“Oh Dad, how I wish I could be there with you and Mom right now! How is she?”

“Just the same brave saint she’s always been. She’s writing you a letter now to hearten you.”

“Kiss her for me,” said Nancy. “And tell her I’ll pray harder than ever.”

Nancy put down the phone and faced Mabel.

“I could hear what he said,” her friend told her gently. “Don’t give up hope, Nancy. Lots of times they turn up after they’re reported missing. Maybe he’s not dead.”

“Oh, no, he’s not!” Nancy asserted firmly. “I’m not going to think of it for a minute. He wrote me in that last letter he could feel our prayers helping protect him, and he’s going to feel it more than ever now.”

From sunrise till mid-afternoon the following day the convoy rolled smoothly west along the paved highway. At noon they stopped in a large city to eat a lunch the canteen girls had prepared. It was good to get out and stretch their legs after sitting on the hard truck seats all morning. No one knew where they were going, or how long they would be on their way, so the nurses made the best of their hour’s rest. They took turns in the canteen dressing room, freshening up to continue their journey.

While they rested Nancy slipped her brother’s last letter from her pocket and re-read it. Mabel caught her at it and tried to cheer her.

“Come on now,” she said, “it does no good grieving.”

“I’m not grieving. It—it makes me feel more certain he’s going to come out all right when I re-read his letter.”

“Let’s take a sprint around the block,” suggested Mabel. “We have a few minutes before we take off.”

“Not a bad idea. A little exercise will do us good.”

“We may never get a peep at this burg again. I sure don’t mean to miss anything on the way.”

Other girls were out pacing up and down the sidewalk in front of the canteen, but Nancy and Mabel wanted to see more. They were in the heart of town, and the street back of the canteen had many attractive shop windows. Nancy kept glancing at her watch as they paused to admire the pretty dresses.

“Do you feel like someone who’s renounced the world when you look at those dresses?” asked Mabel.

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