Then Dick smiled. "Do you know, I have been thinking lately that perhaps it is the[Pg 96] women who smile and bear their burdens. A man is rather apt to want to make a noise when he is hurt." [Pg 96] Nona glanced down at Dick's sleeve. "I don't think you have a right to accuse yourself of that fault," she said gently. But Dick shook his head. "I was not thinking of my arm; I am learning to get on fairly comfortably with one arm these days." [Pg 97] [Pg 97] CHAPTER VIII A Prison and a Prisoner CHAPTER VIII A Prison and a Prisoner One afternoon one of the young doctors in the American hospital invited Barbara to go with him to visit one of the German prisons. These prisons sheltered a number of wounded British and French soldiers. There were scarcely a sufficient number of hospitals to take care of the German wounded alone. Dr. Mason, the young American surgeon, was about twenty-five years old. He had been sent into Belgium by the Red Cross societies in his own village in Minnesota. So, although his home and Barbara Meade's were many miles apart, at least they were both westerners. On this score they had claimed a fellow feeling for each other. The truth was Dr. Mason felt sorry for Barbara. She seemed so young and so much alone in the unhappy country they had come to serve. She did not seem to wish to be intimate with the other American[Pg 98] nurses at their hospital and her two former friends evidently neglected her. [Pg 98] So only with the thought of being kind, Dr. Mason had issued his invitation. He was not attracted by Barbara. She seemed rather an insignificant little thing except for her big blue eyes. This was partly because Barbara so seldom laughed these days. There was little in Belgium that one could consider amusing. Just now and then she did manage to bubble over inside when no one was noticing. For there is no world so sad or so dull that it does not offer an occasional opportunity for laughter. Certainly an excursion to a prison could scarcely be considered an amusing expedition. Nevertheless,
Prev.
Back
Top