not have added to your work if I had not
been so anxious for their acquaintance.
You will soon be going away from Luxemburg
to join the American Army of Occupation
on the Rhine. May I wish you all
good fortune?"</p>

<p>The little countess held out her hand and
Sonya took it in her own for a moment
and then leaned over and kissed her.</p>

<p>"May I write you after we go away and
tell you where we are to be stationed?
Surely there could be no objection to this.
And, my dear, some day I may be able to
prove myself your friend, even if I am forced
to seem unfriendly now. Goodnight."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_129" id="Page_129">[129]</a></span></p>

<p>And Sonya went away, curiously depressed.</p>

<p>In a few days the temporary Red Cross
hospital in Luxemburg would close and she
would probably never see the little Countess
Charlotta again. The soldiers who had
been ill were now sufficiently recovered
either to rejoin their regiments, by this
time approaching the German frontier, or
else to return to convalescent hospitals in
France.</p>

<p>The reigning family of the little duchy of
Luxemburg had been courteous but none
too friendly, and personally Sonya was
anxious to rejoin her husband and the
remainder of their Red Cross unit and to
find themselves established with the American
Army of Occupation.</p>

<p>Gossip in Luxemburg at the present time
insisted that the Grand Duchess Marie
Adelaide would probably be deposed and
her sister invited to reign in her place.
Sonya was hoping to be away from the
duchy before this occurred, and as this did
not actually take place until early in
January and it was now December, the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_130" id="Page_130">[130]</a></span>
American Red Cross unit had not to meet
this political change.</p>

<p>Left to herself the little Countess Charlotta
did not go immediately to bed,
although Bianca Zoli had helped her to
undress some time before and she now
wore only her rose-colored velvet dressing
gown over her night gown.</p>

<p>Until it was midnight and the big house
had grown quiet she sat alone. Her future
was at present no clearer before her than
upon the day when in a spirit of utter recklessness
and foolhardiness she had deliberately
flung herself from her horse. Yet at
least she would never be so stupid again or
perhaps so wicked!</p>

<p>Finally getting up she lighted a candle
and wandered first about the old room and
then out into the wide hall.</p>

<p>She had an idea of going to Bianca Zoli's
room and of asking Bianca if it were possible
that she could make her a gift, an unusual
gift perhaps. The little countess desired one
of Bianca's cast-off Red Cross uniforms.</p>

<p>But then Bianca did not sleep alone and
would certainly be startled by such an
extraordinary request.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_131" id="Page_131">[131]</a></span></p>

<p>Moreover, Charlotta would have no reasonable
explanation to offer for her request
not being entirely clear in her own mind as
to why she desired this possession.</p>

<p>Later she tiptoed back into her own
room and climbed into bed.</p>

<p>Next day probably she would make her
singular demand. If she had no such opportunity
at some time, when the American
Red Cross had departed from Luxemburg,
she would come back to her own house,
since there she might find what she wished.</p>

<p>If it became necessary and she did finally
decide to leave home she would require
some disguise which her friends might
unwittingly leave behind them.</p>



<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_132" id="Page_132">[132]</a></span></p>
<h2>CHAPTER XI</h2>

<div class='chaptertitle'><i>The Journey to Coblenz</i><br /><br /></div>


<div class='cap'>"I &nbsp; WANT a doughboy and not an officer
to be first across that bridge."</div>

<p>This command from an American
officer was issued one morning in December,
just as the sun broke through the grey
mist. A little later, the American Army of
Occupation, which had been led to victory
by General Pershing, crossed the Moselle
river. Beyond lay Germany.</p>

<p>There was no loud cheering, no blare
of bands, or signs of the conquering hero,
when the American soldiers set foot on the
land they had crossed the ocean to conquer,
only before their eyes floating in the morning
breeze were the stars and stripes.</p>

<p>The advanced guard continued the
ascent over winding roads and past villages
onward toward the Rhine. First marched
the infantry, then followed the artillery,
engineers, signal battalions and last the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_133" id="Page_133">[133]</a></span>
hospital units. And accompanying one of
the final units was Sonya Clark and her
Red Cross group.</p>

<p>Never were any of them to forget their
journey into the city of Coblenz, which,
situated midway between Mayence and
Cologne, just where the Moselle flows into
the Rhine, was to form the chief city for
the American Army of Occupation.</p>

<p>As a matter of fact Sonya and her Red
Cross unit had not dreamed of being able
to form a part of the army on their first
approach to the Rhine, believing that the
time spent by them in Luxemburg would
delay them too seriously. But, because
the German army was slower in accomplishing
its retreat than had been anticipated,
the Third American Army did not draw
near the city of Coblenz until the close of
the second week of December.</p>

<p>It was Sunday when they started their
victorious march from the French country,
it was Sunday when they entered the
valley of the Rhine.</p>

<p>Every acre of the valley appeared to be
under cultivation; there were fields of winter<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_134" id="Page_134">[134]</a></span>
wheat and walled vineyards lining the
roads. Beyond, the hills were covered
with dense forests, farther on were the tall
summits of the ancient castles of the Rhine.</p>

<p>Varying impressions the journey into
Germany made upon this particular group
of American girls.</p>

<p>"I declare it is unendurable to me to see
how prosperous and peaceful the German
county appears in comparison with the
French!" Nona Davis exclaimed, staring
out of the window of their Red Cross
automobile, as their car drove through one
of the small towns not far from the larger
city.</p>

<p>Not many grown persons were in sight,
but children were swarming everywhere
and blonde heads were sticking out of the
windows of nearly all the little houses along
the road.</p>

<p>"I don't think the children look nearly
as hungry as we had been led to expect,"
she added with a bitterness of tone unlike
Nona's usual attitude of mind. But then
she had been nursing in Europe for four
years, since the very outbreak of the war<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_135" id="Page_135">[135]</a></span>
and had been an eyewitness to untold
suffering and privation.</p>

<p>"I don't think I would be resentful about
the German children, Miss Davis," Nora
Jamison argued unexpectedly, as she rarely
took part in any general conversation among
the Red Cross girls.</p>

<p>Nona glanced in her direction. Sitting
next Nora was the little French girl, Louisa,
who had been in her care ever since their
withdrawal from France. There had been
no one along the way to whom they could
entrust the child.</p>

<p>In the little French girl's expression at
the moment there was something which
seemed to Nona to justify her point of
view. Her face was white and her lips
trembling as she too gazed out at the little
German village.</p>

<p>At the instant she had beheld a former
German soldier walking along one of the
streets. On his head was a round civilian
cap and he had on a pair of civilian trousers,
the rest of his costume was an old German
uniform. And it was the sight of the uniform
which had brought the terror to the
child's face.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_136" id="Page_136">[136]</a></span></p>

<p>Sonya saw the look and understood it at
the same moment. In order that there
might be no further argument she said
gently:</p>

<p>"Girls, I don't often preach, but perhaps
I shall make the effort now. We are going
into an extraordinary new experience for
which I sometimes wonder if we are either
mentally or spiritually prepared. During
the past four years we have felt an intense
bitterness against everything German; they
represented for us all the forces of evil
against which we were fighting. Now we
are going to live among them and I suppose
must not feel the same degree of hatred.
Yet it will be difficult to change, impossible
at first. I think it may be a number of
years before we can learn to accept them
as our friends. And yet I do not wish any
of us to stir up fresh antagonism. One has
always heard that the soldiers who have
done the actual fighting have never the
same hatred toward each other as the noncombatants,
and perhaps we Red Cross
workers stand somewhere in between the
two. And yet Germany has only herself<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_137" id="Page_137">[137]</a></span>
to thank that she has earned the distrust
of the civilized world!"</p>

<p>As no one replied, after remaining silent
a moment, Sonya went on: "You know
our soldiers have been given the order that
they are to be as polite as possible and not
to make trouble, but also they are not to
fraternize with the Germans, even if living
in their homes. I think the same order
holds good with us."</p>

<p>At this instant Bianca Zoli who had
appeared to be almost asleep opened her
eyes and yawned.</p>

<p>"But I thought fraternizing meant
becoming like brothers," she remarked
irritably. "I don't see how there is any
danger of our becoming too brotherly with
the Germans, Sonya."</p>

<p>The laugh at Bianca's speech, although
annoying to her, helped to clear the atmosphere.</p>

<p>In truth at the time the Red Cross girls
were weary and anxious to reach the end
of their journey, in order that they might
establish their Red Cross headquarters.</p>

<p>Bianca was in a particularly discouraged<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_138" id="Page_138">[138]</a></span>
frame of mind. She was distinctly grieved
at saying goodby to the little Luxemburg
countess, whom she happened to have liked
more than any girl she had ever known;
she also cherished a grievance against
Sonya Clark, because Sonya had refused
to consent to bring Charlotta away with
them secretly.</p>

<p>Moreover, Bianca was anxious to have
some word of Carlo Navara. Not a line,
no news of any kind had she been able to
receive since Carlo's regiment began its
march toward the Rhine. And Bianca had
never a very comfortable sense of Carlo's
enduring friendship. It was only when she
had been able to help Carlo in the past that
he had seemed especially fond of her. She
did not blame him particularly; he was a
good deal older <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'that'">than</ins> she was, and his gift
of a wonderful voice made other people
spoil him, beside adding to his own vanity.
He had once thought he would always care
more for Sonya Clark than any one in the
world, but Bianca had seen in the last
weeks they were together in the hospital
near Ch&acirc;teau-Thierry that Carlo was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_139" id="Page_139">[139]</a></span>
becoming far more reasonable upon this
subject.</p>

<p>Sonya's marriage had of course made all
the difference, although in his absurd
fashion Carlo had protested that it could
never alter his affection.</p>

<p>With a little sigh, Bianca now made an
effort to go to sleep again.</p>

<p>She was not in the least interested in continuing
to stare out the car window as the
other girls were. She had been doing
nothing else for days.</p>

<p>Whether she slept or not, Bianca did not
realize. But suddenly she heard Sonya
murmur.</p>

<p>"Don't go to sleep again, Bianca dear.
We are just about to enter Coblenz and I
want you to remember it all your life. See
it is a splendid, prosperous city along the
bank of the Rhine."</p>

<p>But Bianca would not rouse herself until
their automobile had entered the centre
of the city and gone by the Coblenzhof, one
of the finest hotels in the city, and then
past the mammoth statue of Wilhelm I
the grandfather of the deposed Kaiser.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_140" id="Page_140">[140]</a></span></p>

<p>Then Bianca decided to display a mild
interest in her surroundings.</p>

<p>Coblenz is known as one of the most
beautiful cities in the world and the German
defeat had dimmed none of its outward
glory.</p>

<p>Finally the Red Cross automobile drove
to the outskirts of the city and entered a
large court yard. On a hill beyond the
courtyard rose an old castle which was to
be the new American Red Cross hospital.</p>

<p>The building itself was grim and forbidding
with its square, serrated towers
and heavy, dark stone walls.</p>

<p>Bianca gave an instinctive shiver.</p>

<p>"The castle looks more like a dungeon
than a hospital," she whispered to Sonya,
"I wish they had given us a more cheerful
place for our headquarters. Perhaps our
soldiers will not mind, but I should hate
to be ill in such a dismal place. Yes, I
know the outlook over the Rhine is magnificent
but just the same it depresses me."</p>

<p>Then Bianca's manner and expression
changed.</p>

<p>Standing in the yard before the castle<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_141" id="Page_141">[141]</a></span>
were a group of their friends waiting to
receive them.</p>

<p>Dr. Clark had arrived in Coblenz a
number of hours before his wife and had
already taken command of the new Red
Cross hospital for American soldiers. He
and his wife had not seen each other in
nearly a month, as they had made the
journey to the Rhine with different portions
of the army.</p>

<p>With Dr. Clark were other members of
his Red Cross staff and several representatives
of the German Red Cross, who were
to turn over certain supplies.</p>

<p>Unexpectedly a private soldier formed
one of the group, who must have received
permission from his superior officer to share
in the welcome to his friends.</p>

<p>The young man was Carlo Navara.</p>

<p>Bianca extended her hand like a child
for Carlo to assist her out of the car.</p>

<p>"I was never so glad to see you before,"
she announced. "I don't care what the
other Red Cross girls may say, but I have
found the journey to the Rhine since we
left Luxemburg extremely tiresome."</p>



<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_142" id="Page_142">[142]</a></span></p>
<h2>CHAPTER XII</h2>

<div class='chaptertitle'><i>New Year's Eve in Coblenz</i><br /><br /></div>


<div class='cap'>THERE was no great difficulty in
establishing the American Red Cross
hospital at Coblenz. Dr. Clark had
a large and efficient staff who were accustomed
to working with him and naturally
the demands were not so severe as in time
of war.</div>

<p>Indeed Dr. Clark had no idea of asking
the same degree of energy and devotion
which the last six months of fighting had
required of every human being in any way
engaged in the great struggle in Europe. A
reasonable amount of work and of discipline
was as necessary for the hospital staff as
for the soldiers and officers of the American
Army of Occupation engaged in their new
duty of policing the Rhine. Yet whenever
it was possible opportunity was given for
freedom and pleasure.</p>

<p>There were but few of the expected difficulties<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_143" id="Page_143">[143]</a></span>
between the Americans and the
Germans which the people of both nations
had feared. A certain friction of course
and suspicion and gossip about secret plots,
but no open quarreling or dissension.</p>

<p>The new Red Cross hospital occupied an
old castle which had formerly been used as
a German hospital, although the last German
wounded had been removed before the
arrival of the American army.</p>

<p>The castle itself stood on a hill with a
drop of a hundred feet to the bank of the
Rhine, a path led down the hill to the river's
edge. Crowning the summit were two old
Roman towers which commanded a wonderful
view; through the <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'windoes'">windows</ins> one could
see many miles up and down the historic
stream and on either side other castles
famous in ancient legends long before the
foundation of the modern German empire.</p>

<p>Within view of the American Red Cross
hospital was the famous German fortress
of Ehrenbreitstein across the river from
Coblenz. The fortress was set on a rocky
promontory four hundred feet above the
river and surrounded by a hundred acres of<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_144" id="Page_144">[144]</a></span>
land. From its flagstaff, where for a hundred
years the German standard had waved,
now floated the stars and stripes.</p>

<p>On New Year's day at about four o'clock
in the afternoon Sonya Clark stood waiting
just outside the hospital for the appearance
of her husband. It had become their
custom for the past two weeks, whenever
there was no real reason to prevent, to
take a walk every afternoon at about the
same hour.</p>

<p>However, on this afternoon, Sonya and
Dr. Clark had a definite destination.</p>

<p>A New Year's eve entertainment for the
amusement of the soldiers was to take place
at the Red Cross headquarters about a
mile from the hospital and both Sonya
and her husband had promised to be present.
As a matter of fact as many of their Red
Cross nurses as Miss Blackstone had been
able to release from their duties had been
spending the afternoon at the headquarters
and an equal number of the hospital staff
of physicians and orderlies.</p>

<p>A light snow was falling when Sonya and
Dr. Clark set out. The court yard in front<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_145" id="Page_145">[145]</a></span>
of their hospital sloped gradually to the
road, so that the steep incline was only in
the rear.</p>

<p>To her husband at least Sonya looked
very young and handsome in her long
fur coat and hat, which had been one of
his gifts since reaching Europe.</p>

<p>Their walk was to lead through a number
of quiet streets and then along one of the
main thoroughfares of the German city.</p>

<p>At first Sonya and Dr. Clark spoke of
nothing of any importance and then finally
walked on for several moments in silence.</p>

<p>At the end of this time, Sonya glanced
toward her husband and smiled.</p>

<p>"What is it you wish to talk to me
about?" she inquired. "I don't know why,
but I always seem able to feel a something
in the atmosphere when you have a problem
on your mind which you can't quite
decide to discuss with me."</p>

