make, or whatever excuse be given, there was little doubt that Barbara was behaving strangely. Nor was it heir friendship with Mollie Drew nor with Agatha Burton which excited Nona’s unexpressed criticism. Nona[99] herself had worked with Mollie and Agatha in Italy and had liked them fairly well. It was she who had introduced them to Barbara. But it looked at present as if Barbara Thornton were only using the friendship of the two comparatively unknown girls to further her own plans. [99] For, the slight acquaintance with young Lieutenant Hugh Kelley, which Barbara had started in idle fashion on board the train bringing them both through France, had apparently developed into a real interest. This was rather extraordinary in view of the fact that Barbara was married to Richard Thornton and was supposedly utterly devoted to him. Moreover, she had a baby and yet was behaving as if she were a girl again. Sometimes Nona wondered if Barbara had ever explained to Lieutenant Kelley that she was Mrs. Thornton, not Miss Thornton. He had received this impression upon their first meeting and Barbara did appear so absurdly childish. However, it was just as well Nona had never felt at liberty to inquire, for as a matter of fact[100] Barbara had deliberately continued the false impression, persuading Mollie and Agatha to assist her. At first the misunderstanding had struck her as amusing, later she had concluded that it would do no possible harm to go on with it, as a new friendship would keep her from being so lonely and unhappy over her separation from Dick. [100] As for Lieutenant Kelley, she really did not consider him, only she knew, of course, he was the type of man who always enjoyed a mild flirtation. And Mollie and Agatha made particularly agreeable friends at present, because they were comparative strangers and therefore would not criticise her, and also because they were interested in two of the American soldiers. Mollie and Guy Ellis who had met in such an absurd fashion, had developed a surprising interest in each other for so short an acquaintance. But then these were war times and they were both in a foreign land. It also turned out that Agatha Burton had a friend among the American soldiers[101] encamped in the village close to Eugenia’s hospital. This may have influenced her coming abroad to nurse, since the friendship, Agatha declared, was an old one. The soldier, whose name was Charles Anderson, was not
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