11 GRACE HARLOWE WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY ON THE RHINE CHAPTER I ON THE MARCH TO THE RHINE “HERE is where we take on our load,” observed Grace Harlowe, backing her car up to the door of a peasant cottage. “H “ “Never was a truer word spoken,” agreed J. Elfreda Briggs. “Chad of her own sweet self is considerable of a load.” Miss Briggs reached back and threw open the door of the army automobile, to be ready for their passenger who had not yet appeared. “Baggage, some would characterize her,” added the girl. “She is our superior, Elfreda,” reminded Grace. “One always must preserve a certain respect for one’s superior, else discipline in the army will quickly go to pieces. While Mrs. Smythe plainly is not all that we wish she were,12 she is our superior officer whom we must both respect and obey.” 12 “Ever meet her?” questioned Elfreda. “Once. I was not favorably impressed with her, though I did not see enough of her to form an opinion worth while. That she was fat and rather fair, I recall quite distinctly.” “Know anything about her, Grace?” “Nothing beyond the fact that she is said to be the wife of a wealthy Chicago meat-packer, and that Mrs. Meat Packer wishes every one to know that she is a rich woman and an influential one.” “She must be to get here, Grace. What I cannot understand is how she ever got into army welfare work, especially how she came to be assigned to join out with this American Third Army’s march to the Rhine.” “Perhaps influence, perhaps her money; perhaps a little of both,” nodded Grace. “You know as much about it as I do.” “And that much, little as it is, is too much,” declared J. Elfreda Briggs. “I should characterize her as an inordinately vain woman, one of the newly rich, who, clothed with a little authority, would be a mighty uncomfortable companion. The girls at the hospital who have worked
Prev.
Back
Top