A TIMELY MEETING
“Grace Harlowe, I am proud of you,” glowed Elfreda as they left the
headquarters of Captain Rowland.
“You may not be if Mrs. Smythe has her way. She plainly has more or
less influence in high places. You saw how thoroughly against me the
captain was, didn’t you?”
“Yes, but he agreed with the soundness of your argument.”
“He had to. He knew I was right. What pleases me most of all is that
I shall have the pleasure of driving Madame to-morrow. Beyond that I
cannot say.”
“My legal training tells me that we should make some overtures in high
places ourselves. You surely will not stand by and let the supervisor
have her way?”
“Why not?”
“Could we reach Tom, who is somewhere in line on this march to the
Rhine, he would be able to assist us,” reflected Elfreda.
Grace shook her head.
“Having gotten into this mess I shall get out of it of my own self, so
possess your soul in peace, J. Elfreda. Here we are at our suburban
home. I wonder who left the fagots for us? We have enough left for our
morning tea, no matter what else happens.”
“Humph!” exclaimed Miss Briggs. “I should consider, were I in your
place, that I had something of more importance to worry about. I’m
going to bed. By the way, where did Madame get that wooden-faced maid
of hers?”
Grace said she did not know, and would not even try to guess. The
Overton girls soon were rolled in their blankets, and, despite the
hard boards underneath them, went to sleep at once. They were used
to hardships, and a little matter like a hard bed was not a thing to
retard their sleep for many moments.
Grace was up at break of day next morning. After dressing she stepped
out for a long breath of fresh, crisp air and a look about. There was
activity all about her, and the smoke of rolling kitchens and the odor
of cooking food was on the air. Glancing to the eastward and into the
haze of the early morning, Grace Harlowe’s eyes dwelt momentarily on
a little strip of forest about a quarter of a mile from her point of
observation, then passed on.
A bird was rising from among the trees in the forest. She saw it circle
and spiral, steadily rising higher and higher, finally setting out on a
course to the eastward. Many times had the Overton girls seen pigeons
bearing messages of great moment start out from the American lines, and
what she had just witnessed was so much like the flight of a carrier
pigeon that she could not believe it was not one. The difference that
caused the doubt of her vision was that the pigeons she had seen in
flight were always headed to the westward, while this one was flying
east.
“There goes another!” exclaimed Grace. “This doesn’t look right.”
Three birds in all arose, circled and soared to the eastward while
she stood watching. Grace wondered what it could mean, there now being
no doubt in her mind that she had witnessed the flight of war pigeons.
Returning to the cellar, she awakened Miss Briggs, told her to get up
and make the tea, started the fire and went out with the mess kits to
fetch their breakfast.
Breakfast was rather hurried, as Grace knew she would have to look
for the car that she was to drive that morning, and that operation
undoubtedly would consume some little time. It did. She was sent from
officer to officer before she found the one who was to assign a car
to her, and even then she had difficulty in obtaining possession of
the vehicle. At last she succeeded in getting it, and lost no time in
getting away with the machine before it should be grabbed by some one
else.
Pulling up before their cellar she jumped out and ran down to assist in
loading aboard their belongings.
“All aboard for the River Rhine, Elfreda,” she called cheerily. “We are
going to enjoy this drive, I know. The air is fine.”
“I can’t say as much for the water in this neck of the woods. That
water yesterday was beastly. Don’t you dare give me another such a
bath, Grace Harlowe,” warned Elfreda.
“No, I’m determined to be good to-day and not do a thing to rile our
supervisor. You shall see how nice I can be to her. Come, we must get
ready.”
A few moments later they pulled up before Mrs. Smythe’s cellar and sat
waiting for her to appear, after having given a few discreet honks on
the horn. When the supervisor emerged with her maid and Miss O’Leary,
her face wore a hard expression that had not been there before.
Grace, jumping out, opened the car door for her, slammed it shut after
the passengers were in, and saluted snappily.
“Does not Miss Cahill ride with us to-day?” she questioned.
“Carry on as you are!” commanded Mrs. Smythe.
“Very good,” answered the Overton girl, climbing to her seat.
“Just a moment,” commanded the supervisor. “You are to drive slowly
to-day. At the first indication of recklessness or the slightest
disobedience of orders I shall call an officer to place you under
arrest for insubordination. Do you get me clearly?”
“I get you quite clearly, Madame,” answered Grace smilingly. “What
speed--three, five, ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty or forty miles?”
“You know what I mean. I ordered you to drive slowly.”
Grace swung into the highway and started off at a speed of about five
miles an hour, but she had not gone far ere the rasping voice of her
superior ordered her to drive, not creep.
The speed of the car was increased to ten miles an hour, but beyond
this the Overton girl would not go, despite the insistent demands of
Mrs. Smythe. Finally exasperated beyond measure, Grace stopped the car
at the side of the road and faced her supervisor.
“Perhaps, Madame, you would prefer to have Miss Briggs drive the car?”
“No, thank you,” spoke up Elfreda.
“Are you a safe driver?” demanded Mrs. Smythe.
“Very, but I am not a skilled driver.”
“Take the wheel. You can do no worse than the present driver.”
“I will settle with you for this later,” muttered J. Elfreda in a low
voice to her companion. “I call this a low-down trick. I probably shall
turn you all over in the ditch.”
