The second lieutenant waved toward the makeshift bridge. The girl watched the muddle of wheeled things and stiffened with indignation.
"That"s why it"ll last so long," she said. "Because these officers of ours can"t learn anything. Look at that muddle--while men are dying on beyond. You"d think they were a lot of schoolboys. Haven"t they been told to keep one road for their up traffic and another road for their down traffic? But they wouldn"t do it, because it was the British who told "em. But the British had found out, hadn"t they? Catch them having a senseless mix-up like that! But our men won"t listen. They won"t even listen to me. I"ve told one general and six or seven colonels only this morning. Told the general to keep certain roads for troops and wagons going to the front, and other roads of traffic coming back to camps and depots, and all he could say was that he hoped to G.o.d there wouldn"t be another war until the women could staff it."
"Hooray, hooray!" squeaked the listening private in a subdued falsetto not meant to be overheard.
Then he turned to stare up the street of broken shop fronts. One of these diverted his attention from the nurse. Above its door protruded a bush, its leaves long since withered. He knew this for the sign of a wine shop, and with much effort regained his feet to hobble toward it.
He went far enough to note that the bush broke its promise of refreshment, for back of it was but dry desolation.
"_Napoo_!" he murmured in his best French, and turned to measure the distance back to his stone seat. To this he again sauntered carelessly, as a gentleman walking abroad over his estate.
The second lieutenant was leaving the nurse by the extemporized portal of the church, though she seemed not to have done with exposing the incompetence of certain staff officers. She still leaned wearily against the wall, vocal with irritation.
"Bawl "em out, sister! I think anything you think," called the private.
Then from his stone seat he turned to survey the double line of marching men that issued from the street into the square. They came now to a shuffling halt at a word of command relayed from some place beyond the bridge, where a new jumble of traffic could be dimly discerned. The lines fell apart and the men sank to earth in the shade of the broken buildings across the square. The private waved them a careless hand, with the mild interest of one who has been permanently dissevered from their activities.
One of them slouched over, gave the private a new cigarette, and slouched back to his resting mates. In the act of lighting the cigarette the fat private noted that another of these reclining figures had risen and was staring fixedly either at him or at something beyond him. He turned and perceived that the nurse and not himself must be the object of this regard.
The risen private came on a dozen paces, halted hesitatingly, and stared once more. The nurse, who had drooped again after the departure of the second lieutenant, now drew a long breath, threw up her shoulders, and half turned as if to reenter the church. The hesitating private, beholding the new angle of her face thus revealed to him, darted swiftly forward with a cry that was formless but eloquent. The nurse stayed motionless, but with eyes widened upon the approaching figure. The advancing private had risen wearily, and his first steps toward the church had been tired, dragging steps, but for the later distance he became agile and swift, running as one refreshed. The fat private on the stone observed the little play.
The couple stood at last, tensely, face to face. The watcher beheld the girl"s eyes rest with wild wonder upon the newcomer, eyes that were steady, questioning green flames. He saw her form stiffen, her shoulders go back, her arms rise, her clenched hands spread apart in a gesture that was something of fear but all of allure. The newcomer"s own hands widened to meet hers, the girl"s wrists writhed into his tightened grasp, her own hands clasped his arms and crept slowly, tightly along the dusty sleeves of his blouse. Still her eyes were eyes of wild wonder, searching his face. They had not spoken, but now the hands of each clutched the shoulders of the other for the briefest of seconds.
Then came a swift enveloping manoeuvre, and the girl was held in a close embrace.
The watching private studied the mechanics of this engagement with an expert eye. He saw the girl"s arms run to tighten about the soldier"s neck. He saw her face lift. The soldier"s helmet obscured much of what ensued, and the watcher called softly. "Hats off in front!" Then fastidiously dusting the back of one hand, he kissed it audibly. Behind him, across the square, a score of rec.u.mbent privates were roused to emulation. Dusting the backs of their hands they kissed them both tenderly and audibly.
The two by the church were oblivious of this applause. Their arms still held each other. Neither had spoken. The girl"s face was set in wonder, in shining unbelief, yet a little persuaded. They were apart the reach of their arms.
"As you were!" ordered the fat private in low tones, and with a little rush they became as they were. Again the girl"s arms ran to tighten about the soldier"s neck. The watcher noticed their earnest constrictions.
"I bet that lad never reads his dice wrong," he murmured, admiringly.
"Oh, lady, lady! Will you watch him June her!"
He here became annoyed to observe that his cigarette had been burning wastefully. He snapped off its long ash and drew tremendously upon it.
The two were still close, but now they talked. He heard sounds of amazement, of dismay, from the girl.
"Put a comether on her before she knew it," explained the private to himself.
There followed swift, broken murmurs, incoherent, annoyingly, to the listener, but the soldier"s arms had not relaxed and the arms of the girl were visibly compressed about his neck. Then they fell half apart once more. The watcher saw that the girl was weeping, convulsed with long, dry, shuddering sobs.
"As you were!" he again commanded, and the order was almost instantly obeyed.
Presently they talked again, quick, short speech, provokingly blurred to the private"s ears.
"Louder!" he commanded. "We can"t hear at the back of the hall."
The m.u.f.fled talk went on, one hand of the girl ceaselessly patting the shoulder where it had rested.
Now a real command came. The line of men rose, its head by the bridge coming up first. The pair by the church drew apart, blended again momentarily. The soldier sped back to his place, leaving the girl erect, head up, her shining eyes upon him. He did not look back. The line was marking time.
The fat private saw his moment. He reached for his crutches and laboriously came to his feet. Hands belled before his mouth, he trumpeted ringingly abroad: "Let the war go on!"
An officer, approaching from the bridge, seemed suddenly to be stricken with blindness, deafness, and a curious facial paralysis.
Once more the column undulated over the tawny crest of the hill. The nurse stood watching, long after her soldier had become indistinguishable in the swinging, grayish-brown ma.s.s.
"Hey, nurse!" the fat private, again seated, called to her.
To his dismay she came to stand beside him, refreshed, radiant.
"What you think of the war?" he asked.
He was embarra.s.sed by her nearness. He had proposed badinage at a suitable distance.
"This war is nothing," said the girl.
"No?" The private was entertained.
"Nothing! A bore, of course, but it will end in a minute."
"Sure it will!" agreed the private. "Don"t let no one tell you different."
"I should think not! This man"s war won"t bother me any more."
"Not any more?" demanded the private with insinuating emphasis.
"Not any more."
The private felt emboldened.
"Say, sister"--he grinned up at her--"that boy changed your view a lot, didn"t he?"
"You mean to say you were here?" She flashed him a look of annoyance.
"Was I here? Sister, we was all here! The whole works was here!"
She reflected, the upper lip drawn down.
"Who cares?" she retorted. She turned away, then paused, debating with herself. "You--you needn"t let it go any farther, but I"ve got to tell someone. It was a surprise. I was never so b.u.mped in my whole life."
The private grinned again.
"Lady, that lad just naturally put a comether on you."
She considered this, then shook her head.
"No, it was more like--we must have put one on each other. It--it was fierce!"
"Happy days!" cheered the private. She lighted him with the effulgence of a knowing smile.