When the moment came he did as he had said he would do--he laughed and waved good-bye as he was wheeled away; and in the afternoon when I came on duty I found him lying in his bed, conscious, looking brown and strong and unconcerned.
But he can"t let well alone....
As I pa.s.sed up the ward to the bedside of the Welsh private I was called by the sergeant, and when I stood by his bed he whispered, "Is that chap making a fuss over there?"
"Evan?"
"Chap as has had an operation the same as me...."
"He"s very bad."
"You don"t find me making a fuss and my leg isn"t half giving me something."
"We"re not all alike, sergeant."
"Why should one make a fuss and another say nothing?"
"Is your leg hurting you a lot?"
"Yes, it is," and he screwed up his face into a grimace.
After all, he was a child. "Try to go to sleep," I said, knowing that it was his jealousy that was hurting him most.
I went to Evan.
He could do nothing with his pain, but in its tightest embraces, and crying, he lay with his large red handkerchief over his eyes.
"Oh, Evan...!" I said. I couldn"t do anything either.
"Oh dear, dear, dear, dear, dear...." he wailed in his plaintive Welsh voice. "Oh, my dear leg, my poor leg...." He looked about nineteen.
"Couldn"t I lie on my side?"
"No, it would make it bleed."
"Would it?" He was so docile and so unhappy. The tears had run down and marked his pillow; I turned it, although the sergeant couldn"t see.
"Will they give me something to make me sleep to-night?"
"Yes, Evan, at eight o"clock."
I said that because I was so sure of it, I had always seen it done. But oh, I should have made more sure...!
He built on it, he leant all his hopes upon it; his little clenched hands seemed to be holding my promise as firmly as though it had been my hand.
And Sister said, "No, no ... it would be better not." "Oh, Sister, why not...?" (I, the least of mortals, had made a promise belonging only to the G.o.ds....)
"Oh, Sister, why not?"
Her reason was a good one: "He will want it more later in the night, and he can"t have it twice."
I ran back to tell him so quickly--but one can"t run back into the past.
It is wonderful to talk to men affectionately without exciting or implying love. The Utopian dreams of sixteen seem almost to be realized!
When I sew splints they come and talk to me. Scutts will sometimes talk for an hour. At first I was so proud that I dared hardly stir a finger for fear that I should frighten him away; now I am more sure of him. He never says "What?" to me, nor any longer jumps when I speak to him as though my every word must carry some command. When I sew splints and listen to Scutts or the old Scotch grocer or Monk--that squinting child of whom Pinker said, "Monk got a girl! He don" know what a girl is!"--I think, "We cannot all be efficient, but ... this serves some end."
For they are complaining that I am not efficient. At first it hurt my pride; but it depends upon the point of view. Does one go into a ward primarily to help the patients or to help the Sister? It is not always the same thing, but one must not question discipline....
To-day nine of the patients "went convalescent." They departed, hobbling and on stretchers, at two o"clock, with bursts of song, plastered hair, bright b.u.t.tons, and not a regret. "You"ll be able to hear a pin fall to-night, nurse," said one of them.
"I know we shall. And a tear too," I added.
But they won"t listen to any such nonsense. They are going off to the little convalescent hospitals, they are going away to be treated like men; and I must laugh and shake hands and not dream of adding, "Perhaps we shall see you back again."
"No more route-marching...!" was the last cry I heard from the Nine.
How they hate route-marching--especially the City men, most especially Pinker! "March down the silly road," he grumbles, "sit on the silly gra.s.s and get heat-b.u.mps."
Sometimes I think that sewing splints will be my undoing. If I listen much longer I shall see crooked.
To-day they had some small bottles of stout to help us say good-bye to the Nine.
Happiness is cheap. Last night at dinner a man said as he refilled his gla.s.s with champagne, "It makes me sad to think how much happiness there is in a bottle...."
The attack has begun.
"At 3.15 this morning ... on a front of two miles...."
So that is why the ward is so empty and the ambulances have been hurrying out of the yard all day. We shall get that convoy for which I longed.
When the ward is empty and there is, as now, so little work to do, how we, the women, watch each other over the heads of the men! And because we do not care to watch, nor are much satisfied with what we see, we want more work. At what a price we shall get it....
Scutts and Monk talk to me while I sew, but what about the Monks, Scutts, Gayners, whose wounds will never need a dressing or a tube--who lie along a front of two miles, one on his face, another on his back?
Since 3.15 this morning a lot of men have died. Thank G.o.d one cannot go on realizing death.
But one need not think of it. This is a ward; here are lucky ones. Even when I look at Rees, even when I look at the grocer, even when I look at the T.B. ward, I know that anything, _anything_ is better than death.
But I have known a man here and there who did not think so--and these men, close on death it is true, were like strangers in the ward.
For one can be close on death and remain familiar, friendly, comprehensible.
I used to think, "It is awful to die." But who knows what compliance the years will bring? What is awful is to die _young_.
A new V.A.D. came into the ward yesterday--a girl straight from home, who has never been in a hospital before.