Returning fifteen minutes later, it was then after five o"clock and dusk was gathering in the fine, old-fashioned chamber, so Bianca Zoli quietly sat down without speaking in the chair which had just been vacated by the elderly countess.
The girl upon the bed appeared to be asleep at the moment, but as Bianca had no other duty to occupy her it struck her that it might be entertaining to sit in the big, strange room watching her companion and thinking of her story, or at least of its brief outline which was all she knew at present.
Having witnessed the girl"s accident and finding her unconscious and therefore unable to explain her name or ident.i.ty, it had appeared to both the young American physicians and nurses that the best solution would be to bring her as swiftly as possible to their own hospital.
After she had received the necessary attention there would be time and opportunity to discover her family and friends.
A few hours afterwards, when the girl herself returned to consciousness, she explained that she was the young Countess Charlotta Scherin and lived with her father and aunt on their estate at a short distance from the city. The greater part of her time, however, she spent at the Grand Palace with her cousins, the Grand d.u.c.h.ess Marie Adelaide and her five younger sisters.
She seemed to be in a great deal of pain and yet not particularly unhappy over her accident, only asking that her father be informed that she was in safe hands. And if it were possible and not too much trouble could she remain at the American Red Cross hospital until her recovery?
Yet Bianca had only considered her companion for a few moments when she became aware that the other girl had opened her eyes and was looking with the deepest interest at her.
"I am so glad to have the chance to know American girls," she began. "It may strike you as odd but I have wanted to know them all my life and now through my accident I am to have the opportunity. But you look very young and fragile to have undertaken Red Cross work during the war. I believe it is the courage, the way in which you go ahead and do what you wish and face the consequences afterwards, that I so much admire."
Bianca shook her head.
"It is odd your saying this to me of all persons, because I used to feel a good deal as you do. You see I am not altogether an American girl; my mother was an Italian and my father an American, but I have been living in the United States and I confess I have tried to make myself as like one as possible. But do you think you ought to talk? I"ll talk to you if you like, although I am not very interesting; I"m afraid you must be suffering a great deal."
Bianca made this final remark because her companion was evidently struggling to keep back the tears which had suddenly filled her eyes.
"Yes, do please talk to me, I am suffering, but I think it is more because I am worried and unhappy than because I am in such pain that I lose my self-control. I have always prided myself on being able to endure physical pain. What are you thinking about?"
Bianca"s large dark eyes which were her only southern inheritance had unexpectedly a.s.sumed a questioning expression, although her lips had framed no question.
"Why, I was merely thinking of how odd life is and how few persons, even young girls are particularly happy. A moment ago I was sitting here envying you because your life seemed so wonderful to me. You have been brought up amid wealth and have a t.i.tle of your own and live a part of the time in a palace with real d.u.c.h.esses. I suppose my speech does not sound very democratic, yet I think you might find a good many American girls who would envy you for these same reasons."
"Then they would be extremely stupid," the other girl answered, "because freedom is sometimes the most important thing in the world to an individual as it may be to a state.
"Suppose, oh, leaving me out of the question altogether, but just suppose that any girl"s mother had died when the girl was a baby only one year old. Then suppose the child had been brought up by her father and aunt both of whom were twice the age of the girl"s own mother. Then remember her mother was French and the girl always loved only the things which concerned her mother, had learned to speak her language and had written letters to all her family, but had never been allowed to visit them because the girl"s father and aunt believed only in German ideals and in German customs and wished to separate her wholly from her mother"s country and people. Moreover, they had neither of them ever been able to forgive her because she had not been a boy and so been trained for the army, the German army if possible. Then suppose the girl had loved only the outdoors and horses and dogs as if she had been a boy, but because she was a girl had to be trained in all the German ways. As for living in a palace, it is hard sometimes to do and say the proper thing all the time, when you feel they don"t believe in the things you believe. Oh, I am not saying the fault is not mine--"
The girl stopped an instant.
"But I was not supposed to be talking about myself, still you must have guessed."
"I should not have guessed unless you wished me to guess," Bianca replied in the prim little fashion of her childhood which she had never lost from her manner and which amused and pleased her friends.
"No, you would not have guessed, you are a dear," the Countess Charlotta answered with an impulsiveness which was an entire contrast to Bianca"s nature.
"But what I wanted to explain to you is that you were envying what you thought were my circ.u.mstances. You were not really thinking of me at all. You see one might be a princess and be very unhappy and one might be a very humble person and just the opposite. Then I think we ought to realize that a princess may be very horrid and a beggar maid most wonderful."
