It was a dark, cloudy afternoon when Nona entered the big room and before she had more than crossed the threshold she became aware of an atmosphere of gloom and ill-temper.
Daisy Redmond, the English girl with whom they had crossed the Channel, had[180] been in attendance on the ward before Nona’s appearance and she seemed bored and annoyed. She was a very good nurse for an ill person, but too serious and reserved to cheer the convalescent, and on Nona’s entrance she gave a sigh of relief.
The room, which was used for the soldiers who were on the high road to recovery from whatever disaster they had suffered, must have been the refectory or the old dining hall of the convent in the days before the Franco-Prussian war. It was an oblong room with a high ceiling crossed by great oak beams. Midway up the walls were of dark oak and the rest of stone. The floor was of stone and the windows high and crossed with small iron bars. While they let in the air and sunlight, it was impossible to see much of the outside world unless one climbed a ladder or chair. Evidently it had been thought best not to permit the little French convent maids to seek for distractions3 even among the flowers and trees.
So the great room, in spite of its perfect cleanliness, had little suggestion of gayety or[181] beauty to recommend it at present. The floor, walls, beds, everything apparently4 had been scrubbed to the limit of perfection and were smelling of antiseptics. But there was not a flower in the room, not a picture, only two long rows of beds each containing a weary, impatient soldier, longing5 to be home with his own people or back at the front with the other Tommies.
Almost anyone might have become discouraged with the prospect6 of two hours’ effort in such surroundings, but Nona never dreamed of flinching7.
As she went up toward the first bed, the young fellow with his right arm in a sling8 who was trying to write with his left hand, used a short word of three letters. He was a boy who worked in a butcher’s shop in London. When he saw Nona so near him, he blushed crimson9 and stammered10 an apology.
Nona only laughed. “Oh, I say that myself sometimes, inside of me,” she whispered. “If it hurts your arm, do let me finish your letter. I’d like to add a line or two anyhow just to let Addie know you are[182] really getting well and not trying to encourage her with false hopes.”
The young fellow smiled. It was clever of the little American girl to remember his girl’s name. He was glad enough to have her end his letter so that he might lie down again. Besides, he liked to have her sitting near him, she was so pretty—the prettiest nurse in the hospital in his opinion. Five minutes after when Nona had finished his letter and made him comfortable, he sighed to have her leave him. She was only going to another duffer a few beds away, who had been trying to read and dropped all his magazines on the floor. With one of his legs in a plaster cast, he had almost broken his neck trying to fish for them.
So Nona wandered up and down the ward doing whatever was asked of her. She felt that she was being useful in spite of her lack of long experience in nursing. But it was amusing the queer things she was called upon to do.
She was passing one of the cots where a boy lay who had received a wound in his head. He was not more than seventeen[183] or eighteen, and was a blue-eyed, fair-haired boy with a mouth like a young girl’s. You would never have dreamed of him as a fighter; indeed, he had left Eton to join the army and had never before known a real hardship in his life. But now a pair of wasted white hands clasped Nona’s skirt.
Looking down she discovered that the bandage had slipped off his forehead and that his eyes were full of tears.
“Are you suffering again?” she asked gently. “I am so sorry; I thought you were almost well.”
“It isn’t that,” the boy whispered. “I wouldn’t mind the pain; it’s only—oh, I might as well say it, I want my mother. Funny to behave like a cry-baby. I wish I could sleep. I wonder if you could sing to me?”
At first Nona shook her head. “Why I can’t sing, really,” she returned. “I have never had a music lesson in my life. I only know two or three songs that I used to sing to my father way down in South[184] Carolina. I expect you hardly know there is such a place.”
Then suddenly the boy’s disappointed face made the girl hesitate.
She glanced about them. In the bed next to the boy’s the man she and Barbara had rescued from the aeroplane disaster lay apparently too deeply absorbed in a bundle of newspapers to pay the least attention to them.
By this time he had almost recovered and was enormously impatient to return to his regiment12. It appeared that he was not a regular member of the aviation corps13, but a colonel in command of one of the crack line regiments14. However, he happened also to be a skilled aviator15 and on the morning of the accident, having a leave of absence from his command, had gone up to reconnoiter over the enemy’s lines.
No, Colonel Dalton would pay no attention to her, Nona felt convinced. He was very quiet and stern and a distinguished16 soldier, so that most of the nurses were afraid of him.
“If you’ll try to sleep, why I’ll sing[185] softly just to you, so we need not disturb any one else,” Nona murmured, kneeling down by the side of the boy’s cot so that her face was not far from his. “I only know some old darkey songs.”
Straightway the young English boy closed his eyes. Very quietly in a hushed voice Nona began to sing, believing no one else would listen.
She chanced to be kneeling just under one of the tall windows and the afternoon sun shone down upon her white cap, her pale gold hair and delicate face. If she had known it she was not unlike a little nun17, but fortunately Nona had no thought of herself.
She had only a small voice, but it was sweet and clear.
Everywhere I roam,
Oh, darkies, how my heart grows weary,
Far from the old folks at home.”
