"I can"t see it," said Zaidos.
As he spoke, another dull roar marked the falling of a second sh.e.l.l.
"I don"t see why they start up to-night," said Zaidos. "I wonder if that did any damage."
"They want to worry us enough so that the men will lose sleep," said a soldier standing near. "But no one will bother about a few sh.e.l.ls.
The men will get into the bomb proof shelters until daylight. It is a waste of ammunition as it is."
An orderly entered with a written call for a nurse for the First Aid Station. Nurse Helen was called to the Head Nurse and in a moment came hurrying back to Zaidos.
"They have sent for me now," she said. "I suppose some other cases have come in."
"I"ll go back with you," offered Zaidos, and together they stumbled along through the rapidly gathering dusk.
Three more men had been hurt, and when they had finally been sent back to the hospital, it was almost midnight.
Zaidos found Helen sitting at the opening of the shelter, looking up at the stars. She made room for him on the plank.
"I"m thinking hard about home, John," she said. "One"s viewpoint changes so. I wish I knew that I have done right to come here and leave my parents and little sister. I"m just _so_ lonely and troubled to-night that I have half a mind to tell you my story."
"I wish you would," said Zaidos, "if you _feel_ like telling me. I told you all about myself, and it would make me feel sort as if I was really am old friend of yours if _you_ told _me_ things, _too_."
"Of course," said Helen. "I know how you feel. Well, John, you know, don"t you, that we are certainly in for an attack as soon as it is daylight? Perhaps before, because the enemy has searchlights that make it easy for them to bother us in the dark. I know they are expecting a big battle because this is a much coveted position. A great number of fresh troops are on the way here. I learned that to-night, and that looks serious, because we have our full quota of men here now. They are going to change shifts all night. So there will doubtless be heavy work for the Red Cross people, and much of that may be field work.
And, John, it may be that never again will you and I sit talking together."
"Nonsense!" said Zaidos. "Don"t talk like that! You are too sweet and pretty to die, and _I_ can"t die because I have got such a lot to do."
Helen shook her head. "I don"t say that we will," she said. "But boys as busy as you, and women nicer than I could ever dream of being, have gone out into the dark--crowds of them, in this war."
Zaidos saw that she was deep in one of the black moods that sometimes comes over the sunniest natures.
"Well, never mind," he said. "You are going to tell me who you are, and all about things, and we are going to have the nicest sort of a visit, if we sit up all night."
"I shall have to sit up anyway," said Helen. "I"m on night duty."
"Well, then so am I," said Zaidos, "so begin!"
"Our home is in Devonshire," said Helen. "My father is rector of a large parish there. Everything for miles and miles around belongs to the Earl of Hazelden. He has three children, a girl and two boys, and we grew up together. We liked the same sports, and enjoyed the same pleasures. The daughter, Marion, who is only a year younger than I am, went to school with me near London, and afterwards to France where we were perfected in languages. My sister is four years younger than I, so in those days she did not really count. I forgot to say that my mother was well born, and had a large fortune in her own name, so we were able to live better and have more luxuries than a clergyman can usually provide. Of course we lived simply, but we could afford the best and most exclusive schools, and I had horses to ride that were exactly as good as the Hazelden children"s.
"At last Marion and I returned from school, our education finished.
Ellston Hazelden, the eldest son, was in the army, of course, and Frank, the second, was in London studying law. At Christmas Ellston came home on leave, and Frank came down from London. Oh, John, I wish you knew Ellston! He is the finest--there is _no_ one like him! Of course _any_ girl would have fallen in love with him. I did. Oh, I did indeed! I shall never see him again, John, and I am not ashamed to tell you how I loved him and how I will always love him."
"Well, then--" interrupted Zaidos.
She silenced him. "Let me tell you the rest. I loved him, and when he told me that he loved me and wanted me to marry him, it seemed the sweetest, most natural thing in the world. I suppose here you think will come in the dark plot of the simple rector"s daughter, and the haughty Earl who thinks she is not good enough for his son and heir.
It was not a _bit_ like that. Lord and Lady Hazelden were adorable.
They came and welcomed me with open arms, and Lord Hazelden said he had been planning it ever since we were little tots!
"John, it just seemed as though they could not do enough for us. Lady Hazelden was in deep mourning for her mother, so we decided not to announce our engagement for six months. Then in three months more we would marry. Every day the Hazeldens drove over with some beautiful plan for our happiness. They had one entire wing of the castle done over for us. Ellston came down often as he could."