<p>Dr. Clark laughed.</p>

<p>"Well, you see, Sonya, when I married
you I was under the impression that you
were unsuited to Red Cross work and that
so far as possible, since you would insist<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_146" id="Page_146">[146]</a></span>
upon working with me, you must be saved
from as many difficulties as possible. At
present, although I have not yet quite
reached the state of advising with you upon
my professional responsibilities, when my
problems are human, you are the only
person to whom I can turn. Miss Blackstone
is an admirable superintendent of a
hospital along the same lines that I have
been a fairly successful physician and
surgeon, but when we have to deal with
personal equations we are both hopelessly
unfit."</p>

<p>"And all this long speech, which may or
may not be complimentary, leads up to just
what human equation at present?" Sonya
queried.</p>

<p>"Can't you guess and tell me first,
Sonya?" Dr. Clark demanded. "I always
feel so much better satisfied if you have
noticed certain situations yourself before
I speak to you of them. Then I am convinced
that I have not made a mistake in
my own sometimes faulty observations."</p>

<p>"I suppose at this instant you are considering
the problem of Hugh Raymond<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_147" id="Page_147">[147]</a></span>
and Thea Thompson, aren't you, if problem
there is in which any outside human
being has a right to interfere? No, don't
interrupt me until I finish," Sonya protested.</p>

<p>"I realize that you are very seriously
opposed to the least personal relation
existing between any of your Red Cross
nurses and physicians and so far we have
been remarkably successful. But it has
been more luck I think than my distinguished
husband's objection to the possibility.
One can't arrange, when young
persons are more or less intimately associated
with each other and living under the
same roof, that they always maintain a
friendly and yet highly impersonal attitude.
Of course I also understand that you have
great hopes for Hugh Raymond's future,
and that as he is extremely poor you would
dislike to see him marry a poor girl before
his position is more assured. I also understand
that neither you nor I especially
like Thea Thompson. She has rather a
curious history and is not herself an ordinary
person. One thing I have noticed. At<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_148" id="Page_148">[148]</a></span>
the beginning of their acquaintance it was
Thea who made an effort to interest Hugh,
since then I don't think she has been particularly
interested in him. The interest
has been on his side. It is to me rather
unfortunate because Ruth Carroll might
have liked Hugh, and, oh well, I must not
speak of this! All I wished to say was
that whatever our personal feeling in the
matter it will be wiser, my dear husband,
for you to say nothing to Hugh at present
and for me to say nothing to Thea, which is
what you rather had in mind to suggest.
Moreover, nothing has so far developed
between them for which you need have
cause to worry! Thea told me the other
day that she was happy here in Coblenz
because she has been able to have a relief
from the constant strain of the hospital
work, which she confesses was becoming
a little hard to endure, by dancing with the
soldiers at the Red Cross headquarters in
her free hours. She has been helping one
of the Red Cross managers, a Mrs. Adams,
to teach some of the soldiers folk dancing.
I believe she has a gift for it and the soldiers<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_149" id="Page_149">[149]</a></span>
are getting a good deal of amusement out of
their own efforts to learn. A good thing
for all of them! We must remember our
years and realize that young people need
all kinds of relaxation."</p>

<p>"Thanks, Sonya, for including me along
with your youthful self, even if we are in a
class apart," Dr. Clark returned. "I wonder
if you will be as severe with me concerning
my other complaint. As a matter
of fact I am ashamed of this myself and
do not honestly consider it gravely. But
you know we are in a curious position here
in Coblenz. On the outside apparently
everything is going well. As comfortable
a relation as one could expect has been
established between our former enemy and
ourselves. Yet Coblenz is full of rumors.
There is a very strong pro-Kaiser element
in the city, which means there is a party
deeply in opposition to all American thought
and feeling and to the establishment of any
new form of government in Germany which
shall not include the Kaiser.</p>

<p>"The point of all this is that I insist
there be no display even of conventional<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_150" id="Page_150">[150]</a></span>
friendliness between any member of our
Red Cross unit and a single German
resident of Coblenz. The information has
been brought to me that Nora Jamison, one
of our own nurses, has been making friends
with a group of German children. They
meet her and the little French girl, Louisa,
in one of the city parks every afternoon
and there they play together. Of course,
this appears innocent, but knowing the
children in a too friendly fashion may mean
knowing their families later. The army
officers tell me there has been this same
problem among our soldiers. No one seems
to have been able to prevent their getting
on intimate terms with every little Hans
and Gretel who makes their acquaintance.
But I do wish you would protest mildly
to Miss Jamison. It is true that we know
little of her history except that her credentials
must have been satisfactory to the
Red Cross. I confess I agreed to have her
form a part of our Red Cross unit rather
on an impulse, when I learned Barbara
Thornton was forced to return home.
Besides, Miss Jamison herself attracted<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_151" id="Page_151">[151]</a></span>
me. She has some unusual characteristic
which I cannot exactly explain, but which
nevertheless&mdash;"</p>

<p>"Ah, well, you need not try to explain it,
David, because the thing is 'charm,' which
I believe no one has successfully explained
so far," Sonya answered. "I presume this
same charm is what endears her to the
German children; it has kept the little
French Louisa close beside her since we
left France. The little girl is getting all
right too, talking and behaving like a
normal person. But of course I'll ask Miss
Jamison to be careful that her friendship
with the German children does not lead
to any intimacy in their homes. She told
me that she was a kind of Pied Piper of
Hamlin. Do you remember how the Pied
Piper led the German children away into
some undiscovered country when their
parents <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'refuse'">refused</ins> to pay him his just dues?
But I think the girl is Peter Pan instead
and has some childish quality which we cannot
understand but which children recognize
and love in her. You see the young
soldier to whom she was engaged was<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_152" id="Page_152">[152]</a></span>
killed in the fighting near Ch&acirc;teau-Thierry
and apparently children are her one consolation.
She is friendly with all our Red
Cross unit, but not intimate with one of
us."</p>

<p>When Sonya and her husband finally
reached the Red Cross headquarters,
already the large building was lighted, as
the darkness fell early in the winter afternoons.</p>

<p>Going unannounced into the big reception
room they found it fairly crowded. The
room must have been fifty feet in length
and nearly equally wide and extended from
the front of the building to the rear.</p>

<p>In one end was a giant Christmas tree,
left over from the Christmas celebration
for the soldiers which in honor of New
Year's eve was again lighted with a hundred
white candles according to a German
custom.</p>

<p>There were few other lights in the room.</p>

<p>Up against the walls were double rows of
chairs in which a number of persons were
seated. Others were dancing in the centre
of the floor.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_153" id="Page_153">[153]</a></span></p>

<p>Immediately Mrs. Arthur Adams, who
was in charge of the Red Cross headquarters,
came forward to speak to Dr.
and Mrs. Clark. She was accompanied by
Major James Hersey, who had entirely
recovered from his attack of influenza and
was now in command of his battalion in
Coblenz.</p>

<p>A little later, after they had secured
chairs, Bianca Zoli and Dr. Raymond
joined them.</p>

<p>Nona Davis was dancing with Sergeant
Donald Hackett, Thea Thompson with
Carlo Navara.</p>

<p>Sonya noticed no one else at the moment
whom she knew particularly well.</p>

<p>Yes, there standing up against the wall
was Nora Jamison, with the little French
girl's hand in <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'her's'">hers</ins> and a line of children
on either side.</p>

<p>Nona Davis changing partners, Sergeant
Donald <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Hacket'">Hackett</ins> went over evidently to ask
Nora Jamison to dance with him, but she
must have declined as he continued standing
beside her, laughing and talking.</p>

<p>"Have you been dancing, Bianca?"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_154" id="Page_154">[154]</a></span>
Sonya inquired. "You usually enjoy it so
much."</p>

<p>Leaning over, Bianca whispered.</p>

<p>"Please don't discuss the question aloud,
Sonya. No one has asked me recently,
only Major Hersey and Dr. Raymond
earlier in the afternoon. Dr. Raymond
dances abominably."</p>

<p>"Not Carlo?" Sonya demanded.</p>

<p>And Bianca shook her head.</p>

<p>Something of their whispered conversation
Hugh Raymond must have guessed.</p>

<p>"We are not to have any more of the
ordinary dancing just at present, Mrs.
Clark. Miss Thompson and Carlo Navara
are to do a folk dance together."</p>

<p>Just as he was speaking, suddenly the
music ceased and the dancers crowded into
places along the wall.</p>

<p>A few moments later, standing in the
centre of the floor and alone, were Thea
Thompson and Carlo Navara.</p>

<p>This afternoon Thea did not look plain;
she had on a simple black dress of some
thin material, a bright sash and black
slippers and stockings. Her red hair formed
a brilliant spot of color.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_155" id="Page_155">[155]</a></span></p>

<p>Carlo was in uniform.</p>

<p>Their dance was probably an Irish folk
dance, although it was comparatively simple
yet the effect was charming.</p>

<p>Sonya believed she had never seen two
more graceful persons than Thea and
Carlo as they advanced toward each other
and receded, later forming an arch with
their hands above their heads and circling
slowly in and out.</p>

<p>Sonya had known nothing of Carlo as
more than an ordinary dancer, but evidently
he and Thea must have been practicing
together for the afternoon's entertainment.
Naturally, Carlo's musical gifts
would make him a more successful dancer
than anyone without a sense of rhythm
and time.</p>

<p>In any case the effect was charming and
the applause at the close enthusiastic.</p>

<p>As soon as the dance was ended, Carlo
came directly over to where Sonya and
her husband were seated. Bianca and Dr.
Raymond were standing close beside them.</p>

<p>"Carlo, you have not asked Bianca to
dance, you won't forget, will you?" Sonya<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_156" id="Page_156">[156]</a></span>
murmured as soon as she had the opportunity
without being overheard. "I am
afraid you have hurt her, but please don't
let her guess I have spoken to you."</p>

<p>Carlo flushed slightly.</p>

<p>"I am sorry my dear lady," he returned,
which had been one of his old time titles
for Sonya. "I am afraid I have neglected
Bianca. Miss Thompson is such a wonderful
dancer, she is apt to make one forget
any other partner."</p>

<p>But although Sonya smiled upon Carlo
and forgave him, declining the honor of
dancing herself, Bianca was not to be
appeased.</p>

<p>"I suppose Sonya asked you to invite me
to dance, since you waited until she arrived
before you thought of me. Thank you
just the same but I'd rather not," Bianca
said later in answer to his invitation.</p>

<p>Afterwards, although Carlo pleaded for
her favor and returned several times with
a fresh request, nevertheless Bianca continued
firm.</p>

<p>Then, a few moments before going back
to the hospital with Sonya and Dr. Clark,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_157" id="Page_157">[157]</a></span>
she waltzed for a short time with Dr.
Raymond, in spite of the fact that she had
been right in declaring that he was a
conspicuously poor dancer.</p>



<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_158" id="Page_158">[158]</a></span></p>
<h2>CHAPTER XIII</h2>

<div class='chaptertitle'><i>A Walk Along the River Bank</i><br /><br /></div>


<div class='cap'>SOME time later Bianca and Carlo
Navara, not having seen each other
alone since New Year's eve, left the
hospital early in the afternoon for a walk
together.</div>

<p>As a matter of fact Carlo's conscience
had not been altogether easy concerning
his neglect of Bianca since their days
together at Ch&acirc;teau-Thierry. And certainly
before those days he had reason to
be grateful to Bianca and fond of her as
well! Moreover, a little private talk with
Sonya on this same subject, when Sonya
had not spared his vanity, had quickened
his resolution. Curious, Sonya had said,
that the artist so seldom considers loyalty
an essential trait of his own character when
he demands so much loyalty from others!
And yet one knows that without loyalty
no human character has any real value!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_159" id="Page_159">[159]</a></span></p>

<p>Yet Carlo was not thinking of these ideas
in detail when he and Bianca started out.</p>

<p>It was a February day with the faintest
suggestion of spring in the damp, cold air.</p>

<p>Nevertheless, Bianca herself had chosen
that they walk along the river bank, following
a path until they reached the promenade
which extended along a portion of the Rhine
at Coblenz like the famous board walk of
Atlantic City.</p>

<p>Holding tight to Carlo's hand, they
slipped down the hill from behind the
hospital until reaching this path.</p>

<p>But once on fairly level ground, Bianca
deliberately removed her hand from her
companion's and began walking sedately
beside him several feet away.</p>

<p>"Why not walk as we have many times
with my hand in your's to keep you from
slipping, Bianca?" Carlo inquired with a
teasing inflection in his voice and manner.
"I thought you and I were kind of brother
and sister. I don't want you sliding off
into the water."</p>

<p>As Bianca made no answer, Carlo turned
from her to look out over the river. Today<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_160" id="Page_160">[160]</a></span>
the water was dark and muddy with a
strong current flowing.</p>

<p>"Bianca," Carlo asked, "have you ever
read the story of the Rheingold in the Ring
of the Nibelung? One has had a horror
of Germany for so long that one has preferred
to forget German music. Yet since
we arrived in Germany I have been reading
the legends of the Rheingold and they seem
to me to predict Germany's overthrow
because of her materialism.</p>

<div class='poem'>
"Since to me Gold is the only God, and Gold alone<br />
<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">The idol that I worship, from all worlds</span><br />
<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">Will I drive out all love and loving-kindness</span><br />
<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">That to all other men there be no other God</span><br />
<span style="margin-left: 0.5em;">But Gold, and Gold alone shall all men serve."</span><br />
</div>

<p>Carlo sang these few lines softly, forgetting
his companion for the moment.
Then he added half talking to her and
half thinking aloud.</p>

<p>"I wonder if some day, I, the son of
Italian parents, shall ever sing German
music, if my hatred of Germany and
antagonism to everything else that is German
will allow me even to be willing to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_161" id="Page_161">[161]</a></span>
sing it. And yet I suppose there is no great
tenor who has not at some time in his life
longed to take the part of Siegfried, 'The
curse can touch him not for he is pure,
Love shineth on him and he knows not
fear.'"</p>

<p>Carlo ceased speaking at last and in
response Bianca gave a little sigh and then
murmured.</p>

<p>"I wonder, Carlo, if you will ever learn
to think or talk of any one except yourself?"</p>

<p>Bianca's reply was so unexpected that
Carlo started and then stared at her,
aggrieved and slightly irritated.</p>

<p>"But, Bianca, I thought that we were
such intimate friends that I could talk to
you about myself, and certainly of my
musical ambitions. I am sorry my vanity
has bored you."</p>

<p>The young girl shook her head.</p>

<p>"All persons possessed of any genius are
supposed to be vain, aren't they, Carlo?
I have known no other than you. But
as for our being intimate friends, why, I
do not feel that we are intimate friends
any longer. After all, Carlo, I cannot give<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_162" id="Page_162">[162]</a></span>
all the affection and it seems to me that
is what you expect. When we first knew
each other and I wanted to help you because
I understood that you cared for Sonya
in a way which she could not return, and
afterwards when you were wounded and I
tried to find you in Ch&acirc;teau-Thierry, I did
not think or care, besides Sonya was
Sonya! But now things are different."</p>

<p>For a few seconds Carlo studied the
little cold, pure profile of the girl beside
him. One had a habit of forgetting that
Bianca was approaching eighteen, and then
suddenly in some unexpected fashion she
reminded you that she was by no means a
child.</p>

<p>"I suppose you are referring to my friendship
with Miss Thompson since our arrival
in Coblenz, Bianca, or if not to our friendship
at least to the fact that we have been
dancing together nearly every afternoon
when we both have leave. Can't you
understand, Bianca, that it is sometimes
pretty dull for one here in Coblenz now
the excitement and thrill of the struggle
for the allied victory is past? And now<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_163" id="Page_163">[163]</a></span>
and then it seems to me I can scarcely
endure waiting to return to the United
States and begin to work again on my
music. And yet one must prove as good a
soldier at one time as another. Yet what
is the harm in my amusing myself? I have
thought Sonya also appeared disapproving
of late. Miss Thompson is not only an
extraordinary dancer, but she is most
agreeable and&mdash;&mdash;"</p>