“Go as far as you like,” answered Grace, getting out to enable Elfreda
to take the driver’s seat. Miss Briggs fumbled, stalled the car, but
after a few back-fires succeeded in getting under way, the passenger
growing more and more irritable as the moments passed.
Elfreda shot ahead with a jolt that brought a torrent of abuse from
the supervisor, and narrowly missed smashing into an officer’s car
ahead. A few rods further on, in attempting to dodge an army truck,
J. Elfreda Briggs came to grief. One of the rear wheels of the army
automobile slipped from the road into a shallow ditch, the wheels sank
into the soft mud and the car began to settle, threatening every second
to turn over on its side. Grace snapped off the spark and silenced the
motors, her quick action saving them from a bad spill. Elfreda had
wholly lost her head.
“Drive out, drive out!” cried Mrs. Smythe.
“I--I can’t,” gasped Miss Briggs. “The wheels will go around but the
car won’t move. What shall I do?”
“We must all get out,” directed Grace.
Just then a car slipped past them and brought up abruptly. Grace
observed that it was an officer’s car, but beyond that gave no heed. A
second or so later she saw two men get out and walk back toward them.
“I thought I recognized you when we passed, Mrs. Gray,” called a
familiar voice. “Are you in need of assistance?”
“Why, Colonel Gordon--I mean General Gordon,” corrected Grace,
flushing. “I am glad to see you and glad of the opportunity to
congratulate you on your promotion.”
“You are no more delighted to see me than I am to meet you again. I
believe this is Miss Briggs, isn’t it? Mrs. Gray and Miss Briggs, meet
Captain Boucher of the Intelligence Department.”
The general and the captain shook hands cordially with both Overton
girls, the general giving a quick, comprehensive glance at the
occupants of the rear seats, and nodding ever so slightly. Grace did
not offer to introduce either to the supervisor.
“Mrs. Gray is the young woman who saved my life in the Argonne,
Captain. I could tell you a lot more about her, but I know it would
embarrass her if I did. Miss Briggs, I did not know that you drove.”
“I don’t,” answered J. Elfreda rather abruptly.
“Oh, yes she does,” insisted Grace. “At least she has just driven
us into a ditch. Miss Briggs learned to drive immediately after the
armistice was signed, but in doing so she smashed up two army cars and
ran over a major. She will soon be up to my record. My latest exploit,
General, was trying conclusions with the concrete railing of a bridge
yesterday. The bridge won and we all went into the river.”
“Was that your car that I saw hanging over the edge of a bridge near
Etain, Mrs. Gray?”
“Yes, sir, that was the car.”
Mrs. Smythe who had been controlling her emotions with some success,
now interjected herself into the conversation.
“General, I think I have met you. I am Mrs. Chadsey Smythe, in command
of the welfare workers of--”
The general and the captain saluted, smiled and turned back to Grace.
“That was not the worst of it,” resumed Grace. “I had with me my
supervisor, a somewhat irritable person. She went into the river with
the rest of us, and of course I went to her rescue and, with the
assistance of some doughboys, got her out. My supervisor was not a
grateful person--she accused me of trying to drown her.”
The officers laughed heartily.
“That surely was a good joke, Mrs. Gray,” observed the general,
regarding her quizzically.
J. Elfreda Briggs had forgotten her own troubles in her delight at the
trend of the conversation.
“Let us have the rest of the story. You will pardon us for reminiscing,
Mrs. Smythe,” begged the general, observing the angry look on the face
of the supervisor. “Listen, Captain. The worst is yet to come. I know
Mrs. Gray.”
“There is not much more to relate,” continued Grace smilingly. “I
had been driving in a way that did not please my supervisor and she
was thoroughly angry with me on that account, and not wholly without
reason, for I was going too fast for the crowded condition of the road.
Well, the result of all this was that she made complaint against me and
I was called before an officer for a hearing.”
“Eh? What’s that?” demanded the general.
“Yes, sir. I was accused of reckless driving and with intent to drown
my superior officer.”
“The woman accused you of that?”
“Yes, sir.”
The two officers laughed heartily.
“Ridiculous!” exclaimed the general. “Was the woman suffering from
shell shock or was it a chronic condition with her?”
“I’m sure I don’t know, sir,” answered Grace meekly. “As I have already
said, I was called before a captain, who among other things questioned
me sharply about the decorations I wore, the intimation being that I
had no right to them. Of course I do not know who suggested the thought
to him. I declined to discuss the matter, taking the liberty of saying
to him that General Gordon was familiar with the circumstances of at
least one of my decorations.”
“I should say so. Who was the officer?”
“Captain Rowland of the Forty-Ninth, sir.”
“Ah! Please proceed.”
“The captain was of the opinion that I should be punished and was for
dismissing me from the army and sending me back to Paris, until I took
the liberty of pointing out to him that he had no authority to do so,
that he could make recommendations, but had not the power to enforce in
this instance.”
“You were right. What were his recommendations?”
“That I be dismissed and sent back to my organization.”
“Thank you. I am glad you told me the story. It is most interesting, I
assure you. Mrs. Gray, it was on my urgent recommendation that you were
directed to join this march and go with us to the Rhine. Having done
so I shall make it my business to see to it that a crazy woman and a
misinformed officer do not interfere with my plans. I will discuss this
matter with you further later on. Captain, do you mind ordering some
men to place this car back in the road?”