The young countess hesitated.
"I thought that what I have just said is what Americans believed. Don"t they think that human beings are equal and that it all depends on what they do with their own lives, what they are able to make of themselves?"
Bianca shook her head.
"I don"t know, you had better talk to some one else on this question instead of to me. I am not at all clever, even my best friends, Sonya Clark and Carlo Navara, do not think I am clever. But there is one thing I understand at present. You have told me a great many interesting facts about yourself, but there is something else on your mind which you have not confided to me. It is something which makes you wish you were an American girl because you believe in that case you could do what you like. I think you wish to confide in some one, but can"t quite decide.
If I were in your place I would try not to worry until you are better, then if you want some one to talk to, don"t choose me. I should never be able to give you any worthwhile advice. But talk to Mrs. Clark, Sonya Clark. She has had a very unusual life and is one of the most wonderful friends in the world!"
The older girl was by this time lying back on her pillows and gazing at Bianca with an odd smile.
"You know," she said finally, "I would not be surprised if your friends are mistaken in thinking you are not clever. Perhaps I shall take your advice. I suppose I had best try now to go to sleep, I am afraid I have already talked too much."
CHAPTER VIII
_The Countess"s Story_
A FEW days later it had become unnecessary for the little Countess Charlotta to confide her secret to Bianca Zoli, or Sonya, or to any one else at the temporary Red Cross hospital in the capital city of Luxemburg. Already her history had been openly discussed by visitors to the hospital, even by the servants who were a.s.sisting with the household work.
It was a well-known fact, apparently, that marriage was being arranged for the youthful countess by her father and aunt to an elderly German n.o.bleman.
Nor was the little countess"s opposition to the match, her refusal to consider it as a possibility any more of a secret than the knowledge that no attention was being paid her protests.
Inquiring the name of the girl who might be regarded as the prettiest and the most wilful among the daughters of the n.o.ble families of Luxemburg, one undoubtedly would have been told, Charlotta Scherin.
During the past four years perhaps her mixture of German and French blood had been a disturbing inheritance.
Shortly after the pa.s.sing of a portion of the American Army of Occupation through the little country, many were the rumors and talks of political changes and readjustments which would probably take place, but to these the small American Red Cross unit decided to give little heed.
One thing they were obliged to hear, the Grand d.u.c.h.ess Marie Adelaide had not pleased all her subjects by her surrender to German ideas and designs during the recent years when the German army had used her kingdom as a pa.s.sageway to France.
In spite of her verbal protest against the breaking of the treaty which declared her country neutral, once the Germans had entered her duchy the Grand d.u.c.h.ess had appeared to sympathize with the invaders.
Now, whether it was the world talk of democracy, the victory of the allies, or the old love of the little duchy of Luxemburg for France, the people of the small kingdom were a.s.suredly considering a change of government.
Yet this problem did not trouble or affect the affairs of the Red Cross hospital. Nor did the little Countess Charlotta appear deeply interested, insisting that her family would make the same effort to compel her marriage without regard to political reforms.
Certainly the young Luxemburg countess, whatever her upbringing, was not a reserved character. Instead she seemed to love nothing so well as to discuss her own past, present and future with the group of American girls and to have them tell her as much as they would of their own histories.
One way or another apparently the Countess Charlotta was in the habit of managing to do what she liked.
The thing she wished at present was to remain as long as possible at the American Red Cross hospital.
It was true at first the two Red Cross physicians who had been her rescuers advised against her removal from the hospital. Influenced by them, or perhaps sharing their view, her own physician had given the same opinion. But now a number of days having pa.s.sed without fresh complications, undoubtedly the Countess Charlotta might have returned home had she so desired.
Yet since she did not so desire and declined to stir from her bed, naturally Sonya felt obliged to insist upon her remaining until she had completely recovered.
The old house in which the Red Cross was now established Sonya had since learned was the property of the girl who was in a sense an accidental patient.
The Countess Charlotta was not a troublesome invalid, Sonya"s chief difficulty being that the Red Cross girls so enjoyed the newcomer"s society it was difficult to keep them out of her room during any of their spare moments.
Certainly she was brave and made as little as possible of her physical suffering, and then her insatiate curiosity about American girls was a charm in itself.
As a matter of fact it was Charlotta who soon knew more of the history of the present group of Red Cross girls than any one of their number had ever formerly known.