<p>At this instant, having come to the end
of the muddy path, Carlo and Bianca had
reached the wide board walk which extended
for some distance along the river. This
afternoon it was as crowded with people as
if Coblenz were enjoying a holiday instead
of being a city occupied by a conquering
army.</p>

<p>Observing his commanding officer, Major
James Hersey, approaching, accompanied
by Sergeant Donald Hackett, Carlo saluted
and stood at attention. When they had
gone past he turned once more to Bianca,
his slight attack of bad temper having
vanished.</p>

<p>"Not jealous, are you, Bee? You must<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_164" id="Page_164">[164]</a></span>
realize that whatever friendships I may
make, I shall always be fond of you."</p>

<p>If Carlo had been noticing his companion
at this moment, he would have seen that
Bianca flushed warmly at his condescension,
and that she was extremely angry, and few
people ever saw Bianca angry, not perhaps
because she did not feel the emotion of
anger, but because she possessed a rather
remarkable self control.</p>

<p>"I don't think we will discuss the question
of my being jealous, Carlo, you have
scarcely the right to believe that I care for
you enough for any such absurdity. I
don't like Miss Thompson very much and
neither does Sonya. Oh, there is no real
reason for disliking her! But if you are
under the impression that she likes you
specially, Carlo, I think you are mistaken.
She just likes to amuse herself too, and of
course there is no harm in it."</p>

<p>Bianca's speech sounded perfectly childlike
and yet perhaps she had a good deal of
instinctive cleverness.</p>

<p>In any case Carlo felt annoyed.</p>

<p>"But suppose we don't talk personalities<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_165" id="Page_165">[165]</a></span>
any more, Carlo," Bianca apologized almost
immediately. "Naturally we can't always
like the same people. I have never been
able to get over my disappointment because
the Countess Charlotta was not allowed to
come with us to Coblenz. Sonya and I
have nearly quarreled about her half a
dozen times. And I suppose it is not alone
that I am sorry for the Countess Charlotta,
but because I do need a girl friend so dreadfully,
Carlo. It seems strange doesn't it,
and I am almost ashamed to speak of it,
but I have never had a really intimate girl
friend in my life. I suppose this may be
partly due to the queer circumstances of my
life. You see with my father dead and my
mother an Italian peasant, who wished to
make my life so different from her own that I
was not allowed to associate even with her
very closely, and then being brought up by
a foster mother who did not encourage other
girls to make friends with me, because she
might have to tell them of my peculiar
history, I suppose I did not have much
of a chance for friendships with the kind
of girls I would like to have known! Then<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_166" id="Page_166">[166]</a></span>
I realize that I have not a very attractive
disposition."</p>

<p>Bianca's little unconscious confession of
loneliness had its instantaneous effect upon
her companion.</p>

<p>"Don't be a goose, Bianca mia," Carlo
answered, using an Italian phrase which
he sometimes employed, recalling the bond
of their first meeting in Italy several years
before. "But who is this Countess Charlotta
whom you desire to have with you
here in Coblenz in order that you may
continue your friendship?"</p>

<p>Just an instant Bianca appeared troubled
and then her expression cleared.</p>

<p>"Perhaps I should not have spoken of
the Countess Charlotta, not even to you,
Carlo, only of course I know I can trust
you. She was a young girl who was ill
in our temporary hospital in Luxemburg.
I thought of course she would write me, as
she promised to write when we said <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'goodbye'">goodby</ins>.
But I have never had a line from
her and neither has Sonya although Sonya
and I have both written her since our
arrival in Coblenz. I am afraid something<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_167" id="Page_167">[167]</a></span>
must have occurred to prevent her writing
and so I have been uneasy."</p>

<p>Bianca's speech was not especially clear,
nevertheless Carlo listened sympathetically
and asked no <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'embarassing'">embarrassing</ins> questions.</p>

<p>A little time after they entered the famous
Coblenzhof where Bianca had been invited
to have tea.</p>

<p>It was crowded with people and looked
like Sherry's on a Saturday afternoon.</p>

<p>Both Carlo and Bianca gazed around
them in amazement.</p>

<p>The people were all comfortably, some
of them almost handsomely dressed, even
if with little taste, but this was usual in
Germany. They were drinking coffee and
eating little oatmeal cakes and appeared
contented and serene, even without their
famous "Deutsche kuchen."</p>

<p>"I sometimes wonder, Carlo," Bianca
whispered, when they were seated at a
small table in a corner, "if some of these
people are not glad after all that the
Kaiser has been defeated and that they are
to have a new form of government and
more personal freedom? They certainly<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_168" id="Page_168">[168]</a></span>
seem to be glad the fighting is over. I
suppose they had grown deadly tired of it
and of being deceived by their leaders."</p>

<p>Carlo shook his head warningly.</p>

<p>"Be careful, Bianca. In spite of what
you think there are still thousands of
people in Coblenz faithful both to the
Kaiser and his principles. Some of them
may seem friendly to us, but the greater
number are sullen and suspicious, regardless
of the order that they are to appear as
friendly as possible to our American troops.
Yet somehow one can't help feeling as if
there were plots against us of which we
know nothing, just as there was in
every allied country before the beginning
of the war."</p>

<p>Carlo smiled.</p>

<p>"Here I am saying the very character of
thing I asked you not to speak of, Bianca!
By the way, do you suppose we know any
people here? Let us look around and see."</p>



<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_169" id="Page_169">[169]</a></span></p>
<h2>CHAPTER XIV</h2>

<div class='chaptertitle'><i>Major James Hersey</i><br /><br /></div>


<div class='cap'>ARRANGEMENTS had been made
in Coblenz for the quartering of the
officers of the American Army of
Occupation in certain German homes, payment
being made in an ordinary business
fashion.</div>

<p>On arriving in Coblenz, after his illness in
Luxemburg, Major Jimmie Hersey discovered
that especially comfortable accommodations
had been prepared for him. Also
he was to have as his companion, a personal
friend, Sergeant Donald Hackett an exception
being made to the sergeant's living
in the same house with his commanding
officer.</p>

<p>The household in which the two young
Americans were located was one of the
many households at this time in Germany
whose state of mind it would have been
difficult for any outsider to have understood
or explained.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_170" id="Page_170">[170]</a></span></p>

<p>The head of the family, Colonel Otto
Liedermann, was an old man, now past
seventy, who had once been a member of
the Kaiser's own guard. His son, Captain
Ludwig Liedermann had been seriously
wounded six months before the close of the
war, and, although at present in his own
home, was still said to be too ill to leave his
apartment. There was one grown daughter,
Hedwig, who must have been a little over
twenty years of age. The second wife,
Frau Liedermann, was much younger than
her husband, and her children were two
charming little girls, Freia and Gretchen,
who were but six and eight years old.</p>

<p>Outwardly the German family was apparently
hospitably disposed to their enemy
guests, although they made no pretence of
too great friendliness. They saw that the
Americans were cared for, that their food
was well cooked and served. Yet only the
two little girls, Freia and Gretchen, possessed
of no bitter memories, were disposed
to be really friendly.</p>

<p>And in boyish, American fashion, the
two young officers, who were slightly embarrassed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_171" id="Page_171">[171]</a></span>
by living among a family with
whom they had so lately been at war,
returned the attitude of admiration and
cordiality of the little German maids.</p>

<p>Freia was a slender, grave little girl with
sunshiny hair and large, soft blue eyes,
and Gretchen like her, only smaller and
stouter with two little yellow pigtails, and
dimples, in her pink cheeks.</p>

<p>One afternoon Major Jimmie Hersey
was sitting alone in a small parlor devoted
to his private use and staring at a picture
on the mantel.</p>

<p>His work for the day was over, the drill
hour was past and the soldiers, save those
on special leave, had returned to their
barracks.</p>

<p>One could scarcely have said that the
young American officer was homesick, for
there is something really more desolate
than this misfortune. He was without a
home anywhere in the world for which he
could be lonely. An only son, his mother
had died when he had been six months in
France.</p>

<p>It was true that he had a sister to whom<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_172" id="Page_172">[172]</a></span>
he was warmly attached, but she had married
since her brother's departure for
Europe, and for this reason he did not feel
as if she belonged to him in the old fashion
of the past.</p>

<p>At the moment he was looking at his
mother's photograph and thinking of their
happy times together when he was a boy.
In spite of his present youthful appearance
Major James Hersey regarded himself as
extremely elderly, what with the experiences
of the past years of war in France
and his own personal loss, and the fact that
he was approaching twenty-five.</p>

<p>Then from thinking of his mother, Jimmie,
whose title never concerned him save when
he was commanding his men, suddenly
bethought himself of the young Countess
Charlotta. It was odd how often he
recalled a mental picture of her, when they
had met but once. He had seen her again,
however, on the morning when she had
left the hospital at Luxemburg. Then he
had watched from a window the carriage
which drove her away.</p>

<p>Somehow the young Countess Charlotta<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_173" id="Page_173">[173]</a></span>
in spite of her different surroundings, had
struck him as being as lonely as he was.</p>

<p>Then Major Jimmie smiled, realizing that
he was growing sentimental. Yet the girl's
story had been a romantic one and she had
confided in him so frankly. After all, one
does enjoy being sorry for oneself now and
then!</p>

<p>The young officer at this instant was
disturbed in his meditations by hearing a
little sound beside him.</p>

<p>Glancing around he beheld Gretchen,
the youngest daughter of the German
house. This was the first time since his
arrival in her home that he had ever seen
the small girl without Freia, her two years
older and wiser sister.</p>

<p>Plainly enough by her expression Gretchen
showed that she resented this misfortune.
There were tears in her large light
eyes and her little button of a nose was
<ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'noticably'">noticeably</ins> pink.</p>

<p>"What is it, baby?" the young officer
demanded, his sympathy immediately
aroused and glad also to be diverted from
his own train of thought.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_174" id="Page_174">[174]</a></span></p>

<p>"It is that Freia has been allowed to go
to play this afternoon with the lady from
the Red Cross and the little French girl
and that I must stay at home," the little
girl lamented, speaking in German that her
listener could readily understand. Major
Hersey had studied German at school as a
boy and during the last few weeks of residence
in Germany had been surprised by
recalling more of his German vocabulary
than he had dreamed of knowing.</p>

<p>"Freia would like to bring Fraulein<ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Faulein'">Fraulein</ins> Jamisen
home with her only she will not come."
Gretchen sighed, although beginning already
to feel more comfortable.</p>

<p>It was warmer in her Major's room than
in any portion of their large house; a
small wood fire was burning in his grate.
The little girl grew disposed toward further
confidences.</p>

<p>"People come to our home all the time
to see my brother, but Freia and I are
never allowed in the room, only my father.
Then they whisper together so we may not
hear."</p>

<p>Major Hersey smiled; Gretchen was a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_175" id="Page_175">[175]</a></span>
born gossip, even in her babyhood, already
he had observed that she deeply enjoyed
recounting the histories of her family and
friends, more especially what Gretchen
unconsciously must have regarded as their
weaknesses.</p>

<p>"But your brother, Captain Liedermann,
is ill, perhaps it is natural that he does not
wish a little chatterbox about him all the
time. If I had been confined to my bed
for as many months as he has, why I should
have turned into a great bear. One day
you would have come in to speak to me,
Gretchen, and then you would have heard
a low growl and two arms would have gone
around you and hugged you like this,"
and Major Hersey suited his action to his
words.</p>

<p>After a little squeak half of delight and
half of fear, Gretchen settled herself more
comfortably in her companion's lap.</p>

<p>However, she was not to be deterred
from continuing her own line of conversation.</p>

<p>In the years to come, Major Jimmie had
a vision of this same little German girl,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_176" id="Page_176">[176]</a></span>
grown older and stouter, her yellow pigtails
bound round her wide head, sitting
beside just such a fireside as his own and
talking on and on of her own little interests
and concerns, forever contented if her
hearer would only pretend to listen.</p>

<p>For the sake of the listener of the future
Jimmie hoped that the small Gretchen
would continue to have the same soothing
effect that she was at present producing
upon him.</p>

<p>"My brother is not always in bed,"
Gretchen protested. "Now and then when
he thinks he is alone, and I am only peeping
in at the door, he climbs out of bed and
walks about his room. One day one of his
friends was in the room with him and
when he got up and stamped about they
both laughed."</p>

<p>"Oh, well, any fellow would laugh if he
was growing strong again after a long
illness," Major Hersey answered a little
sleepily, realizing that Gretchen really
required no comment on his part.</p>

<p>"Besides, you must be mistaken, your
mother told me that Captain Liedermann<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_177" id="Page_177">[177]</a></span>
had not been so well of late, nothing serious,
a little infection in a wound he had believed
healed. As for guests who come frequently
to your brother's room, why I never knew
so quiet a household as your's, <i>kleines
Madchen!</i> During the many hours I am
here in this sitting-room, no one ever
rings the front door bell or passes my door."</p>

<p>As a matter of fact Major Hersey's sitting-room
was upon the first floor of the house
and near its entrance. Formerly his room
must have been either a small study or
reception room, as the large drawing-rooms
were across the hall. But these
were never in use at the present time and
kept always darkened, as a household
symbol that all gayety and pleasure had
vanished from the homes of Germany.</p>

<p>It occurred to Jimmie Hersey at this
instant to wonder if Hedwig Liedermann
had no friends. She was a handsome
girl with light brown hair and eyes and a
gentle manner. Surely there must be
some young German officer in Coblenz
who regarded her with favor! But if this
were true he had never appeared at her<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_178" id="Page_178">[178]</a></span>
home at any hour when Major Hersey
had caught sight of him. It would not be
difficult to recognize a German officer,
even if he should be wearing civilian clothes.</p>

<p>Besides why did Fraulein Liedermann
not entertain her girl friends in the drawing-rooms
of her home? These rooms must
have been used for social purposes before
the war, as the position of Colonel Liedermann's
family in Coblenz was of almost
equal importance with the German nobility.</p>

<p>"Oh, no one comes to call upon us at the
front door any longer," Gretchen added
amiably. "You see you are an American
officer and use this door and our friends
do not wish to see you. They do not seem
to like you."</p>

<p>"They&mdash;they don't," Major Hersey
thought other things to himself, although
naturally, in view of his audience, saying
nothing unpleasant aloud.</p>

<p>How stupid he was not to have guessed
what the smallest daughter of the house
had just related! After all one could
understand, the German viewpoint since
in spite of having been told to love our<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_179" id="Page_179">[179]</a></span>
enemies, how few of us have accomplished
it?</p>

<p>It could not be <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'aggreeable'">agreeable</ins> to the defeated
officers and soldiers of the conquered German
army to enter the homes of their
friends and find them occupied by the
victors.</p>

<p>"Better run away now, Gretchen, it
must be getting near your tea-time," the
American officer suggested, the little girl
having occasioned an unpleasant train of
thought by her final chatter.</p>

<p>But before Gretchen, who was not disposed
to hurry, had departed, they were
both startled by the sudden ringing of the
front door bell, the bell whose silence they
had been discussing, then they heard the
noise of people outside.</p>

<p>A little later, one of the maids having
opened the door, Gretchen and Major
Hersey recognized familiar voices in the
hall.</p>

<p>The same instant Gretchen escaped.</p>

<p>Then followed a cry from Frau Liedermann,
and Sergeant Hackett's voice and
another voice replying.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_180" id="Page_180">[180]</a></span></p>

<p>Major Hersey, unable to guess what had
taken place, and anxious, joined the little
group outside his door.</p>

<p>In his arms Sergeant Hackett was carrying
Freia. It was apparent that the little
girl must have fallen and hurt herself, yet
evidently her injury was not serious. They
were accompanied by Nora Jamison and
the little French girl, Louisa.</p>

