She would carry provisions to the soldier and then advise him to leave the neighborhood immediately. Unless he departed of his own free will, taking his chances as he must, she then would be compelled to tell that he was in hiding.
CHAPTER XI
THE RETURN
Before daylight Sally rose softly and began to dress, feeling extremely irritated. She disliked getting up in the mornings and this scheme of arising early was so annoying that it had kept her awake the greater part of the night.
Besides she had but little hope of not arousing Alice. Once as she was searching quietly on the floor for her shoes, Alice sat up, asking severely:
"What on earth are you doing, Sally Ashton? If you are not ill, come on back to bed. If you are ill, come back in any case and let me get whatever it is you desire."
Sally murmured something vague and indeterminate about endeavoring to discover a lost pillow and Alice fell comfortably asleep again, nor did she awaken when Sally at last slipped out of the room and down stairs.
In case any one else heard her or called, she had made up her mind to explain that she was seeing about some preparation for breakfast. As "housekeeper extraordinary" this statement _might_ be believed, even if it were unlike her to start her ministrations so early.
But no one was disturbed and Sally got her little bundle of provisions together quickly, since she knew just where the supplies of food were kept. They had not a great deal, considering the demands that were constantly being made upon them by the people in the neighborhood who were less well off, so Sally felt that she had not the right to be over-generous, and made her selections with due discretion.
It was more than ever her determination to demand that the soldier leave the chateau at once this morning, if he could be induced to see the wisdom of such a proceeding, but if not by nightfall.
Also Sally had made up her mind to ask no questions. If the soldier were arrested later she wished to know as little as possible concerning him.
He had spoken of being captured and of running away from his captors.
This suggested that he was a German or an Austrian who had been taken prisoner and was trying to effect an escape. If this were true Sally felt a fierce condemnation of her own cowardly att.i.tude. But was it not remotely possible that the soldier had committed some offense and had then run away from his own regiment? However, this point of view was but little in his favor. As he spoke English with an accent and as foreign accents were all of an equal mystification to Sally, it was possible that she need never know his origin.
Outdoors and slipping through the garden, to Sally"s surprise and consternation she nearly ran into old Jean, who appeared to have been up all night caring for his stock.
He looked like a gnome with his wrinkled skin, his little eyes, his muddy gray hair and even his clothes almost of a color with the earth.
He was carrying a lantern, but instead of speaking beckoned mysteriously to Sally to follow him out to Miss Patricia"s barn, where a half dozen cows were now installed.
Not knowing what else to do, Sally stood by until she found herself presented with a small pail of milk, and still with no comments, for immediately after Jean went on with his morning"s work.
She did not waste time, however, in puzzling over the old servant man.
After drinking a small quant.i.ty of the milk, not wishing to throw the rest away or to return to the house, Sally concluded to take it with her as a part of her offering. Yet she had no real desire to give refreshment to her accidental acquaintance.
Some curious feminine force must have moved Sally Ashton on this occasion. Most women find it difficult to allow a human being to endure physical suffering, once the person is delivered into their care.
As she made her way to the chateau for the second time Sally loathed the cold dark morning and there was no beauty nor significance to her in the gray leaden sky which lay like a mourning veil over the sad French landscape.
Sally considered that she was engaged in an almost unjustifiable action.
Yet she could not make up her mind to leave the soldier to starve, or to betray his presence in the chateau.
Moreover, Sally was haunted by a small nervous fear, which may have been out of place in the face of the larger issues which were involved. As the soldier in hiding had no reason to believe she would arrive so early in the morning, he might still be asleep. Sally disliked the idea that thus she might be called upon to awaken him. The conventions of life were dear to her, she had a real appreciation of their value and place in social life and no desire to break with any one of them.
The food could be left in the dismantled old drawing-room, under its arch of leaning walls, but Sally wished to leave a command as well as the food. After this one unhappy pilgrimage she would do nothing more for the soldier"s safety and comfort. He must take his chances and slip away.
The entire neighborhood was disturbingly quiet. An owl of late habits would have been almost companionable. Upon one point Sally considered herself inflexible. She would not enter the chateau; she might call softly from the outside if it were necessary. If no one replied she would return to the farm and nevermore would the chateau be honored by her presence.
In an entirely different state of mind she approached the old house on this second occasion and made her way to the opening between the walls.
Inside there seemed an even more uncanny silence. Yet how could one call to an utter stranger whose name, whose ident.i.ty, whose nationality were all unknown?
"Halloo!" Sally cried in a faint voice, not once but three or four times.
There was no reply.
She called again. Then she entered the drawing-room quickly with no other idea than to put down her offerings and flee away as soon as possible. Sally was possessed of the impression that, however long the wrecked walls might remain in position while she was outside them, once inside she would be buried beneath a descending ma.s.s.
A few feet within the arch she discovered her soldier.
He had made for himself a bed out of an old mattress which he had dragged from some other room, using a torn covering which once had been a beautiful eiderdown quilt. As he had no pillow and his face was completely uncovered, Sally realized he was in a stupor and so ill that he had not heard her approach or her repeated calls.
Fortunately Sally Ashton was essentially practical.
Moreover, in an extraordinary fashion for so young and presumably selfish a girl she immediately forgot herself. She was living in an atmosphere of unselfishness and devotion to others, so the thought that the object of her present care was not a worthy object did not at the moment influence her.
In a matter-of-fact and skillful fashion Sally first poured a small amount of milk inside her patient"s parted lips. Except that the soldier became half aroused by her act and seemed to wish more, there was no difficulty. Then unwrapping the arm which she had bandaged the day before, she cleansed the wound a second time with the antiseptic she had brought for the purpose.
Afterwards, realizing that she must find the water she had been told was still to be had in one of the rooms of the chateau, without considering her previous fears, Sally climbed and crawled through one dangerous opening after the other, in spite of her awkwardness in any unaccustomed physical exertion. Finally she discovered the water. Then in a half broken pitcher, secured in pa.s.sing through one of the wrecked bedrooms, she carried a small amount to the drawing-room.
Without hesitation or embarra.s.sment the girl bathed her undesired patient"s face and hands. He had fine, strong features; there was nothing in the face to suggest weakness or cowardice. Still it remained impossible to decide his nationality or whether he was an officer or merely a common soldier, since his outfit was a patchwork of oddly a.s.sorted garments.
Sally"s acquaintance with uniforms was limited. She knew that the French wore the horizon blue and the British and Americans a nearly similar shade of khaki.
Her patient"s outfit was like no other she had seen.
Yet over these minor details she did not trouble. In spite of her lack of experience, Sally was convinced that the soldier was now suffering from blood poison due to neglect of his wound and the unhealthy and unsanitary conditions in which he had been living.
The day before she had thought he looked and acted strangely and had half an idea that he may have been partly delirious then, so she was not altogether surprised by the present situation.
During her journey across the fields daylight had come; because she would not otherwise have been able to accomplish her present task even so inadequately as she had accomplished it, Sally was pleased.
Yet when the moment arrived and she had done all she could for the soldier"s comfort she had to face her real difficulty.
There is no mistake in this world more serious than to judge other people"s problems in the light in which they appear to us. The problem which is nothing to one human being appears insurmountable to another.
So with Sally Ashton"s present difficulty.
She had made up her mind to tell the soldier that unless he left the chateau before the following day she would be compelled to tell her friends of his hiding place and ask advice. But she had meant to warn him of her intention and allow him to take his chances if he preferred.
Now he appeared defenceless and entirely at her mercy.
Should she betray him at once? Certainly there was a possibility that he would die of neglect if left alone at the chateau. But then he must have faced this possibility and deliberately chosen it.