The Red Cross Girls in Belgium

was tired; another, she feared she would find the imprisoned soldiers terribly downca

n ordinary occupations. They have their sad days and their cheerful days. There are times when the confinement and de

ur and five o'clock o

thing[Pg 111] interesting in the sight of the ugly, over-crowded ro

to the prisoners and Dr. Mason had made no such effort. It was merely through the courtesy of the German commandant that the American physician and nu

ect for authority. Whenever the others were not loo

and sultry inside the prison, but now a breeze was blowing, stirring th

ldiers. Some of them were smoking cherished pipes, while other

va, Switzerland. They have sent forth a petition to the various governments at war, asking among other things that prisoners be allowed to receive money, letters and packages from their frie

rse it chanced she had never before seen any number of prisoners. Now and then a few of them

g

ed Cross nurse is a soldier's friend. Yet in the character of an ordinary girl Barbara would have been almost as cordially

ng its close the men who had been working in the fields were to return. Th

his yard was a wide gate which could be swung back on hinges,

tside the prison wall and given chairs to

rself growing bored. Dr. Mason could not talk to her. The German officer was discoursing so earnestly in his own

lled a few paces away. There was little to see except the stretch of much-travel

being marched back to their jail. The tread was slow and dead, without animation or life. It was as if the m

ss. She was naturally not thinking of herself. So it had not occurred t

g

rse's coat thrown over the back of her chair. So she wore her American Red Cross unifo

She smiled at him, half wistful and half friendly. Instantly the young fellow's hand

me. For as each line of soldiers, with their guards on either side,

ician had a husky sensation in his throat and his glasses became suddenly blurred. Th

rly affecting. The truth was it was not Barbara who was being saluted, but the uniform she wore, the white ground with its

t there were too many of them and they moved too rapidly to study the individual faces. However, as the men finally entered the prison gate the

he obstruction. This was Barbara's chance to get a good look at the

possible without illness. He wore no hat and his hair was tawny as the hay he had just been cu

h say. Besides this, he seemed enormously interested in Barbara. Obviously the youn

the prisoner than she should have been. This was because she had se

suddenly under her breath. "I am sorr

cle in his face, yet his eyes answer

g

to her. Also she was not expected to speak to him. But she had an unlooked-for chance

g as careful a lookout as possible. "The other girls will be grieved to h

is answer was in the look he flashed at the girl. Then next the order

ra and Dr. Mason starte

uch an extraordinarily dull companion during the r

nsieur Bebé was scarcely an acquaintance, yet she had seen and spoken to him before. As for Lieutenant Hume, he was almost a friend. At least

the German authorities might be persuaded to exchange him for one of their own men, should proper interest be shown in his case.

ach other outside the hospital front doo

the girl slipped her

e," she insisted, "and thank you for taking me with you. I am so

nurse. The fact that she was a nurse struck him

o blame it is I, for taking you upon such a fatiguing expeditio

admiration and friendship. It was good to be admired and like

er until he reached the house of