<p>"I am so sorry, Frau Liedermann, a
number of children were playing in the park
and Freia must have fallen among some
stones. She was so frightened I thought it
best to come home with her and we had
the good fortune to meet Sergeant Hackett
along the way. I don't think you will
find there is anything serious the matter;
I am sorry if we have alarmed you. I
must return now to the hospital."</p>

<p>At this moment unexpectedly Frau Liedermann
began to weep. She was a little
like a grown-up Gretchen, and one felt
instinctively that she was out of place in
her husband's household. He was a stern
and gloomy old man, possibly too proud
to reveal to strangers how bitterly angered<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_181" id="Page_181">[181]</a></span>
he was by the German defeat and the disgrace
of his former emperor.</p>

<p>But Freia, whose name came to her from
the legendary German goddess, who represented
"Life and light and laughter and
love," was the adored child of the family
and particularly of the little mother to
whom she was "her wonder child."</p>

<p>"But you will stay and see if Freia is
seriously hurt? You are a Red Cross
nurse and must know better than I," Frau
Liedermann pleaded. "Freia has so often
said that she wished to have us meet, but
you would not come to our home and I
could not go to you at your American Red
Cross hospital. Can the war not be over
among us women at least? I have relatives,
brothers and sisters in America from whom
I have not heard in four years. Yet my
husband thinks I am not a true German
because I wish to be happy and make
friends again with our former foes."</p>

<p>Just for a fraction of a second Nora
Jamison's eyelids were lowered and her
face changed color. Was it possible that
she did not desire to forgive and forget as<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_182" id="Page_182">[182]</a></span>
the little German frau appeared to wish?
Was there not a grave near Ch&acirc;teau-Thierry
and a memory which must forever
divide them?</p>

<p>And yet of course one did not wish to be
unkind.</p>

<p>"Please stay just a minute," Freia
pleaded.</p>

<p>The following moment Major Hersey
watched the little procession climbing the
stairs to the second floor of the house where
the family were living at present. First
Frau Liedermann led the way, then Freia
walking, but holding close to Miss Jamison's
hand, Gretchen and Louisa just behind
them.</p>

<p>Afterwards Major Hersey was glad to
have been a witness to this first introduction
of Nora Jamison, into the German household.</p>



<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_183" id="Page_183">[183]</a></span></p>
<h2>CHAPTER XV</h2>

<div class='chaptertitle'><i>A Re-Entrance</i><br /><br /></div>


<div class='cap'>ON this same evening Major Hersey
and Sergeant Hackett were sitting
before the same fire, shortly after
dinner. They were talking in an idle
fashion, neither of them particularly interested.
Both would be pleased when the
evening was over and they were in bed.
Major Hersey had given his orders to his
sergeant for the following day and then had
suggested that he sit with him for a time
longer.</div>

<p>The days were not difficult in Coblenz
where one had many duties and interests,
besides the association with one's fellow
soldiers and a few other friends. But
unless one went constantly to the German
restaurants and theatres and movies, one
could not find sufficient entertainment in
the various Y. M. C. A. and Red Cross
headquarters to occupy every evening of
the week.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_184" id="Page_184">[184]</a></span></p>

<p>It was a brilliant winter night and the
young men had left the curtains of the
window open and the blinds unclosed so
that the early moonlight shone into the
room.</p>

<p>Therefore both of them noticed a soldier-messenger
march down the street from the
corner and enter the front yard of the house
where they were living.</p>

<p>In answer to a command from his superior
officer, Sergeant Hackett met the messenger
at the front door. The soldier bore a note
which was addressed to Major Hersey.
The note requested that Major Hersey
come at once to the headquarters of his
Colonel.</p>

<p>There was no explanation as to why his
presence had become suddenly necessary.
However, without any particular emotion
either of interest or curiosity, Major Hersey
at once set out.</p>

<p>The streets were fairly deserted. The
citizens of Coblenz were living under military
law and, although the laws were not
severe, two demands were made upon them,
one that no arms or ammunition of any<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_185" id="Page_185">[185]</a></span>
kind remain in the possession of any
German, the second that they be inside
their own homes at a certain hour each
night.</p>

<p>This hour had not arrived and yet there
were not many persons about, a few groups
of American soldiers on leave, but scarcely
any Germans.</p>

<p>The house of Colonel Winfield was at
no great distance away.</p>

<p>"Most extraordinary thing, Hersey!"
the Colonel was soon explaining, "you
might guess for a dozen years why I have
sent for you and never hit the correct
answer. Don't look so mystified over my
words. I have not sent for you to give
you any military command, or to ask your
advice on military matters, as I have now
and then in spite of your being too youthful
for the title you have been lucky enough
to earn. I have sent for you because
tonight you and I may regard ourselves as
characters in a play. In a short time I
hope to introduce the heroine."</p>

<p>Colonel Winfield was an elderly man a
good deal past fifty, with closely cropped<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_186" id="Page_186">[186]</a></span>
grey hair, small twinkling blue eyes under
heavy brows and a mouth which could be extremely
stern when the occasion demanded
and equally humorous under opposite conditions.</p>

<p>Tonight he was seated in a large, handsome
room, a little too elaborately furnished
after German ideas of luxury, and before
a wide table covered with books and old
American newspapers and magazines.</p>

<p>Major Hersey could only stare at him
in amazement, and with a total lack of
comprehension.</p>

<p>"I might as well explain to you your part
in the drama, Hersey. You haven't at
present a very fortunate role, although I
cannot tell how it may develop. The
facts are that two women, or I should say
one woman and a girl, arrived in Coblenz
this afternoon without satisfactory passports.
They were detained by one of our
officers and because of something or other
in their story, perhaps because of their
appearance and manner, the circumstances
were reported to me. I believe the young
woman knew my name and requested that<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_187" id="Page_187">[187]</a></span>
she be allowed to speak to me. I was
busy and only saw her and her companion
a few moments ago. Then she asked that
I send for you and for Mrs. David Clark,
saying you would both be able to identify
her. Most extraordinary story she related,
I find it difficult either to believe or
disbelieve!" And Colonel Winfield leaned
back in his chair studying the younger
officer's face.</p>

<p>If he expected to find any clue to his
puzzle in Major Jimmie's expression at
this instant he was disappointed. The
younger man was nonplused.</p>

<p>A woman and a girl who had arrived in
Coblenz insisting that he could identify
them! Why, he knew no woman or girl
in the world who would be apt to make so
unexpected an appearance! And yet for
a few seconds the names of several girls
he had known in the United States in the
past who might possibly have come to
Coblenz to work among the soldiers flashed
before his mental vision.</p>

<p>"Suppose you see the two strangers at
once, Jimmie, I don't feel that I have been<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_188" id="Page_188">[188]</a></span>
polite in forcing them to wait here for me
as long as they have waited, but I was
unavoidably detained. They are in a little
reception room across the way. I'll ask
them to come here and speak to you as
this room is larger and more agreeable."</p>

<p>"Don't you think, Colonel, we might
postpone the interview until the arrival of
Mrs. David Clark? Surely the women
would find it more agreeable to explain
their situation to her," Major Hersey
protested.</p>

<p>The older man shook his head.</p>

<p>"I have sent for Mrs. Clark, but remember
she is living at some distance from
here and may not be able to come to
us tonight. In a moment it will all be
over, James. If you do not know the
young woman who says she knows you,
you have only to say so briefly. I have
an idea, however, that almost any young
man might wish to know her. Yet if there
is any uncertainty about her story, we
must see that she and her companion are
made comfortable for the night somewhere
and then that she starts for home in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_189" id="Page_189">[189]</a></span>
morning. I have an idea from what she
confided to me that she must be sent home
in any case."</p>

<p>A few moments later, Colonel Winfield
re-entered the library with two companions.
One of them was a thin, angular woman
with a large nose and a highly colored skin.
She was wearing a black dress and coat and
a black feather boa. The other was a girl
of about twenty in an odd costume. A
portion of it was an American Red Cross
uniform, worn and shabby, a dark blue
coat and cap with the Red Cross insignia.
The girl's skirt was of some other dark
cloth, yet on her arm she carried a splendid
sable coat.</p>

<p>Underneath her cap her cheeks were
brilliantly red and her eyes glowing.</p>

<p>"Countess Charlotta!" Major Hersey
stammered. "What brings you to Coblenz?
You have relatives here whom you
are intending to visit?"</p>

<p>The girl turned toward the older American
officer.</p>

<p>"There! Major Hersey does remember
me and I was so afraid he might have forgotten!<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_190" id="Page_190">[190]</a></span>
We met but once in the Red
Cross hospital in Luxemburg where we
were both patients at the same time. At
least until Mrs. Clark arrives he may
persuade you, Colonel Winfield, that I am
not a spy or in any way a dangerous
character."</p>

<p>Then the girl turned again to Major
Jimmie.</p>

<p>"I don't know what Mrs. Clark will say
or do when she sees me. She told me positively
I was not to <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'embarass'">embarrass</ins> the American
Red Cross by taking refuge with them.
And I tried my best to be brave and endure
my existence. I even gave up to my
father's wishes, but I found I could not
keep my word. So I confided in Miss
Pringle. She is English and was my governess
when I was a little girl. She had continued
living in Luxemburg after the war
began, and yet perhaps because she was
English she understood me better than
other people. Anyhow we came away
together. It was not so difficult to accomplish
as you may imagine. Most of the
people in Luxemburg at present dislike<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_191" id="Page_191">[191]</a></span>
the Germans as thoroughly as I do. I
told a few acquaintances that I was going
away because I could not endure being
forced into a German marriage. Miss
Pringle was with me and I said I was going
to join some American friends. Besides,
Luxemburg is not very large you know
and it does not take long to reach the
frontier. If Mrs. Clark is not willing to
receive us at the Red Cross Hospital, surely
we can find a place to shelter us for awhile.
Miss Pringle says she will be glad to go
with me to the United States, as she has
long wished to travel. I suppose, Colonel
Winfield, that you could arrange for us to
go to the United States?"</p>

<p>Plainly the young countess's words and
manner both amused and annoyed the
Colonel.</p>

<p>"Nonsense, young woman, girls who
run away from their homes no matter from
what motive, must be sent back to their
parents. Mrs. Clark will doubtless see
that you and Miss Pringle are made comfortable
for a few days. But I think I
understand how you managed to reach<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_192" id="Page_192">[192]</a></span>
Coblenz and why you were permitted to
have an interview with me. The colonel
of an American regiment of the army of
occupation is not in the habit of having
young women whose credentials and passports
are not what they should be, take up
his spare time. Where, child, had you
ever heard my name?"</p>

<p>"Oh, I often heard Mrs. Clark and the
American Red Cross nurses speak of you
when they referred to their winter at the
Red Cross hospital near Ch&acirc;teau-Thierry.
They said too they were delighted that you
were to be in Coblenz because they liked
you so very much," the Countess Charlotta
concluded in the frank fashion which was
entirely natural to her.</p>

<p>Nevertheless the colonel looked slightly
mollified.</p>

<p>"You will sit down, won't you, and wait
until we hear whether Mrs. Clark will be
able to join us tonight?"</p>

<p>The Colonel pushed a large leather chair
toward the fire, which the little countess
dropped into gratefully. Miss Pringle was
already seated in a chair which Major<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_193" id="Page_193">[193]</a></span>
Hersey had provided for her during the
Countess Charlotta's recital.</p>

<p>"I am sorry, extremely sorry, you were
forced to wait so long to see me," Colonel
Winfield protested. "It would have been
pleasanter if arrangements could have been
made for you earlier in the day."</p>

<p>"Oh, you need not worry," the Countess
Charlotta returned graciously, "I am not
in the least unhappy myself. Getting away
from Luxemburg was so much simpler than
I ever dreamed it could be, that nothing
ahead seems so important. I wrote my
father saying that I intended to sail for
the United States as soon as it could be
arranged. As for sending me back home,"
the little countess stretched her two hands
before the fire so that they grew rose pink
from the warmth, then she sighed, but
with no deep show of emotion, "it would
be very useless and very unkind to send me
back to my father after what I have done?
Neither my father nor aunt will wish to
see me again. Even though they know
Miss Pringle has been with me every
minute and that I have done nothing in the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_194" id="Page_194">[194]</a></span>
least wrong, they would never forgive my
disobedience. And they would not wish
me to live with them because they should
always consider that I had disobeyed them
and that I would be an unfortunate influence
upon other girls in Luxemburg."</p>

<p>At this instant there was a knock at the
door and a few moments later Sonya, Dr.
Clark and Bianca entered the large room.</p>

<p>If there was no especial enthusiasm in
Sonya's greeting of the Countess Charlotta,
still there was no question of their acquaintance
and Bianca's welcome revealed all the
pleasure which Sonya's lacked.</p>

<p>Nevertheless, Sonya offered to take charge
of Miss Pringle and the young countess at
the Red Cross hospital for the night until
better arrangements could be made. They
had several spare rooms in the old castle.
It was too late at present for any definite
point of view in regard to the unexpected
intruders.</p>



<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_195" id="Page_195">[195]</a></span></p>
<h2>CHAPTER XVI</h2>

<div class='chaptertitle'><i>A Growing Friendship</i><br /><br /></div>


<div class='cap'>A &nbsp; FEW weeks passed and it was March
in Coblenz. The days continued
cold and oftentimes dreary, but the
American Army of Occupation was growing
more accustomed and more reconciled to
their new way of life.</div>

<p>Then there were occasional spring days
when the winds blew from the south
bringing with them scents and fragrances
of gentler lands.</p>

<p>At the American Red Cross hospital
high up on the hill overlooking the Rhine
the conditions were reflected from the
army. The Red Cross staff also became
more contented and more amenable to
discipline than in the early weeks succeeding
the close of the war.</p>

<p>There were a good many patients constantly
being cared for at the hospital, but
they were simply suffering from ordinary<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_196" id="Page_196">[196]</a></span>
illnesses. Only now and then a wounded
American prisoner, only partially recovered,
would come wandering in from some German
hospital in the interior, <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'prefering'">preferring</ins> to
be looked after by his own people until he
was well enough to be sent back home.</p>

<p>Therefore, although there was sufficient
work for the entire corps of physicians,
nurses and helpers, there was no undue
strain.</p>

<p>However, one member of Dr. Clark's
former staff was freed from all Red Cross
responsibility. Even before her arrival in
Coblenz, Bianca Zoli had showed the
effects of the nervous strain of the last
months of her war work. Moreover,
Sonya had always considered that Bianca
was too young and too frail for what she
had undertaken and had wished to leave
the young girl at school in New York until
her own and her husband's return from
Europe. But as Bianca had been so
determined and as Sonya had dreaded
leaving her alone in the United States, she
had finally reluctantly consented.</p>

<p>And Bianca had done her full duty.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_197" id="Page_197">[197]</a></span>
Never once in the terrible months before
the close of the war had she flinched or
asked to be spared in any possible way.
Nor was it by Bianca's own request that
she was idle at the present time. It was
Sonya who first had noticed the young
girl's listlessness, her occasional hours of
exhaustion and sometimes of depression.
And it was Sonya who had called her
husband's attention to Bianca's condition,
although afterwards it was Dr. Clark who
had ordered that Bianca have a complete
rest.</p>

<p>During the first weeks in Coblenz, Bianca
had been bored and sometimes a little
rebellious over this new state of her existence.
She had no friends of her own age in
Coblenz, the Red Cross nurses at the
hospital were too much engaged with their
work and in their leisure with other interests
in which Bianca had no share, to give her a
great deal either of their time or thought.
Sonya naturally wished to be with her
husband whenever it was possible, although
she never for a moment neglected, or failed
to look after Bianca's health and happiness<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_198" id="Page_198">[198]</a></span>
in every fashion she could arrange. But
what Bianca really needed was entertainment
and friendships near her own age and
these under the present circumstances of
their life, Sonya was not able to provide.</p>

