The Girl from Alsace: A Romance of the Great War, Originally Published under the Title of Little ComradeStevenson, Burton Egbert
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The Girl from Alsace: A Romance of the Great War, Originally Published under the Title of Little Comrade
Stevenson, Burton Egbert
Alsace (France) -- Fiction; War stories; World War, 1914-1918 -- Fiction
They sat down close together with their backs against the wall, and her
head for an instant fell upon his shoulder. By a supreme effort, she
roused herself.
"We cannot stay here!" she protested.
"No," Stewart agreed. "Do you think you can climb this wall? We may find
cover on the other side."
"Of course I can," and she tried to rise, but Stewart had to assist her.
"I do not know what is the matter," she panted, as she clung to him. "I
can scarcely stand!"
"It's the reaction," said Stewart. "It was bound to come, sooner or
later. I had my attack back there on the road. Now I am going to lift
you on top of the wall."
She threw one leg over it and sat astride.
"Oh, I have dropped the bundle," she said.
"Have you been carrying it all this time?" Stewart demanded.
"Why, of course. It weighs nothing."
Stewart, groping angrily along the base of the wall, found it, tucked it
under his arm, scrambled over, and lifted her down.
"Now, forward!" he said.
At the second step, they were in a field of grain as high as their
waists. They could feel it brushing against them, twining about their
ankles; they could glimpse its yellow expanse stretching away into the
night.
"Splendid!" cried Stewart. "There could be no better cover!" and he led
her forward into it. "Now," he added, at the end of five minutes, "stand
where you are till I get things ready for you," and with his knife he
cut down great handfuls of the grain and piled them upon the ground.
"There's your bed," he said, placing the bundle of clothing at one end
of it; "and there's your pillow."
She sat down with a sigh of relief.
"Oh, how heavenly!"
"You can go to sleep without fear. No one can discover us here, unless
they stumble right over us. Good-night, little comrade."
"But you?"
"Oh, I am going to sleep, too. I'll make myself a bed just over here."
"Good-night, my friend!" she said, softly, and Stewart, looking down at
her, catching the starry sheen of her uplifted eyes, felt a wild desire
to fling himself beside her, to take her in his arms----
Resolutely he turned away and piled his own bed at a little distance. It
would have been safer, perhaps, had they slept side by side; but there
was about her something delicate and virginal which kept him at a
distance--and yet held him too, bound him powerfully, led him captive.
He was filled with the thought of her, as he lay gazing up into the
spangled heavens--her beauty, her fire, her indomitable youth, her
clear-eyed innocence which left him reverent and trembling. What was her
story? Where were her people that they should permit her to take such
desperate risks? Why had this great mission been confided to her--to a
girl, young, inexperienced? And yet, the choice had evidently been a
wise one. She had proved herself worthy of the trust. No one could have
been quicker-witted, more ready of resource.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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