Perhaps he had a little fever that day. He was alternately flushed and

pale; and certainly he was not quite rational. His hand shook as he

brought out her letter--and with it the other letter, from the Front.

"Have you the time to come with me?" Sara Lee asked doubtfully. "I want

you to come, of course, but if your work will suffer--"

He held out his letter to her.

"I shall go away," he said, "while you read it. And perhaps you will

not destroy it, because--I should like to feel that you have it always."

He went away at once, saluting as he passed other officers, who gravely

saluted him. On the deck of the hospital ship the invalid touched his

cap. Word was going about, in the stealthy manner of such things, that

Henri whose family name we may not know, was a brave man and doing brave

things.

The steamer had not yet cast off. As usual, it was to take a flying

start from the harbor, for it was just outside the harbor that the wolves

of the sea lay in wait. Henri, alone at last, opened his letter, and

stood staring at it. There was again movement behind the German line,

a matter to be looked into, as only he could do it. Probably nothing,

as before; but who could say?

Henri looked along the shore to where but a few miles away lay the

ragged remnant of his country. And he looked forward to where Sara Lee,

his letter in her hand, was staring blindly at nothing. Then he looked

out toward the sea, where lay who knew what dangers of death and

suffering.

After that first moment of indecision he never hesitated. He stood on

the deck and watched, rather frozen and rigid, and with a mind that had

ceased working, while the steamer warped out from the quay. If in his

subconsciousness there was any thought it was doubtless that he had done

his best for a long time, and that he had earned the right to protect

for a few hours the girl he loved. That, too, there had been activity

along the German-Belgian line before, without result.

Perhaps subconsciously those things were there. He himself was conscious

of no thought, of only a dogged determination to get Sara Lee across the

channel safely. He put everything else behind him. He counted no cost.

The little admiralty boat sped on. In the bow, on the bridge, and at

different stations lookouts kept watch. The lifeboats were hung

overboard, ready to lower instantly. On the horizon a British destroyer

steamed leisurely. Henri stood for a long time on the deck. The land

fell away quickly. From a clear silhouette of the town against the

sky--the dunes, the spire of the cathedral, the roof of the mairie--it

became vague, shadowy--the height of a hand--a line--nothing.




readonlinefreebook.com Copyright 2016 - 2024