<p>So far as Bianca was concerned, Carlo
Navara had really ceased to count in any
measure of importance. He so seldom
made the effort to see Bianca and appeared
wholly absorbed by his soldier life and such
entertainment as he found outside. From
his superior officer he had secured permission
to take singing lessons from an old
music master in Coblenz, and was finding
an immense satisfaction and help in this.</p>

<p>But with the coming of the young Countess
Charlotta to Coblenz, life assumed a
new and far more agreeable aspect for
Bianca.</p>

<p>Charlotta had spoken with the wisdom of
a knowledge of human nature in announcing
that neither her father nor aunt would
desire her return to Luxemburg once they
learned of her act of rebellion.</p>

<p>Immediately after her unexpected arrival,
Sonya Clark had written to the Count<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_199" id="Page_199">[199]</a></span>
Scherin advising him of Charlotta's action,
saying that she was entirely well and carefully
chaperoned by Miss Pringle. But
Sonya also inquired what the Count <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Sherin's'">Scherin's</ins>
wishes might be concerning his daughter.</p>

<p>In reply she had received a tart letter
from the Count stating that in future
Charlotta might do what she liked, as it was
apparent that she had no idea of doing
anything else. In a comparatively short
time she would reach the age of twenty-one
and would then inherit an estate from her
mother, but until then Count Scherin
would arrange that Charlotta should receive
a modest sum of money each month
sufficient for her own expenses and that of
her governess. It was true that the elderly
man also added that he would be grateful
to Mrs. Clark if she consent to become his
daughter's friend, although from his own
experience he could promise but little
appreciation from Charlotta in return.</p>

<p>Upon receipt of this letter Sonya had
showed it to the young girl and Charlotta
had made no comment. A day or so later,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_200" id="Page_200">[200]</a></span>
she suggested that she and Miss Pringle
remain for a time in Coblenz boarding
as near as possible to the American Red
Cross if this were in accord with Mrs.
Clark's judgment. And since Sonya had
no better suggestion to offer at the time,
after a few days' stay at the Red Cross
hospital, the young Luxemburg Countess
and her former governess found a home
with a quiet German family, who, impoverished
by the war, were glad to receive
them.</p>

<p>The house was not half a mile from the
hospital, and so far as Bianca was concerned,
Sonya was glad the young countess had
chosen to stay for a time in their neighborhood
under a kind of imposed chaperonage
on her part. She had not desired to have
Charlotta added to her responsibilities.</p>

<p>But the young girl apparently was anxious
to be as little trouble and to incite as
little censure as possible after her one act
of self-assertion. Sonya could not blame
her altogether, although disapproving of
Charlotta's method of retaining her freedom.</p>

<p>Moreover, the young countess seemed<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_201" id="Page_201">[201]</a></span>
to possess many of the characteristics
which might be a good influence for Bianca,
perhaps because of their very contrast.
If Charlotta was too frank in her attitude
to strangers and her habit of taking them
immediately into her confidence, Bianca
was altogether too reserved. If the one
girl was a little too curious and too much
interested in the histories of every human
being with whom she came in contact,
Bianca was too little interested in them.
Moreover, Charlotta, in spite of her occasional
moments of depression was naturally
gay and sweet tempered, while Bianca
had a little streak of melancholy, sometimes
of hidden obstinacy due to her
strange childhood. But best of all in its
present effect upon Bianca, in Sonya Clark's
opinion, was Charlotta's love of the outdoors.
Fresh air, exercise and cheerfulness
were the only medicines Dr. Clark had
considered Bianca required.</p>

<p>Never in her life had Bianca been out of
doors as much as was good for her, her
childhood in Italy having been spent largely
among older people. Moreover, her peasant<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_202" id="Page_202">[202]</a></span>
mother had considered that Bianca
must be sheltered and nurtured like a hot-house
flower in order to preserve the little
girl's shell-like beauty and to make her as
little like other children as possible.</p>

<p>Now with Charlotta's companionship she
and Bianca spent the greater part of each
day outdoors, sometimes accompanied by
Miss Pringle, who as an Englishwoman was
an indefatigable walker. But now and then
the two girls were alone.</p>

<p>This was scarcely a satisfactory arrangement
since Coblenz was filled with soldiers
and Sonya was by no means content. She
could only insist that the two girls be
extremely careful and never go any distance
by themselves, and also that Charlotta
remember that as Bianca was not
well, they must never undertake any excursion
which would demand too much of
Bianca's strength.</p>

<p>At first Sonya was surprised by Charlotta's
consideration of the younger girl,
it having been reasonable to presume
from their brief acquaintance that Charlotta
was selfish and self-willed. Yet she<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_203" id="Page_203">[203]</a></span>
seemed really devoted to Bianca and more
than willing to sacrifice her own wishes for
her friend.</p>

<p>It was one afternoon in the latter part of
March soon after luncheon that Miss
Pringle, Charlotta and Bianca started out
together for an afternoon walk. The day
was the warmest day of the early spring and
they decided to walk away from the city
toward a woods which was probably only
about a mile and a half from the neighborhood
of the Red Cross hospital.</p>

<p>Nevertheless, it was cold enough for
Bianca to be wearing the simple grey
squirrel coat which Sonya had presented
to her some time before, while Charlotta
wore the sable coat which was too handsome
for her present position and needs. But
Miss Pringle was attired in her usual shabby
black dress and the everlasting black feather
boa.</p>

<p>The two girls talked continuously so
that Miss Pringle rarely paid any especial
attention to what they were saying. She
was extremely fond of the Countess Charlotta,
but the young girl's enthusiasms<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_204" id="Page_204">[204]</a></span>
sometimes tired her. Moreover, Miss
Pringle was honestly fond of the country as
only a few persons are and able to amuse
herself indefinitely by studying the surrounding
scenery.</p>

<p>This afternoon Bianca and Charlotta
walked arm in arm along a road leading
toward the woods beyond, Miss Pringle
walking sedately about a foot behind her
two charges.</p>

<p>The road was hard and dry as there was
a high March wind, although not at present
a cold one.</p>

<p>"Are you sure you will not become tired,
Bianca, and the distance is not too much
for you?" Charlotta inquired, when they
had gone about two-thirds of the way
toward the woods.</p>

<p>Smiling, Bianca shook her head.</p>

<p>"Don't be tiresome, Charlotta. I am
feeling better since you came to Coblenz
than I ever remember before, and not only
physically better but so much happier."</p>

<p>Bianca flushed a little since it was
difficult for her to make even this revelation
of her emotions. It was true, however,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_205" id="Page_205">[205]</a></span>
that since Charlotta's arrival she had
found the girl friend she so greatly needed.
Indeed, Charlotta had made her almost
forget the little soreness which Carlo Navara's
failure to return her friendship had
left in her.</p>

<p>A few moments later Charlotta stopped
and turned around.</p>

<p>"We are not walking faster than you like,
Miss Pringle?" she inquired. Then she
added unexpectedly. "Dear Susan Pringle,
you are nearly frozen. Why look, Bianca,
her lips and cheeks are blue! What on
earth made you come for a walk without
any warmer clothes? It is that old English
prejudice which makes you think heavy
garments are never necessary. You must
go back home at once. You are positively
shivering."</p>

<p>And it was true that as the two girls and
the older woman stood together in a little
group for a moment, Miss Pringle could
scarcely keep her teeth from chattering.</p>

<p>"I am just a little cold," she confessed,
"however, girls, I do not wish to rob you
of your walk."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_206" id="Page_206">[206]</a></span></p>

<p>Charlotta smiled back at her serenely.</p>

<p>"Oh, you need not worry, Susan dear!
Your returning home for something warmer
to wear need not interfere with our plans.
We will just walk on slowly toward the
woods and when we reach there start back.
If you do not overtake us, we will meet
you on our way home."</p>

<p>This suggestion was not wholly approved
of by Miss Pringle and yet at the moment,
being a little frozen mentally as well as
physically, she made no serious objection to
it.</p>

<p>She believed she could walk home rapidly
and be with the two girls again in a short
time. Moreover, it was one of her serious
weaknesses of character that she seldom
objected to any positive wish of the young
countess's.</p>

<p>In the brilliant March sunshine the path
through the woods appeared like a path of
gold. There were no leaves on the tall
trees so that the light shone through
the bare branches.</p>

<p>"Let us go on just a little further, Charlotta,
and then we must go back to meet
Miss Pringle," Bianca proposed.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_207" id="Page_207">[207]</a></span></p>

<p>But here the path grew narrow so that
Charlotta led the way, Bianca following at
first close behind her.</p>

<p>The air was like magic, the old magic of
youth, "of love and life and light and
laughter."</p>

<p>Charlotta sang along the way.</p>

<div class='poem'>
"Wheresoe'er the Sun<br />
Doth journey in his chariot, I have sought<br />
For that which shall outweigh the love of woman.<br />
On earth, in air, in water, many things<br />
Fair have I found, the seed of song in man,<br />
The seed of flowers in the earth, but over all,<br />
And fairer far and greater, is the seed<br />
Of love. When love hath flown, who shall endure?"<br />
</div>

<p>"Queer song for me to sing, isn't it,
Bianca?" Charlotta called back over her
shoulder. "Yet perhaps after all it is
because I intend to try to live always as
true as I can to my ideals that I have done
what my father and aunt and perhaps Mrs.
Clark do not approve. I ought to remember
that I am a good deal older than you are in
years and far, far older in experience. Yet
I do so love the old German lieder, even if
they are sentimental."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_208" id="Page_208">[208]</a></span></p>

<p>As Bianca made no reply to this speech
continuing on her way, Charlotta began
walking faster than she realized.</p>

<p>Until this afternoon she had never felt
so thoroughly happy over her freedom from
the future which for nearly a year had
stretched before her like a dark cloud.
Since leaving Luxemburg, although she had
not actually regretted her own action, at
least she had been harassed with the sense
of her father's anger and disappointment.</p>

<p>But today she was happy in forgetting
everything save her love of the fresh air, of
the blue sky, of the dark rim of hills on the
further side of the Rhine, of walking deeper
and deeper into the spring woods.</p>

<p>"Don't you think we had better go back,
Charlotta?" Bianca called, not once, but
several times, and if Charlotta had only been
less self-absorbed she must have understood
that Bianca's voice each time sounded
a little further away and fainter.</p>

<p>But finally, hearing an unexpected sound,
Charlotta swung swiftly around.</p>

<p>About half a dozen yards from her,
Bianca had fallen and was making no
effort to rise.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_209" id="Page_209">[209]</a></span></p>

<p>"Bianca dear, I am so sorry," she cried
out at once with the impulsive sweetness
characteristic of her. "I am afraid you
are tired out and I am a wretch not to have
remembered! Mrs. Clark will be angry
with me. Come, let me help you up. I
wish I could carry you, but at least you can
take my arm. Oh dear, what an impossibly
selfish person I am! Poor Miss Pringle is
probably dreadfully worried to discover
what has become of us. I fear my aunt is
right when she says I never think of other
people until it is too late to be of value to
them."</p>

<p>But although Bianca did get up, Charlotta
was frightened to discover that every
bit of color had disappeared from her
face and that she looked utterly worn out.</p>

<p>"I was stupid not to have gone back
without you, Charlotta, or not to have
made you understand I was too tired to
walk so far," Bianca protested, not willing
to allow the other girl to bear all of the
responsibility. "Besides, it is stupid of me
to be so good-for-nothing these days. I
wish I had half your energy."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_210" id="Page_210">[210]</a></span></p>

<p>"An energy which does nothing for other
people isn't worth much as a possession,
Bianca," the older girl returned. "But
don't try to talk, and let us walk slowly as
you wish. The blame is all mine and I
will bear the full burden of it on our return.
I am only afraid Mrs. Clark will not
encourage our being together again."</p>

<p>At the edge of the woods near the place
where they had entered Bianca had to sit
down for a little time to rest.</p>

<p>"Wait here and I will run ahead for a
short distance. Perhaps I may find Miss
Pringle still searching for us, little as I
deserve her kindness, or perhaps I can find
some kind of vehicle, Bianca. If not I will
ask some one who will go back to Coblenz
and get a car for us. I really do not think
you can manage to walk the rest of the way.
Don't be frightened, I won't be long."</p>

<p>Charlotta was not long. A quarter of a
mile away, Major James Hersey, who was
having his usual afternoon exercise on one
of the army horses, heard his name called
unexpectedly by a voice which he recognized
at once.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_211" id="Page_211">[211]</a></span></p>

<p>The next moment the Countess Charlotta
had explained the situation. In a short
time Bianca was seated on horseback with
her arms about Charlotta while Major
Hersey walked beside them into Coblenz.
As Bianca did not know how to ride, she
preferred that Charlotta should ride in
front.</p>



<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_212" id="Page_212">[212]</a></span></p>
<h2>CHAPTER XVII</h2>

<div class='chaptertitle'><i>Faith and Unfaith</i><br /><br /></div>


<div class='cap'>WITHIN the next weeks Major
Jimmie Hersey found himself
much less lonely than during the
earlier part of his stay in the occupied city
of Coblenz. Of late a pleasant friendship
had been developing between the young
Countess Charlotta and himself.</div>

<p>After her too lengthy walk, Bianca Zoli
had been ill and not able to spend as much
time with her new friend as she formerly
had.</p>

<p>At first Charlotta had been inconsolable,
blaming herself for Bianca's breakdown
and refusing to amuse herself in any of her
accustomed ways. But with the arrival
of spring it became impossible for her to
remain indoors, especially as she was only
permitted to see Bianca for a few moments
each day. It was not that Dr. and Mrs.
Clark particularly blamed Charlotta, Bianca<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_213" id="Page_213">[213]</a></span>
being entirely responsible for her own
actions. Moreover, Dr. Clark did not
believe that any one exhausting experience
had been the cause of Bianca's illness but
an accumulating number of them, especially
her presence in Ch&acirc;teau-Thierry
under such strange conditions during one
of the final battles of the war.</p>

<p>Yet it was Bianca's breakdown which
was the beginning of a relation approaching
friendship between the young United
States officer and the Countess Charlotta
Scherin.</p>

<p>As Bianca had been in a nearly fainting
condition when she was brought finally to
the American Red Cross hospital, naturally
Major Hersey called there the next day to
inquire for her.</p>

<p>By chance, as Charlotta had haunted the
hospital all day, she and Miss Pringle were
leaving the moment Major Hersey arrived.</p>

<p>As his inquiry occupied only a short time,
he was able to overtake the young girl and
her chaperon before they had gotten any
distance away.</p>

<p>"I don't know what we should have done<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_214" id="Page_214">[214]</a></span>
if you had not been riding horseback yesterday,
Major Hersey," Charlotta declared.
"I don't believe Bianca could possibly have
walked back, or waited very long while
we tried to find a vehicle. I'm afraid too
that I actually enjoyed my own ride even
under such circumstances. You cannot
realize how much I have missed riding in
these last weeks. I think until my accident,
or whatever one may choose to call
it, I had been on horseback every day of
life from the time I was five years old. I
am envious of you. Do you suppose it
would be possible for me to get hold of a
horse in Coblenz which I could use? Any
kind of horse will be better than none."</p>

<p>Ordinarily, Jimmie Hersey was shy, finding
it difficult to talk to young women or
girls without embarrassment. Yet one could
scarcely be shy with the Countess Charlotta,
she was so frank and direct herself
and so free from any affectation.</p>

<p>"I don't know, I expect it would be hard
work to find a woman's riding horse in
Coblenz these days. The horses that were
any good were requisitioned for the German<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_215" id="Page_215">[215]</a></span>
cavalry. But there is just a chance
that I may be able to borrow one of our
own American horses for you occasionally.
I can't promise of course, but it would be
jolly if you could ride with me."</p>