Helen lapsed into silence, and sat staring into the night.
"Well, what then?" asked Zaidos, staring at the lovely, sorrowful face beside him. "Did he die?"
"No," said Helen haltingly. "We quarreled."
"Quarreled?" echoed Zaidos. "Quarreled after all that? I don"t see how you could!"
"I don"t see now, either," said Helen. "It was my fault. I should have _made_ him make up with me."
"What was the fuss about?" asked Zaidos. He was intensely interested.
He had never been so close to a real love affair before. Of course he had met a girl at one of the hops; the one he gave the collar emblem to. Zaidos couldn"t think of her name, but he remembered that he had been pretty hard hit. He knew she was a pretty girl; funny he couldn"t think of her name! It occurred to Zaidos that a fellow ought to know a girl"s name anyhow if he was crazy over her. And he had been quite crazy over her for a whole evening. Had it _bad_! Anyhow, he was sure she was a blonde. That was proof that he remembered and suffered! But Helen was speaking.
"I hate to tell you," she said. "It seems so trivial now."
"Well, let"s hear about it," said Zaidos. "Perhaps we can get hold of the chap and fix things up."
"Not now," said Helen sadly. "It is too late. There always comes a time when it is too late, John. Don"t forget that. I have found it out."
She paused again, and Zaidos was afraid she was never going on, but finally she took up her story.
"There is actually nothing to it. It commenced with the color of a dress I wore. Tony said it was the most unbecoming thing I had ever had on. I had just been visiting a friend in London, a very advanced girl, and she had been telling me what a mistake it was when one gave up to the prejudices of a man. She said do it once and you would do it always. So when Tony said quite calmly, "Do please throw the thing away, or burn it up," I thought I ought to take a _firm stand_. I said, "I shall do neither. This is a _perfectly new dress_, and I mean to wear it all summer." Tony laughed. He said, "Well, I"m blessed if I take any leave until winter then!" Of course he was joking, and a girl with the least common sense would have known it; but I retorted, "That is an excellent plan!" He said, "Why, Helen, you don"t mean that, do you?" and I said I certainly did. We parted rather stiffly.
It was his last evening at home, and I had put on the frock in honor of it. He wrote as soon as he reached London, and referred to the dress again. He said such trivial things should never be permitted to come between two people who loved each other. I returned that it was not trivial, but a matter of principle, which I should support. John, it actually parted us. Actually parted us! Just think of it!"
"Well, I never heard such bosh!" Zaidos said. "Why didn"t you write and tell him it was perfect nonsense, and that you were sorry?"
"That is the worst of it," said Helen. "I did just that, and told him how I loved him, and that it didn"t matter _what_ I wore, so long as he liked it. Oh, I said everything, John, that a silly and repentant and loving girl _could_ say, and sent the letter to his quarters in London.
I even put my return address on the envelope."
"What did he say?" said Zaidos.
"Not a word!" said Helen sadly. "Not one word! I waited for two weeks, and then he was ordered to the front. Still he did not write.
I sent him back his ring; it was all I could do, and left home for awhile. He came down for a day, but did not come to our house. Not a very exciting affair is it, John?"
"Perfect bosh!" declared Zaidos. "I"ll bet anything, _anything_ that he never received your letter at all, or else he answered and you did not get his letter. Why didn"t you telephone him? _Letters_ are no good."
"I asked him to telephone me," said Helen. "I watched that telephone for three days all the time."
"Didn"t you leave it at all?" said Zaidos.
"Only once for an hour," said Helen, "and then I had my own maid sit right beside it.
"That is all there is to my poor little story, John boy. Tony is somewhere in France, if he still lives, and I came out here when I could stand it no longer at home. You see I am not afraid of death because I don"t in the least care to live without Tony."
"Well, it"s too bad," said Zaidos. "Wish I had been there. I just know he never got your letter. I just know it!"
"The story is ended now, at any rate," said Helen. "If Tony lives he will go back home and marry some woman who has common sense to appreciate him, and as for me, to the end of my days, I shall be just Nurse Helen." She sighed softly, and for a moment looked into the night.
"Do you want to see him?" she asked. She drew from her uniform a slender chain with a big gold locket swinging on it. A crest was on it set with diamonds that flashed in the dim light. Zaidos looked at the open, handsome face.