_The Command_
A week or ten days later, in the early autumn, the order was received
at the American camp for a limited number of picked American troops to
be sent to the fighting line in France.
The order had been for some time eagerly expected, yet the information
was not published either in the American or in the European press.
The American soldiers were to have their first trial by fire in France
without having the fact heralded or discussed. In the trenches they
were now prepared to test the training in modern warfare which they had
been undergoing since their arrival at their own camp in France.
Under secret orders and at night the men were to march out, not even
their own comrades in arms being informed of the direction in which
they were to travel nor behind what particular battle front they were
to be stationed.
Yet the chosen troops were permitted to say farewell to their friends,
provided that nothing except good-byes were said. However, the men
could scarcely have betrayed the secret of their destination, since
only the officers in command had been informed. They were to march in
twenty-four hours after the order.
At the nearby American hospital it was Mollie Drew who was the first of
the Red Cross nurses to be told the stirring news.
Mollie was not engaged to Guy Ellis. She had insisted upon this
both to Barbara and Nona. But she had confessed there was a kind of
understanding between them, and when the war was over, if she and Guy
had both played their parts faithfully, and his parents did not object
to a poor girl, then Mollie was willing to concede there might be an
engagement.
Nevertheless, as soon as he had received permission from his superior
officer, Captain John Martin, Guy came straight to her.
Mollie also reported the news of Lieutenant Martin’s promotion to a
captaincy, which he had been awarded only a few days before.
It was shortly before luncheon when Guy arrived at the hospital
and Nona could not help wondering, after Mollie had imparted the
information of the withdrawal of a number of the American troops,
whether Captain Martin would make an effort to see her before he
left camp. For his desire had been granted and he was to be one of
the officers in charge of the first corps of American troops in the
fighting area in France.
She kept the thought at the back of her mind all during the day, no
matter in what occupation she chanced to be engaged. Nona felt she
would like to see Captain Martin before he left for the front, if for
no other reason than to congratulate him on his promotion.
It was after dinner that evening when Captain Martin, accompanied by
Lieutenant Kelley, came to the hospital.
But to Nona’s secret surprise Captain Martin made no effort to see her
alone. He and Lieutenant Kelley asked for Madame Castaigne, for Miss
Thornton and Mrs. Thornton, as well as for Miss Davis and two or three
other Red Cross nurses who were also their friends.
Nona was interested in watching the meeting between Lieutenant Kelley
and Richard Thornton.
Dick was to leave the next day to continue his ambulance work. Whether
Barbara asked him to meet Lieutenant Kelley, or whether he chose to
make the best of the opportunity Nona did not, of course, know.
She only saw that Barbara introduced the two men in as matter-of-fact
a fashion as she could manage and that, after looking at each other
steadily for a barely perceptible moment, they instinctively shook
hands.
Later, without even a word with Nona that the entire group of friends
could not hear, Captain Martin made his adieus. Moreover, during the
few moments of his visit he had appeared much more pleased by Eugenia’s
congratulations than by Nona’s effort to express her pleasure at his
good fortune.
After their final leave-taking Nona confessed to herself that she was a
little disappointed. She knew, of course, that as soon as he recovered
Captain Martin would forget the emotion he had believed he felt for
her during his convalescence. However, she had not really expected him
to forget it so entirety he would not even have a feeling of especial
friendliness for her. And there was ever the thought that a soldier’s
good-bye might be a final one.
Nona was glad Lieutenant Kelley was accompanying his friend. Whatever
small differences the two men had formerly had, had disappeared
entirely. The faith in him under stress, which Captain Martin had
shown, the younger soldier would not forget.
That night not only Nona Davis, but nearly every nurse, doctor, patient
and servant at the American hospital lay awake, or slept only fitfully.
They were waiting and hoping to hear the tramping of the feet of the
American soldiers on their way to this strange paradox of a war, which
is being fought on through the years for the final award of a world
peace.
Toward dawn Nona believed she heard the men marching past the hospital.
Slipping to the window, she saw stretched along the road a long, double
row of khaki-clad figures. They were marching in silence, each soldier
carrying his pack and rifle. There were no flags flying, no beating of
drums. The men were going to their day’s work, to the work the new day
had appointed for them. But when the last figures had passed, in the
east Nona saw the first rose-colored lights of the morning.
She went back to bed then, not having awakened anyone. Eugenia was now
with Captain Castaigne.
Alone, Nona prayed that her countrymen might meet the great test
without faltering and that the rose light in the sky was an omen of
good for the future.