Not one, but half a dozen soldiers lay quiet listening to Nona’s song. She was only aware that the boy for whom she was singing was breathing more evenly as she[186] sang on and that there was a happier curve to his lips. In a few moments more, if nothing occurred to disturb him, he must be asleep.
So Nona did not know that Colonel Dalton, although holding his beloved London newspaper before his face, had been watching her and that her old-fashioned song had touched him.
She was slipping away with her patient finally asleep when he motioned to her.
“It is a wonderful thing you are doing, Miss Davis,” he began in a low tone, so as not to disturb the sleeper19, “you a young American girl to come over here to help care for our British boys. I want to shake hands with you if I may, you and that clever little friend of yours, who helped me out of my difficulty. I shall be away from the hospital in a few days and back at my post, as I’ve almost entirely20 recovered from the effects of the chlorine gas. But later on if I can ever be of service to you in any way, you are to count upon me. I trust that at some future day the English nation can show its appreciation21 for what[187] the United States has done for us in this tragic22 war.”
Colonel Dalton spoke23 with so much feeling and dignity that Nona was both pleased and embarrassed. Of course, she seemed like a young girl to him, and yet after all Colonel Dalton could be only a little over thirty. It must be something in his character or in his history that gave his face the expression of sadness and sternness. Although his duties as an officer in the war might already have created the look.
“You are very good,” she murmured confusedly. She was moving away when she noticed that Colonel Dalton was staring fixedly24, not at her, but at a brooch which she wore fastening her nurse’s apron25 to her dress.
But probably he was in a reverie and not seeing anything at all!
“That’s an extraordinary pin you’ve got there, a collection of letters isn’t it? I[188] wonder if by any chance it represents the motto of your own family?”
Nona shook her head and carelessly unclasped the pin. “No,” she answered, “and I have scarcely been able to find out what the letters spell. I wonder if you could tell me.”
The man scarcely glanced at the pin. “The letters are ‘Vinces,’ the Latin for ‘Conquer.’” Then strangely enough Colonel Dalton flushed, a curious brick-red, which is a peculiarity27 of many Englishmen.
“It’s a remarkable28 request I wish to make of you, Miss Davis. But would you mind parting with that little pin? It’s an odd fancy of mine, but then every soldier is superstitious29 and I should like very much to possess it. Possibly because of the meaning of the word, for the word ‘Conquer’ never meant more in the history of the world than it does to an Englishman today.”
But Nona had crimsoned30 uncomfortably and was clutching at her brooch in a stupid fashion. “I am awfully31 sorry,” she murmured, “it must seem ungracious of me,[189] but I value the pin very much. You see, it was given me by some one——”
“In this country, or in your own?” Colonel Dalton interrupted.
Again Nona hesitated. Suddenly she had become conscious of the unread letter in her pocket which she had just received from Lady Dorian, and of the hour of their parting and her bestowal32 of the pin.
She smiled. “It wasn’t given me in either your country or mine, but upon the sea.”
Then she walked over to another patient who required a drink of water.
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1
ward
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| n.守卫，监护，病房，行政区，由监护人或法院保护的人（尤指儿童）；vt.守护，躲开 | |
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2
peculiar
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| adj.古怪的，异常的；特殊的，特有的 | |
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3
distractions
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| n.使人分心的事[人]( distraction的名词复数 )；娱乐，消遣；心烦意乱；精神错乱 | |
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apparently
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| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
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longing
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| n.（for）渴望 | |
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6
prospect
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| n.前景，前途；景色，视野 | |
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7
flinching
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| v.（因危险和痛苦）退缩，畏惧( flinch的现在分词 ) | |
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8
sling
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| vt.扔；悬挂；n.挂带；吊索，吊兜；弹弓 | |
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crimson
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| n./adj.深(绯)红色(的)；vi.脸变绯红色 | |
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10
stammered
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| v.结巴地说出( stammer的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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11
bent
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| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
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12
regiment
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| n.团，多数，管理；v.组织，编成团，统制 | |
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13
corps
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| n.(通信等兵种的)部队；(同类作的)一组 | |
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14
regiments
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| （军队的）团( regiment的名词复数 )； 大量的人或物 | |
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15
aviator
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| n.飞行家，飞行员 | |
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16
distinguished
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| adj.卓越的，杰出的，著名的 | |
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17
nun
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| n.修女，尼姑 | |
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18
dreary
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| adj.令人沮丧的，沉闷的，单调乏味的 | |
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19
sleeper
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| n.睡眠者，卧车，卧铺 | |
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20
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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21
appreciation
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| n.评价；欣赏；感谢；领会，理解；价格上涨 | |
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22
tragic
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| adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的 | |
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23
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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fixedly
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| adv.固定地；不屈地，坚定不移地 | |
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apron
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| n.围裙；工作裙 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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27
peculiarity
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| n.独特性，特色；特殊的东西；怪癖 | |
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28
remarkable
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| adj.显著的，异常的，非凡的，值得注意的 | |
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29
superstitious
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| adj.迷信的 | |
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30
crimsoned
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| 变为深红色（crimson的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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31
awfully
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| adv.可怕地，非常地，极端地 | |
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32
bestowal
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| 赠与，给与； 贮存 | |
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