<p>"I should love it," the Countess Charlotta
answered.</p>

<p>"But I suppose we ought to have some
one else with us; it won't do under the
circumstances for us to ride alone," Major
Hersey added.</p>

<p>During this speech the young officer
colored slightly, since it was not among
his usual duties to chaperon a girl. However,
he knew what was fitting and intended
that the conventions should be
obeyed.</p>

<p>Glancing toward him, the little countess
was about to demur, insisting that, although
of course it might be advisable to
have an escort, nevertheless, she did not
wish to be deprived of opportunities to
ride for such a reason. However, observing
Major Jimmie's expression rather
surprisingly she remained silent. In spite
of his boyish appearance, his gentle brown<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_216" id="Page_216">[216]</a></span>
eyes and sometimes almost diffident manner,
there was a firmness in his mouth and chin
which few persons ever misunderstood.</p>

<p>It was during one of their afternoon rides
together, about ten days later, when they
were accompanied by Sergeant Donald
Hackett and Nora Jamison, that unexpectedly
Charlotta turned to her escort.</p>

<p>"You don't approve of my having come
away from home in the way that I did,
do you, Major Hersey? Oh, I know you
have never said anything of course, since
you do not consider that we know each
other sufficiently well to discuss personalities,
yet just the same you do disapprove
of me."</p>

<p>Jimmie Hersey shook his head.</p>

<p>"Certainly I do not disapprove of you."
Then he flushed and laughed. "May I say
instead that I approve of you highly. You
don't mind my being a little complimentary?"</p>

<p>"Oh, if you mean to be flattering me,
you need not think I am not pleased. But
what I meant was that you do not approve
of my action. Please answer me truthfully.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_217" id="Page_217">[217]</a></span>
I shall not be offended. After all, you see
I am asking you the question, so you cannot
be blamed for telling me the truth."</p>

<p>Still the young American officer hesitated.</p>

<p>"Well, Countess Charlotta, you must
always remember that I am a soldier, and
that in so far as possible I try to live up
to a soldier's ideals. One of them is to
face the music, never to run away. But
there, that seems an extremely impolite
thing for me to have said! You know how
glad I am personally that you did come to
Coblenz."</p>

<p>To the latter part of Major Hersey's
remark, Charlotta apparently paid no attention.</p>

<p>She dropped her chin for a moment and
stared straight ahead of her.</p>

<p>This afternoon she was wearing a brown
corduroy riding habit and brown leather
boots and a close fitting corduroy riding
hat. Her father had not been so obdurate
that he had not sent Charlotta a large
trunk of her clothes soon after he learned
of her safe arrival in Coblenz.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_218" id="Page_218">[218]</a></span></p>

<p>"You mean to say as kindly as possible
that you think I am a coward," she returned
finally. "That is what Mrs. Clark
thinks also, only she has not said so, I
suppose because I have never asked her.
Sometimes, I have wondered since my
arrival in Coblenz, if I should go back
home and ask my father's forgiveness,
making him understand that I shall never
marry any one for whom I do not care.
But my problem is, would he accept an
apology which did not include obedience?
You see that is what my new American
friends cannot understand in my father's
and my attitude to each other. Besides,
I do so want to go to the United States
when Mrs. Clark and Bianca and several
of her Red Cross nurses return home.
Mrs. Clark tells me that she and Dr.
Clark only intend remaining in Coblenz
until after the Germans have signed the
treaty of peace. Dr. Clark then feels that
he must go back to his New York city
practice and be relieved by a younger man.
Three or four of the American Red Cross
nurses will be sailing at the same time.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_219" id="Page_219">[219]</a></span>
You simply cannot guess how I long to
travel. Think of being as restless a person
as I am and shut up in a tiny country like
Luxemburg! I have never been anywhere
else except just into Germany in all my
life."</p>

<p>"Hard luck of course, and you would
enjoy the United States! You are just the
kind of girl to appreciate it. You must
do what you think is right yourself since
after all another fellow's judgment is not
worth much," Major Hersey replied, not
altogether pleased with the idea of his
new friends vanishing from Coblenz when
his own duties might keep him there an
indefinite time.</p>

<p>Later that afternoon, at about dusk, on
his way toward home, Major James Hersey
was considering a number of matters somewhat
seriously. He was a United States
officer with nothing to live upon save his
pay. Up to the present his one desire had
been to continue to serve his country.</p>

<p>In Germany at this time there was a good
deal of intensely bitter feeling. With the
delay in the presentation of the peace terms<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_220" id="Page_220">[220]</a></span>
a less friendly attitude toward America
and the Americans was developing than
during the weeks first following the German
defeat.</p>

<p>In the interior the poorer people were
said to be hungry, war weary and anxious
to resume their normal business life.</p>

<p>In Coblenz there was especial dissatisfaction
with the present German government,
Coblenz having been a centre of
pan-Germanism and pro-Kaiserism.</p>

<p>Carefully concealed as such ideas were
supposed to be from the members of the
American Army of Occupation, there were
United States officers who appreciated
that there were groups of prominent Germans
at this time desiring the return of
the Kaiser and some form of monarchial
control. It was not known in March that
the Kaiser might be tried by an international
court.</p>

<p>Quietly Major Hersey had been informed
that the United States Secret Service was
endeavoring to discover the men who had
been the Kaiser's closest friends in Coblenz
before his inglorious departure into Holland.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_221" id="Page_221">[221]</a></span></p>

<p>There were still, Major Jimmie reflected,
many interesting ways to serve one's country,
even if the great war were past.</p>

<p>This afternoon it struck him that this
might become more of a sacrifice than he
had anticipated, but notwithstanding his
country must always remain first!</p>

<p>At the threshold of his own door he
stopped, slightly puzzled. Some one was
already in his sitting-room, which was
unusual at this hour. His rooms were
cleaned in the morning and he was seldom
interrupted afterwards either by a servant
or any member of the household.</p>

<p>But probably a fellow officer had dropped
in to see him and was awaiting his return.</p>

<p>Suddenly, with this idea in mind, Major
Hersey thrust his door open.</p>

<p>Then he stood stock still in a slightly
apologetic attitude.</p>

<p>His room was occupied and by the head
of the German household in which he was
at present living, Colonel Liedermann.</p>

<p>Major Hersey had not come into contact
with him but once since his own arrival in
Coblenz several months before.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_222" id="Page_222">[222]</a></span></p>

<p>The old German Colonel, wearing civilian
clothes, was standing examining an American
rifle, which the young American army
officer had carelessly left propped up against
the wall in one corner of his room.</p>

<p>The older man wheeled sharply at the
younger one's entrance.</p>

<p>Colonel Liedermann had the typical German
face, broad, with heavy, overhanging
brows, small, stern blue eyes, and drooping
jaws.</p>

<p>His face reddened at the present moment,
but he said courteously: "I owe you an
apology for entering your room when you
were not present. I came to ask you if
you would do me the favor of permitting
me to look over some of your American
newspapers. Germany is not being informed
of all that is taking place in the
world these days and I should like very
much to know. But it is not for myself
alone that I make this request. I am an
old man and may not live long enough to
see the new Germany if it is ever possible
for Germany to arise out of the ashes of
the past. But my son, as you know, has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_223" id="Page_223">[223]</a></span>
never recovered from his last and most
serious wound. To lie always in bed after
so active a life, grows exceedingly irksome.
I find it difficult to keep him even fairly
content. It was for him I was asking the
loan of your newspapers. I presume the
fact that we have so recently been enemies
will not preclude your doing me this
kindness. If so, I regret my intrusion."</p>

<p>A little overcome by the old German
officer's haughty manner and set speech,
Major Jimmie only murmured that he
would be very glad of course to permit
his American newspapers to be read, if
Colonel Liedermann and his son did not
feel that they would too greatly resent the
American point of view.</p>

<p>As he made this statement, although not
pleased by the German officer's request,
Major Hersey was searching diligently for
the latest bundle of American papers which
he had received.</p>

<p>As he handed them to the former German
Colonel, the old officer said, speaking in a
more human fashion,</p>

<p>"I was interested in looking at this American<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_224" id="Page_224">[224]</a></span>
rifle of yours. Naturally as an old
soldier I remain interested in firearms,
although I shall not live to see another war,
however little I believe in a permanent
world peace. Clever piece of mechanism!
I am told the American rifle is the finest in
the world!"</p>

<p>Not feeling called upon to reply to this
speech and anxious that the old officer
should depart, Major Hersey made no
response.</p>

<p>A little later, when he had finally gone,
with an unusual expression upon his boyish
countenance, Major Jimmie Hersey sank
down into his arm chair.</p>

<p>Was it singular that one could not
recover from the sensation of acute distrust
in the presence of a German? Among
them there must be certain individuals
who were truthful and straightforward.
Yet after a century of training that the end
justified the means, among German army
officers one could not expect to find any
other standard, than the standard which
regarded the treaty of Belgium as a "scrap
of paper." Betray any friend, any cause,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_225" id="Page_225">[225]</a></span>
any country to accomplish one's purpose.
And tonight, although a member of Colonel
Liedermann's household, Major Jimmie
Hersey knew he would always remain their
foe, no matter with what appearance of
courtesy he might be treated.</p>

<p>It was an actual fact that never since
his casual conversation with little Gretchen,
the baby of the family, had he the same
sense of untroubled serenity in the midst
of this German military home.</p>

<p>Was it true that Captain Ludwig Liedermann
was still unable to move from his bed?
If so why had little Gretchen told so
ingenious a falsehood? One would scarcely
expect a little girl of six to make up so
useless a story. But if Captain Liedermann
were well why should he continue to make
a pretence of illness? There were no
penalties attached to the fact that he had
been a German officer. Could it be possible
that he so intensely disliked the idea
of coming into contact with the troops
General Pershing had led to victory, that
he preferred invalidism to this other form
of martyrdom?<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_226" id="Page_226">[226]</a></span></p>

<p>There was just one point upon which
Major Jimmie Hersey was able to make up
his mind during this one evening's meditation.</p>

<p>He would suggest to Miss Jamison that
she make no more visits to the Liedermann
home. He had been surprised to find
her returning not once but several times of
late. She must understand that the Red
Cross nurses were not supposed to make
friends with the families of Germans until
after peace was declared.</p>

<p>The little Freia had not been seriously
hurt, having entirely recovered from her
fright and injury by the next day. Nevertheless,
Miss Jamison had made not one,
but four or five other calls since her introduction
to Frau Liedermann.</p>

<p>Of course, as he knew Miss Jamison but
slightly, advice from him might prove
embarrassing. She was in reality more
Hackett's friend than his, although Sergeant
Hackett would deny this fact. He
had tried being friendly with Nora Jamison
as she attracted him, but she did not seem
to care for other interests than her Red<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_227" id="Page_227">[227]</a></span>
Cross nursing and the children who surrounded
her like tiny golden bees about
a honey pot.</p>

<p>Her ride this afternoon had been her one
concession; however, after reaching the
Red Cross hospital, she had said it would
be impossible for her to ride again, although
she had greatly enjoyed it. In the
future nursing and other work she had
recently undertaken would occupy all her
time.</p>

<p>It might be difficult to see Nora Jamison
alone in order to warn her against any too
great intimacy with the Liedermann family.
Yet as a fellow American Major Hersey
intended making the effort.</p>

<p>He would watch and if she came again
to the Liedermann house, join her on her
way back to the American Red Cross
hospital.</p>



<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_228" id="Page_228">[228]</a></span></p>
<h2>CHAPTER XVIII</h2>

<div class='chaptertitle'><i>Reconciliation</i><br /><br /></div>


<div class='cap'>"I &nbsp; AM so sorry you have been ill, Bianca."</div>

<p>Carlo Navara had come into Bianca's
room a few moments before with Mrs.
Clark and now Sonya had gone out again
leaving them for a few moments alone.</p>

<p>It was a fairly warm spring day and yet
there was a little fire in Bianca's room,
for the rooms in the old Rhine castle were
big and bare and cold, with stone floors.</p>

<p>Bianca wore a little tea-gown of a warm
blue woolen material and had a tea table
with a tray upon it just in front of her.</p>

<p>She was pouring tea for her guest at the
moment he made his last speech.</p>

<p>"Oh, there has been nothing serious the
matter with me, Carlo," she returned. "I
was simply tired and have been having a
delightful rest. I believe when I arrived I
said that I should hate to be ill in this
dreary old building, but since things so<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_229" id="Page_229">[229]</a></span>
seldom turn out as one expects I have
really enjoyed it. Besides, I have promised
Sonya that as soon as it is possible I shall
go back to the United States and to school.
The Red Cross experience in Europe has
been a wonderful one, but now, as I am no
longer useful here I must take up the duty,
I turned my back upon. It is not going
to be easy, Carlo, to settle down to a school
girl's life after the excitement of war work
in Europe. Yet I have the consolation of
realizing that I am only going to do what
many of our soldiers will do. Lots of the
younger men have told me that if their
families can afford to send them to college
on their return they feel the need of education
as they never felt it before coming
abroad."</p>

<p>Bianca extended a tea cup to her visitor.</p>

<p>"Is this the way you like your tea,
Carlo? Perhaps your taste has changed,
but I remember this is the way you liked
it in the past."</p>

<p>"But my tastes don't change, Bianca.
It is your mistake to believe they do,
neither my tastes in tea nor in friends ever
alter."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_230" id="Page_230">[230]</a></span></p>

<p>At this Carlo and Bianca both laughed,
although with a slight embarrassment.</p>

<p>"I am going back home too, Bee, very
soon," the young man added. "This is one
of the many things I wanted to tell you this
afternoon, besides finding out that you were
all right again. I talked things over with
Colonel Winfield weeks ago and told him
I was getting pretty restless and anxious
to return to my work in the United States.
I explained to him that a singer can't wait
for his career as well as other men, since a
voice does not always last a long time.
However, I think this argument did not
make much of an impression upon the old
Colonel, but something or other must
have, because he asked for an honorable
discharge for me and I'm to go home when
it arrives. I think the Colonel's chief
reason was that I am not much good as a
soldier here in Coblenz. He needs men
like Major Hersey and Sergeant Hackett.
Hackett is soon to be a first lieutenant, he
should have been one long ago."</p>

<p>"I don't see why you have not also been
given a commission, Carlo," Bianca replied,
a little jealous for her friend.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_231" id="Page_231">[231]</a></span></p>

<p>Carlo laughed.</p>

<p>"I haven't the stuff in me for an officer,
Bee. No one knows this better than I do.
I am a fair soldier when there is something
doing, but a poor one in routine. That is
the real test. Don't mind, Bianca, and
don't look aggrieved. I have simply tried
to do my military duty like millions of
other better men, but now I am going back
to the thing I am made for. I was only a
soldier for the time I felt myself needed.</p>

<p>"By the way I have been learning to
sing "Siegfried," Bianca, studying with my
old German singing master. He says I
sing the music very poorly, but it has been
fun trying to learn.</p>

<div class='poem'>
"I know one who lies<br />
Fast in slumber deep<br />
Sleeping age long sleep,<br />
Waiting for thy waking."<br />
</div>

<p>Carlo's voice sounded clear and beautiful
in the big room.</p>

<p>"If your hair were unbound and you
were older you might look like Brunhilde
some day, Bianca."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_232" id="Page_232">[232]</a></span></p>

<p>"You are singing better than ever, Carlo,
I am so glad!" Bianca murmured, forgetful
of herself.</p>

<p>She looked a little paler and more fragile
after her illness, yet with her light yellow
hair, her delicate features and large dark
eyes prettier perhaps than her companion
ever remembered seeing her.</p>

<p>"And the dancing, Bee, I gave that up
soon after our talk. I did not need it for
diversion after I began my music lessons.
Besides, Miss Thompson has taught so
many of the soldiers folk dancing and some
of them are now so good at it that she no
longer wishes me for her partner."</p>

