When Graydon Bansemer opened his eyes upon the world for the second
time--it was as if he had been born again--he looked up into the
eager, wistful face of Jane Cable. It was too much for her to expect
that he could see and understand at once; he would not know what
had gone before, nor why she was there. His feeble glance took in
her face with lifeless interest. Perhaps it was because he had seen
her in that death-like dream; perhaps his weakness kept him from
true realisation. In any event, he did no more than to allow the
flicker of a smile to come into his eyes before he closed them
again. Breathlessly, she waited for the lids to lift once more.
She uttered his name softly, tenderly, time and again. As if hearing
someone calling from a great distance, he moved and again looked
upward, the consciousness of pain in his grey eyes. This time he
stared hard at her; his eyes grew brighter and then darkened with
wonder. At last she saw the look of surprise and joy and relief
that she had been hungering for; he knew her and he was beginning
to understand.
If he heard her while she knelt and thanked Ged for this first
great ray of hope, he gave forth no sign. When she turned her eyes
to his face again he was asleep. But she went forth into the day
with a song in her heart.
She looked about for Teresa. The girl was gone, no one knew whither.
Bray alone could say that she had started toward the thicket.
He pointed out the direction, but did not offer to accompany Jane
when she hurried away to carry the good news to the Spanish girl
who had been her staunch helper during the long vigil. Bray shook
his puzzled head as he followed her with his gaze. It had come
to him suddenly that the Spanish girl was not the solution to the
puzzle, after all.
Jane found the slim boyish figure lying on the ground, deep in the
wood. She had been crying and made no attempt to subdue her emotions
when the American girl came up to her; instead, she bitterly poured
out her woe into the ears of the other. She told her of Bray's
insult--as she termed his unfortunate speculation--and she told
how it came about.
"I am a good girl, Miss Cable," she cried. "I am of a noble family-not
of the canaille. You do not believe it of me? No! He had no right
to accuse me. I was a prisoner; Senor Bansemer was my rescuer. I
loved him for it. See, I cannot help it, I cannot hide it from you.
But he is yours. I have no claim. I do not ask it. Oh!" and here
her voice rose to a wail of anguish, "can you not procure something
else for me to wear? These rags are intolerable. I hate them! I
cannot go back there unless I have---"
"We can give you a few garments, dear," said Jane. "Come! You shall
wear the nurse's uniform. We are to start on the long march to the
coast to-morrow. They say that ALL of the wounded can be moved by
that time."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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