_A Warning_
SOONER than he had hoped Major Hersey had an opportunity for a talk
alone with Nora Jamison.
The passing days had wrought no change in his impression that there was
something of a suspicious nature taking place in the German household in
which he was billeted, a something which was extremely disquieting.
Nevertheless, so far he really had no tangible evidence which made it
possible for him to go to one of his superior officers. Unless he had
some foundation in fact for his suspicion, it would scarcely be fair or
just to involve the members of the Liedermann family in unnecessary
notoriety and espionage. He must therefore watch and wait until he had
discovered some justification for what at present was merely a vague
idea.
However, there was nothing to prevent his suggesting to a girl,
particularly one who was an American Red Cross nurse, that she try to
avoid any appearance of intimacy or even friendliness with a German
family, who might later be involved in a serious difficulty with the
United States military forces in command of the occupied city of
Coblenz.
Three days after reaching this decision, Major James Hersey was leaving
the Liedermann house one afternoon just as Nora Jamison was in the act
of entering it. Their meeting took place as Major Hersey was about to
open the tall iron gate which led into the yard. Indeed he stood aside
in order to allow Nora Jamison to enter.
Their acquaintance was a slight one, so that it is possible Nora Jamison
may have been surprised to hear the young officer say to her in a
hurried and confused fashion.
"Miss Jamison, I must speak to you for a few moments. Will you meet me
in an hour under the big linden tree in the park where Freia and
Gretchen tell me you are in the habit of playing with them? I am sorry
to trouble you but I have what seems to me an important reason for
wishing to talk to you."
In return, after studying the young officer's face for a moment with her
large grey eyes, Nora Jamison quietly acquiesced. The next instant she
disappeared inside the Liedermann house, the door being opened for her
almost instantly by Frau Liedermann herself.
It was possible that the German lady may have observed their brief
conversation, yet Jimmie Hersey had no suspicion of Frau Liedermann, who
struck him as being an outsider in the family of her husband.
An hour later, when Major Hersey sought the place he had chosen for
their appointment, he discovered Nora Jamison was there before him.
She was sitting on a small bench under a great tree filled with tiny
flowering blossoms which scented the air with a delicious fragrance.
Evidently she was thinking deeply.
Nora Jamison's exceptional appearance did not attract the young officer,
although she did interest and puzzle him.
Her short hair, her slender, almost boyish figure, the queer elfin look
in her face, which made one wonder what she was _really_ thinking even
at the time she was talking in a perfectly natural fashion, had a
tantalizing rather than a pleasant effect upon some persons.
Yet once seated beside her Major Jimmie felt less embarrassment than he
had anticipated. One had to believe in any human being for whom children
cared as they did for this American girl.
"Freia and Gretchen talk about you always," he began a little awkwardly.
"I thought at the beginning of our acquaintance that I was to be their
favored friend, but soon found you had completely won their allegiance.
But where is your usual companion, the little French girl?"
"I left her at the hospital today, Major Hersey; for a special reason I
wished to make a call upon Frau Liedermann alone. But please do not let
us talk about Freia and Gretchen at present though they are dear little
girls. You have something you specially want to say to me and I must be
back at my work at the hospital in another half hour."
Major Hersey was a soldier and Nora's directness pleased him.
"Yes, it is absurd of me to waste your time," he returned. "The fact is
simply this. As I am billeted in their house for the present I cannot
very well have failed to notice that you are developing what looks like
a personal intimacy with the Liedermann family. I presume you know that
the Americans in Coblenz, who have anything to do with the United States
army, are not supposed to fraternize with the Germans. You may regard it
as impertinent of me to recall this fact to your attention. I presume
you consider that this advice should come from some one in more direct
authority over you, but I assure you I only mean to be friendly. I have
no real evidence for my statement, but I am under the impression that
certain members of Colonel Liedermann's family are still extremely
hostile to their conquerors. Moreover, you yourself realize that as the
terms of peace are delayed there is not merely a sense of irritation
and discontent with the present German government, but attempts are
being made both secretly and openly to overthrow it. I have mentioned my
suspicion to no one except you, Miss Jamison, which of course shows my
confidence in you, but it has occurred to me as a possibility that
Colonel Liedermann, or his invalid son, may be less reconciled to
existing conditions in Germany than they prefer to pretend. Later, if a
discovery of this character should be made, I would regret to have any
one of our American Red Cross nurses drawn into such an uncomfortable
situation."
Annoyed with his own confused method of stating a situation, Major
Jimmie Hersey paused, coloring in his usual annoying fashion, as if he
were a tongue-tied boy.
Yet his companion was looking at him without any suggestion of offense,
and rather as if she too were pondering some important matter.
"Thank you for your advice, Major Hersey," she replied the next moment.
"Now I am going to ask you to trust me. I have a reason for going to
the Liedermann house and I must go there perhaps several times within
the next few days. Afterwards I may be able to explain to you my reason.
Will you trust me and not report my actions to any one for the present?"
With Nora Jamison's eyes facing his directly, although against his own
judgment, there was nothing the young officer felt able to do but agree
to her request. Yet it was out of order and it appeared to him that Nora
Jamison was being vague and mysterious. It were wiser if she attended
strictly to her Red Cross nursing. Surely some one of the other Red
Cross nurses had told him that this Miss Jamison was not inclined to be
especially intimate with any of them.
That same afternoon after several hours of indoor work, making out a
report for his superior officer, Major James Hersey felt that he was
rewarded for the day's duties by an afternoon ride with the Countess
Charlotta.
As they had no other chaperon for their ride, Miss Susan Pringle had
consented to accompany them, rather to Major Jimmie's consternation. He
feared that she was taking an incredible risk with her own health and
safety in order that her adored young countess should not be
disappointed. Yet it was soon evident that the middle-aged English
spinster was an accomplished horsewoman.
Along the Rhine that afternoon in the late April sunshine the water
shone like rusty gold. High on the opposite hills the old feudal castles
looked to Major Jimmie like the castles he had read of in the fairy
stories of his childhood. Moreover, it was easy even for a prosaic
soldier, such as Major James Hersey considered himself to be, to think
of the little Countess Charlotta Scherin as the heroine of almost any
romance, even of one's own romance.