<p>Bianca colored.</p>

<p>"I am sorry I told you I did not like
Thea Thompson, Carlo. It is foolish to be
prejudiced against people, isn't it? She
has been extremely kind to me during my
illness and both Sonya and I have learned
to understand her better. Besides, I was
prejudiced perhaps because of you," Bianca
ended frankly.</p>

<p>But Carlo made no comment.</p>

<p>Never did it fail to interest him Bianca's<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_233" id="Page_233">[233]</a></span>
strange combination of childishness and
womanhood. But today she seemed almost
altogether childlike.</p>

<p>At this instant getting up Carlo walked
over to the mantel where he put down his
tea cup and then stood looking down on
Bianca.</p>

<p>"Then we are friends, aren't we, Bee?
And I hope we may never misunderstand
each other again. I have been worried
over your being ill and our not being fond
of each other in the old way. You may
have to forgive me many things and perhaps
I may have other friends in the future
of whom you may not approve, but you
must not think they will make me forget
my loyalty to you."</p>

<p>Bianca was about to reply, but before
this was possible Sonya Clark had opened
the door and re-entered the room.</p>

<p>She glanced at Carlo Navara with a
slight frown and then walked over and laid
her hand on Bianca's fair hair.</p>

<p>"Bee is looking better than you expected
to find her, isn't she, Carlo, and more like a
little girl? I for one am glad her illness has<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_234" id="Page_234">[234]</a></span>
turned her young again. The war in France
has made most of us older than we were
intended to be, but all the pain and struggle
of it was especially hard upon a girl young
as Bianca. I am going to take her back
to New York as soon as Dr. Clark is able to
return and after a year at school I mean to
bring her out into New York society as my
grown-up daughter. I have always wanted
a real one and Bianca will be a lovely
substitute. Don't you think she will
probably have many admirers, Carlo?"</p>

<p>Carlo looked a little annoyed.</p>

<p>"I thought you had finer ideals for
Bianca, Sonya, than to turn her into a
society woman!" he answered with a slight
change of manner. "But of course she will
be charming. She is that already. And
no doubt so many people will admire her
that she will learn the pleasant art of forgetting
her old friends. I shall probably be
in New York only a part of each year.
Yet somehow, Bianca, I hope you will
always remain the Bianca I have known
for the past three years. The war has made
the time seem ever so much longer."<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_235" id="Page_235">[235]</a></span></p>

<p>Again Bianca was about to reply, but
Sonya glanced up at a little clock on the
mantel.</p>

<p>"I am sorry, Carlo, but Bianca is not
allowed to see any one but a half hour at a
time. I know she regrets having to say
farewell to you, but we are under orders.
As for my ideals for Bianca, you need not
fear. I mean to do all I can to help make
her a gracious and lovely woman. And no
one is ever to take Bianca for granted,
Carlo, not even you. I think it may be
good for her to know that there will be
many persons who will think her attractive,
as she has too humble an opinion of herself.
Besides, every girl has a right to a few years
of society and a little admiration. I am
sure you agree with me?"</p>

<p>And Carlo was obliged to acquiesce.</p>

<p>Going back to his quarters, after saying
goodby to Bianca, he realized what Sonya's
words and manner must have meant.</p>

<p>She considered that he had been too
careless of Bianca and perhaps thought her
affection something which he could possess
or lay aside at his own convenience. But<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_236" id="Page_236">[236]</a></span>
if Carlo were angered at this idea, he also
realized that there was a certain truth in
Sonya's impression. However, in the future
he meant to be more appreciative of
Bianca's affection, and kinder to the young
girl for whom he felt a brotherly affection.</p>



<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_237" id="Page_237">[237]</a></span></p>
<h2>CHAPTER XIX</h2>

<div class='chaptertitle'><i>A Warning</i><br /><br /></div>


<div class='cap'>SOONER than he had hoped Major
Hersey had an opportunity for a
talk alone with Nora Jamison.</div>

<p>The passing days had wrought no change
in his impression that there was something
of a suspicious nature taking place in the
German household in which he was billeted,
a something which was extremely disquieting.
Nevertheless, so far he really had no
tangible evidence which made it possible
for him to go to one of his superior officers.
Unless he had some foundation in fact
for his suspicion, it would scarcely be
fair or just to involve the members of
the Liedermann family in unnecessary notoriety
and espionage. He must therefore
watch and wait until he had discovered
some justification for what at present was
merely a vague idea.</p>

<p>However, there was nothing to prevent<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_238" id="Page_238">[238]</a></span>
his suggesting to a girl, particularly one
who was an American Red Cross nurse,
that she try to avoid any appearance of
intimacy or even friendliness with a German
family, who might later be involved in a
serious difficulty with the United States
military forces in command of the occupied
city of Coblenz.</p>

<p>Three days after reaching this decision,
Major James Hersey was leaving the Liedermann
house one afternoon just as Nora
Jamison was in the act of entering it.
Their meeting took place as Major Hersey
was about to open the tall iron gate which
led into the yard. Indeed he stood aside
in order to allow Nora Jamison to enter.</p>

<p>Their acquaintance was a slight one, so
that it is possible Nora Jamison may have
been surprised to hear the young officer
say to her in a hurried and confused fashion.</p>

<p>"Miss Jamison, I must speak to you for
a few moments. Will you meet me in an
hour under the big linden tree in the park
where Freia and Gretchen tell me you are
in the habit of playing with them? I am
sorry to trouble you but I have what seems<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_239" id="Page_239">[239]</a></span>
to me an important reason for wishing to
talk to you."</p>

<p>In return, after studying the young
officer's face for a moment with her large
grey eyes, Nora Jamison quietly acquiesced.
The next instant she disappeared inside the
Liedermann house, the door being opened
for her almost instantly by Frau Liedermann
herself.</p>

<p>It was possible that the German lady
may have observed their brief conversation,
yet Jimmie Hersey had no suspicion of
Frau Liedermann, who struck him as being
an outsider in the family of her husband.</p>

<p>An hour later, when Major Hersey sought
the place he had chosen for their appointment,
he discovered Nora Jamison was
there before him.</p>

<p>She was sitting on a small bench under a
great tree filled with tiny flowering blossoms
which scented the air with a delicious
fragrance.</p>

<p>Evidently she was thinking deeply.</p>

<p>Nora Jamison's exceptional appearance
did not attract the young officer, although
she did interest and puzzle him.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_240" id="Page_240">[240]</a></span></p>

<p>Her short hair, her slender, almost boyish
figure, the queer elfin look in her face,
which made one wonder what she was <i>really</i>
thinking even at the time she was talking
in a perfectly natural fashion, had a tantalizing
rather than a pleasant effect upon
some persons.</p>

<p>Yet once seated beside her Major Jimmie
felt less embarrassment than he had anticipated.
One had to believe in any human
being for whom children cared as they did
for this American girl.</p>

<p>"Freia and Gretchen talk about you
always," he began a little awkwardly. "I
thought at the beginning of our acquaintance
that I was to be their favored friend,
but soon found you had completely won
their allegiance. But where is your usual
companion, the little French girl?"</p>

<p>"I left her at the hospital today, Major
Hersey; for a special reason I wished to
make a call upon Frau Liedermann alone.
But please do not let us talk about Freia
and Gretchen at present though they are
dear little girls. You have something you
specially want to say to me and I must<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_241" id="Page_241">[241]</a></span>
be back at my work at the hospital in
another half hour."</p>

<p>Major Hersey was a soldier and Nora's
directness pleased him.</p>

<p>"Yes, it is absurd of me to waste your
time," he returned. "The fact is simply
this. As I am billeted in their house for
the present I cannot very well have failed
to notice that you are developing what
looks like a personal intimacy with the
Liedermann family. I presume you know
that the Americans in Coblenz, who have
anything to do with the United States
army, are not supposed to fraternize with
the Germans. You may regard it as impertinent
of me to recall this fact to your
attention. I presume you consider that
this advice should come from some one
in more direct authority over you, but I
assure you I only mean to be friendly. I
have no real evidence for my statement,
but I am under the impression that certain
members of Colonel Liedermann's family
are still extremely hostile to their conquerors.
Moreover, you yourself realize
that as the terms of peace are delayed there<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_242" id="Page_242">[242]</a></span>
is not merely a sense of irritation and discontent
with the present German government,
but attempts are being made both
secretly and openly to overthrow it. I
have mentioned my suspicion to no one
except you, Miss Jamison, which of course
shows my confidence in you, but it has
occurred to me as a possibility that Colonel
Liedermann, or his invalid son, may be less
reconciled to existing conditions in Germany
than they prefer to pretend. Later,
if a discovery of this character should be
made, I would regret to have any one of
our American Red Cross nurses drawn into
such an uncomfortable situation."</p>

<p>Annoyed with his own confused method
of stating a situation, Major Jimmie Hersey
paused, coloring in his usual annoying fashion,
as if he were a tongue-tied boy.</p>

<p>Yet his companion was looking at him
without any suggestion of offense, and
rather as if she too were pondering some
important matter.</p>

<p>"Thank you for your advice, Major
Hersey," she replied the next moment.
"Now I am going to ask you to trust me.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_243" id="Page_243">[243]</a></span>
I have a reason for going to the Liedermann
house and I must go there perhaps several
times within the next few days. Afterwards
I may be able to explain to you
my reason. Will you trust me and not
report my actions to any one for the
present?"</p>

<p>With Nora Jamison's eyes facing his
directly, although against his own judgment,
there was nothing the young officer
felt able to do but agree to her request.
Yet it was out of order and it appeared
to him that Nora Jamison was being vague
and mysterious. It were wiser if she
attended strictly to her Red Cross nursing.
Surely some one of the other Red Cross
nurses had told him that this Miss Jamison
was not inclined to be especially intimate
with any of them.</p>

<p>That same afternoon after several hours
of indoor work, making out a report for
his superior officer, Major James Hersey
felt that he was rewarded for the day's
duties by an afternoon ride with the
Countess Charlotta.</p>

<p>As they had no other chaperon for their<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_244" id="Page_244">[244]</a></span>
ride, Miss Susan Pringle had consented to
accompany them, rather to Major Jimmie's
consternation. He feared that she
was taking an incredible risk with her own
health and safety in order that her adored
young countess should not be disappointed.
Yet it was soon evident that the middle-aged
English spinster was an accomplished
horsewoman.</p>

<p>Along the Rhine that afternoon in the
late April sunshine the water shone like
rusty gold. High on the opposite hills the
old feudal castles looked to Major Jimmie
like the castles he had read of in the fairy
stories of his childhood. Moreover, it was
easy even for a prosaic soldier, such as
Major James Hersey considered himself to
be, to think of the little Countess Charlotta
Scherin as the heroine of almost any romance,
even of one's own romance.</p>



<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_245" id="Page_245">[245]</a></span></p>
<h2>CHAPTER XX</h2>

<div class='chaptertitle'><i>Nora Jamison Explains</i><br /><br /></div>


<div class='cap'>IT was toward the end of the same week
that a note arrived for Major James
Hersey from Sonya Clark. She asked
him to make an appointment with Colonel
Winfield in order that he might see her and
one of her Red Cross nurses as soon as
possible. Would Major Hersey also try
to be present? There was a reason, which
he would understand, why his presence
might be necessary.</div>

<p>Colonel Winfield and Sonya Clark were
great friends, as the colonel had been one
of the commanders of a regiment stationed
near the Red Cross hospital in the neighborhood
of Ch&acirc;teau-Thierry for many
months before the close of the war.</p>

<p>The colonel, however, was not in his
library at the moment of Major Hersey's
arrival. Sonya Clark and Nora Jamison
were there awaiting his appearance.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_246" id="Page_246">[246]</a></span></p>

<p>"We are a few moments early; I suppose
the colonel will be here directly," Sonya
remarked. "You may not approve of our
having come first to the colonel's quarters
instead of seeing one of the heads of our
secret service," she continued, "but since
neither Miss Jamison nor I knew exactly
what we should do, we decided to make a
report directly to you. Then you will
know what should be done. Secrecy seemed
to us of first importance."</p>

<p>During Sonya's speech Colonel Winfield
had come into his room and now apologized
for his delay.</p>

<p>Nora Jamison had never met the distinguished
officer before, and therefore
looked a little frightened, but a glance at
Major Jimmie's interested face reassured
her.</p>

<p>After all he was the one person who would
substantiate the story she had to tell, for
even if he had no positive evidence at least
his suspicions would coincide with her
knowledge.</p>

<p>"You are sure there is no one who may
overhear us, Colonel Winfield?" she asked<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_247" id="Page_247">[247]</a></span>
a little timidly. "I think when I tell you
what I am about to that you will understand
why one still has reason to suspect
almost any one in Germany, although the
good of course must suffer with the evil."</p>

<p>Colonel Winfield nodded.</p>

<p>"I understood from Mrs. Clark that you
wished to talk to me on a private matter
and I have one of my orderlies stationed
at the door. There is no chance of being
overheard. As for continuing to feel suspicion
of the enemy, while the American
army is policing the Rhine it is our business
to take every precaution against treachery.
At present I wish I could be more certain
that the state of mind among the inhabitants
of Coblenz is what it appears upon the
surface. Tell me what information you
have and how you have acquired it. There
is a possibility that I may not be so much
in the dark as you at present suspect, Miss
Jamison."</p>

<p>"If you don't mind, may I take off my
hat while I talk?" Nora Jamison asked.
"It is boyish of me, I suspect, but I can
talk better with my hat off. Do you happen<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_248" id="Page_248">[248]</a></span>
to know, Colonel Winfield, that there are
persons in Germany who are friendly to the
Kaiser in spite of all that he has made them
endure? Actually they do not seem to
realize that he is chiefly responsible for the
tragedy of their country and her present
position as an outcast among the nations."</p>

<p>"Yes, I quite understand that fact,"
Colonel Winfield returned drily.</p>

<p>"Then do you also know, Colonel, that
there are men and women in Germany today
who are anxious to rescue the Kaiser
from his fate. They would make any
possible sacrifice to save him from being
tried by an international court in case
the Allies decide upon this course. But
perhaps I had best tell my story from the
beginning and you must forgive me if
some of it appears confused."</p>

<p>At this instant, clasping her hands together
in her lap, Nora Jamison sat staring
straight ahead, but looking at nothing in
the room, rather at some mental picture.</p>

<p>"When I came to Europe I hoped to be
of service as a Red Cross nurse, but by the
time I arrived the war was over and the<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_249" id="Page_249">[249]</a></span>
armistice about to be signed. Still I hoped
I had not come altogether in vain and
persuaded Dr. Clark to bring me with him
as a member of his Red Cross staff who were
to serve with the American Army of Occupation
in Coblenz.</p>

<p>"I felt a good deal of bitterness in coming
into Germany. The young man to whom I
was engaged was killed by the Germans
near Ch&acirc;teau-Thierry. I know it was wrong
and yet I felt as if I would like to revenge
myself upon them for all I have suffered.
I must apologize for telling you this, but
you will see that it does bear upon my
story.</p>

<p>"Well, after I came to Germany, although
I discovered that I did dislike and
distrust the German people, yet I could not
make up my mind not to feel affection for
the little German kinder, who after all
were in no way responsible for the war.
I always nursed children before I joined
the Red Cross and have a special fondness
for them. The little French Louisa
and I, who are always together except
when I am at work, made friends with<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_250" id="Page_250">[250]</a></span>
a number of the German children.
Among them were two little girls, whom
Major Hersey will tell you are especially
attractive. But if I seemed to single out
these two children and especially the older
one, Freia, it was not because she so
greatly attracted me. Early in our acquaintance
the little girl told me an anecdote
which struck me as extraordinary and
almost immediately aroused my suspicion.
Please don't think I found out at once
what I am trying to tell you, I at first had
to piece things together.</p>

<p>"Freia told me that her brother, Captain
Ludwig Liedermann, who had been wounded,
had recovered, but would not leave his
room and did not wish any one to know he
was well. Freia received the impression
that he did not wish to be seen by any of
the American officers or soldiers in Coblenz.
He once told little Freia that he hated to
meet the men who had defeated their
Emperor and driven him into exile."</p>

<p>The Colonel nodded.</p>

<p>"Yes, well, that strikes me as if alone it
might be a sufficient reason. I would not<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_251" id="Page_251">[251]</a></span>
be surprised if there were other German
officers and soldiers hiding from us with
this same excuse. However, we shall remain
on duty in Germany until both the military
and the civilians find it wiser not to seek
cover in order to escape the consequences
of their past."</p>

<p>"Yes, I know, but this did not seem to
me all there was in Freia's story," Nora
continued. "So I confess I made friends
with the little girl largely in order to gain
her further confidence. She afterwards
told me other things that were puzzling.
I knew that the Germans in Coblenz were
not allowed to hold secret meetings, but
Freia insisted that officers who had been
old friends of her brother's came constantly
to their house and that her sister Hedwig
opened a side door for them, so they would
not disturb Major Hersey. Then they
talked together a long time and no one else
was allowed to enter her brother's room,
save her father. She also spoke of her
sister Hedwig's hatred of the Americans.
It seems that Fraulein Liedermann and I
have at least one experience in common.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_252" id="Page_252">[252]</a></span>
The German captain to whom she was
engaged was also killed in the war. Hedwig
was angry because her little German
half-sisters were willing to make friends
with Major Hersey and me. But I must
not take so long to come to my point.
I also made friends with Frau Liedermann.
Often I went to her house, although always
I was afraid that the fact would be reported.
If I was found to be fraternizing with the
Germans I would have been forced to end
my acquaintance with the Liedermanns,
as you know.</p>

<p>"I can't tell you near all the details, but
the important fact I discovered is this:
Captain Liedermann, the colonel his father,
and a number of other German officers have
for weeks been making a secret effort to
have the Kaiser spirited away from Holland.
Their plan is to conceal him in some
spot where the Allies will be unable to
discover him. Then, when the resentment
against him dies down the Kaiser will be
rescued and brought back to Germany.
Captain Liedermann has been trying for
a long time to get out of Coblenz. But I<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_253" id="Page_253">[253]</a></span>
cannot tell you anything more than this
bare outline of the German plan."</p>

<p>Breathless and shaking a little from
fatigue and excitement, Nora Jamison now
paused.</p>

<p>"You mean to tell me that you have made
this extraordinary discovery during your
occasional visits to the Liedermann home,
when I who have been billeted there for
months have learned nothing?" Major
Hersey demanded, coloring in his habitual
fashion, but this time partly from admiration
of the girl beside him and partly from
annoyance with himself.</p>

<p>"Yes, but our positions have been entirely
different, Major Hersey," Nora explained.
"Every precaution was taken to see that
you found out nothing. Indeed you were
apparently welcomed into the Liedermann
household so that your presence there
might be a blind. What I found out was
owing to my intimacy with the two little
girls and later with Frau Liedermann. I
hope for her sake it may never be discovered
just how much she did confide to me. I
sometimes think she almost wanted me to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_254" id="Page_254">[254]</a></span>
report what I knew, she is so weary of war
and intrigue and deception, and is almost
as much of a child as her two little girls.
I think this is all I have to tell at present.
If our Intelligence Department should wish
to ask me questions later, why I may be
able to answer them."</p>

<p>Colonel Winfield rose and walked over
to Nora.</p>

<p>"You have given me extraordinarily
valuable information, Miss Jamison. I
shall see that it reaches the War Department
at once. I have always insisted that
women make the best members of the secret
service. But under the circumstances I
feel that I have the right to tell you this.
We did know something of this plot you
have just unveiled. What we did not
know was where to find the centre of the
conspiracy in Coblenz. I think you need
have no uneasiness, the Kaiser will never be
saved from the consequences of his acts
while the allied armies are policing the
Rhine. However, Miss Jamison I am
glad to have had you in Coblenz and
think you have justified your coming to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_255" id="Page_255">[255]</a></span>
Germany. May I congratulate a Red
Cross girl for another variety of service to
her country. Now you are tired, shall I
not send you back to the hospital in my
car?"</p>

<p>But Sonya Clark shook her head.</p>

<p>"No, thank you, Colonel Winfield. Dr.
Clark is to have one of the Red Cross
automobiles come for us, which is probably
now waiting around the corner. We
wished our visit to you to be known to as
few persons as possible. Major Hersey
will see us to the car. Goodby."</p>



<hr style="width: 65%;" /><p><span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_256" id="Page_256">[256]</a></span></p>
<h2>CHAPTER XXI</h2>

<div class='chaptertitle'><i>The Rainbow Bridge</i><br /><br /></div>


<div class='cap'>ONE afternoon in May, Sonya Clark
was entertaining a number of friends
among the American officers and
soldiers in Coblenz in the garden back of
the American Red Cross hospital.</div>

<p>During the early spring the Red Cross
girls had devoted many leisure hours to
digging and planting flower seed on the
level space just behind the old building and
overlooking the banks of the Rhine.</p>

<p>This afternoon this spot was gay with
spring flowers, also there were old rose vines
climbing high on the grey stone walls, now
a delicate green but promising a rich bloom
in June.</p>

<p>These were troubled days in Germany,
the most troubled since the arrival of the
American Army of Occupation. A short
time before the allied peace terms had been
presented to the German delegates in<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_257" id="Page_257">[257]</a></span>
Versailles; since then all Germany had
been crying aloud protests against a just
retribution. Germany was in official mourning.</p>

<p>Yet the Americans in Coblenz, soldiers
and civilians alike, were undisturbed, knowing
Germany would sign the terms when
the final moment arrived.</p>

<p>Today something of greater importance
was taking place among Sonya Clark's and
Dr. David Clark's friends. This little
reception was their farewell. In a short
time they were returning to New York
taking with them a number of their staff
of Red Cross nurses. Several days before
a new unit of Red Cross workers had arrived
in Coblenz, relieving former members
who desired to return home.</p>

<p>The afternoon was a lovely one, now and
then occasional light clouds showed in the
sky, but away off on the opposite bank of
the Rhine there were lines of blue hills, then
purple, fading at last to a dim grey.</p>

<p>Sonya and Dr. Clark were standing
among a little group of friends. Nona
Davis and Mildred Thornton were beside<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_258" id="Page_258">[258]</a></span>
them. Both of the original Red Cross
girls were wearing decorations which they
had lately received from the French government
and the United States government in
recognition of their four years of war
nursing among the allied armies of Europe.</p>

<p>They were leaving with Sonya and Dr.
Clark for the United States and were
expecting to be married soon after their
arrival. Colonel Winfield, who was an old
friend, was congratulating them and at
the same time lamenting their departure
from Coblenz.</p>

<p>"I wonder if you will tell me just what
members of Dr. Clark's staff are going
with him?" he inquired. "I fear I shall
feel a stranger and an outsider at the
American Red Cross hospital when so
many of you sail for home who were with
me in the neighborhood of Ch&acirc;teau-Thierry,
caring for our wounded American boys.
May your married life be as happy as you
deserve."</p>

<p>Slipping one hand through the elderly
Colonel's arm, Nona Davis suggested to
him and to Mildred <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'Thronton'">Thornton</ins>:<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_259" id="Page_259">[259]</a></span></p>

<p>"Suppose we take a little walk; no one
is noticing us with Sonya and Dr. Clark
the centre of attention. Whatever I may
dislike about Germany, I shall never forget
the fascination of many of the views along
the Rhine during this winter and spring
in Coblenz.</p>

<p>"As for the members of Dr. Clark's staff
who are going home with him, there are
no nurses who will not remain except a
Miss Thompson. Bianca Zoli, Mrs. Clark's
ward, is leaving with her of course. Then
I suppose you know that the little Luxemburg
Countess Charlotta Scherin and her
governess are to accompany us, I believe
with the consent of her father."</p>

<p>As the little group moved away in the
direction of the river bank, Mildred smiled.</p>

<p>"See, Colonel, there are the three girls
we have been discussing! The little Countess
Charlotta and your pet officer, Major
Hersey, are probably saying farewell. Further
on is Theodosia Thompson and Dr.
Hugh Raymond. Dr. Raymond is to be
in charge of our American Red Cross
hospital in Coblenz after Dr. Clark's departure.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_260" id="Page_260">[260]</a></span>
It is a good deal of responsibility
for so young a physician, but Dr. Clark
seems to think he is equal to it. And
there perched up in the branches of that
old tree is Bianca Zoli. How pretty she
looks in her delicate blue dress against
such a background!"</p>

<p>"And who is that romantic young soldier
standing beneath her?" the Colonel demanded.</p>

<p>"Oh, yes, I remember now, he is the
soldier-singer, who I believe is also going
back to the <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'states'">States</ins>, as I secured an honorable
discharge for him a short time ago. Odd
name his for an American, what is it?"</p>

<p>"Carlo Navara," Nona replied, "and an
old friend of ours."</p>

<p>Then they continued on their walk.</p>

<p>At the same moment Theodosia Thompson
and Dr. Raymond were slipping out
of sight of the guests along a little path
which ended in a group of shrubs a few
yards down the hill.</p>

<p>"I can't see why you wish to renew what
we were discussing a few days ago, Dr.
Raymond," Thea argued a little plaintively,<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_261" id="Page_261">[261]</a></span>
her red hair shining in the warm
light, her pale cheeks showing two spots
of bright color. "I think I said to you
then all I could say. I do appreciate the
honor of your believing that you care for
me, although I think you will soon find
out your mistake. You will see then as
plainly as I do now that we are not suited
to each other. I told you I did not wish
to marry any one. I know it seems ridiculous
and perhaps wicked to you that I
should prefer to learn folk dancing as a
profession rather than to continue as a
nurse. But people cannot always understand
each other's dreams and desires and
I only undertook the Red Cross nursing
because I wanted to help nurse our soldiers,
not because I wanted to be a nurse always.
But Ruth Carroll believes as you do and
never intends giving up her work, not
unless she marries which I hope she may
some day. She is so splendid and restful,
just the kind of girl I should think an
ambitious man would care for. She would
be such a pillar of strength. Alas, that I
shall never be to any one, not even to<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_262" id="Page_262">[262]</a></span>
myself I am afraid!" Thea ended. Then
she put out her hand.</p>

<p>"Don't let us argue on this lovely day,
Dr. Raymond, just shake hands with me,
and let us wish each other good luck."</p>

<p>Under the circumstances, since there was
nothing else to do and also because he was
partly convinced of the truth of Thea's
speech, Dr. Raymond agreed with her
request. A few moments later, climbing up
the hill, they rejoined the other guests.</p>

<p>From the ground, smiling up at her in a
teasing fashion usual in their relation to
each other, Carlo at the same time was
saying to Bianca Zoli:</p>

<p>"Sure you are not especially glad to be
going home, Bianca, chiefly because I am
so soon to follow you? I've an idea you
would be very unhappy if we were parting
for any length of time. Nicht war?"</p>

<p>Bianca shook her head, smiling and at
the same time frowning.</p>

<p>"Under those circumstances, I should
simply have tried to bear my departure
bravely, Carlo, as one who has been
through a good many experiences as a<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_263" id="Page_263">[263]</a></span>
Red Cross girl in time of war. But don't
speak German even in fun. Some day I
may learn to dislike the language less,
but not at present. Moreover, I do not
look forward to seeing a great deal of
Mr. Carlo Navara even if we are both
again to be in the United States. You
will be very busy with your career and will
probably soon be a more famous person
than you were before you entered the
United States army, while I, well I shall
work hard in my way, although I shall
continue to remain an obscure person."</p>

<p>"I don't know, Bianca, suppose some day
you condescended to marry me. Wouldn't
you like to share my fame?"</p>

<p>Bianca shook her head.</p>

<p>"I think not, Carlo. Besides, you must
not say things of that kind to me. You
know Sonya would be angry."</p>

<p>Carlo looked a little annoyed, then
laughed.</p>

<p>Since her illness it seemed to him that
Bianca had changed in some subtle fashion.
One was no longer so sure of getting the
best of her in an argument.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_264" id="Page_264">[264]</a></span></p>

<p>Besides, after all, would it be so unpleasant
to share one's future with Bianca?
She looked oddly pretty and ethereal high
up in the branches of the tree where he had
lifted her a few moments before.</p>

<p>But at this moment there could be no
further discussion between them, a message
arriving from Sonya saying that she wished
Bianca to come and assist her in pouring
tea.</p>

<p>After he helped her down to the ground,
Carlo made Bianca pause for a moment
while he pointed across the river.</p>

<p>"See that curious effect, Bianca! There
is a rainbow over the Rhine. It comes
sometimes in the late afternoon light even
when there has been no storm. Let us
hope the world will find peace at the end
of the rainbow, and more especially Germany. I
won't come with you now, as I
hate having to serve tea. Ask some of
your soldier friends who are cleverer at it
than I. I want to watch the sunset on
the Rhine."</p>

<p>And Carlo and Bianca parted for a short
time, yet thereafter many experiences and<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_265" id="Page_265">[265]</a></span>
a number of years were to roll between them
before Carlo and Bianca at last found
happiness in each other.</p>

<p>At the same time Major Hersey and
Charlotta were observing the curious effect
of light over the river.</p>

<p>They had gone together to the edge of
one of the cliffs and were gazing across at
the great fortress of Ehrenbreitstein from
whose tower the stars and stripes were
floating. To them the rainbow seemed to
dip down into the depth of this ancient
fortress and lose itself in the shadows.</p>

<p>"Whenever I am homesick to return to
my own country, Countess Charlotta, I
simply stare across at the flag on that old
German fortress and think what it represents,"
Major Hersey declared. "Then I
am content to remain in Germany for as
long as I am needed. A little thing, isn't
it, to give a few months, or a few years, or
whatever length of time may be necessary
to teach Germany her lesson, when so
many other men have given their lives that
our flag be the flag of victory and a just
peace!"<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_266" id="Page_266">[266]</a></span></p>

<p>The young girl's face softened.</p>

<p>"I think you are a good soldier, Major
Hersey. There is something I want to
confide to you. I did write my father as
you suggested and told him I would come
home if he wished, only he must allow me to
keep my freedom. His answer was what I
expected. He does not desire to see me at
present and says I am free to travel in the
United States if I like. Only he adds that
when I have seen more of the world perhaps
I shall be more content to do my duty to
my father. Not very clear, but I think
I understand. My father really wishes to
become reconciled with me, only not to
seem to give in too readily. So I shall
return home in a few months perhaps.
Then if you are still in Coblenz and I write
you, won't you come to Luxemburg? We
have been such good friends and I hate
saying goodby forever to people I like."</p>

<p>Major Jimmie Hersey shook his head,
his brown eyes were steady and although
the old boyish color had diffused his face,
there was the firm line about his mouth
and chin which his soldiers knew and respected.<span class='pagenum'><a name="Page_267" id="Page_267">[267]</a></span></p>

<p>"No, Countess Charlotta, I shall not
come to see you in Luxemburg or elsewhere
and this must be our goodby. I have no
idea of leaving the United States army so
long as I am allowed to remain in it. This
means I will have nothing to offer you in
the future, save what I have now, I believe
you understand."</p>

<p>The Countess Charlotta nodded.</p>

<p>"Yes, I understand. Goodby, yet nevertheless
I shall look forward to our meeting
again."</p>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<hr style="width: 65%;" />
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<div class='tnote'><h3>Transcriber's Notes:</h3>
<p>Obvious punctuation errors were corrected.</p>

<p>The remaining corrections made are indicated by dotted lines under the corrections. Scroll the mouse over the word and the original text will <ins title="Transcriber's Note: original reads 'apprear'">appear</ins>.</p></div>

<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
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