“He’s safe—he will get well?” Bob whispered, and Lucy, seeing the lines of anxiety that had chased away the smile about his lips and the look of tired suffering in his eyes, almost choked before she managed to say, “Oh, Bob dear, he’s safe! He talks to me just like himself. He made me promise to go back to England to-morrow.”
“THIS MEADOW IS THE BEST LANDING-PLACE”
“And Mother—where is she?” Bob asked, after a moment’s silent thankfulness. Lucy’s words had brought back a little of the old brightness to his face. He spoke hurriedly in sudden realization of the short time they had together. Then, as Lucy shook her head, he added, “I had telegrams, you know. One reached me at Cantigny from Cousin Henry saying you had come to Father and that he had improved a little. But of course the name of the town was suppressed, so I didn’t know where you were. If I could have come myself I should have learned at General Headquarters where Father was. But I never thought to drop down on the lucky spot like this! I was here before, you know, nearly a month ago—before the Germans took the town. This meadow is the best landing-place around here.”
The little crowd of people had dwindled, some moving off to leave brother and sister alone together, for Miss Pearse had been questioned until every one there knew the story of Bob and Lucy’s meeting. Others, too interested to go, still stood watching with smiling faces, and neither Bob nor Lucy minded them. But in another moment Lucy sprang up from the grass and held out her hand to Captain Jourdin. He took it with a quick bow, his face lighting up as he returned her greeting, in a voice deeply touched with friendly feeling.
“Welcome to France, Miss Lucie! I never thought to see you here.”
There was no use trying to put into words the strangeness of their meeting. Lucy tried to say a little of what she felt, and could not. Looking into the Frenchman’s fine grave face she saw again the snow-covered land by the sea-wall on Governor’s Island, herself and William standing beside a sled and Captain Jourdin getting out of his stranded airplane and limping toward them. She had told him that day of Bob’s imprisonment, hoping against hope that he could give her encouragement of some sort for his safety. She glanced involuntarily at his wrist, and he smiled and held it up, saying, “You see, it is quite all right again, Captain Lucy!”
“You are back in the service—that’s better than anything, isn’t it?” she said at last, and his eyes, lighting up at her words, told her the depth of his satisfaction.
“I shall not soon forget that American surgeon,” he answered softly. “He gave me back to France.”
“Lucy,” said Bob suddenly from behind her, “a fellow I just spoke with here says the American hospital is not a mile away. I’m going to see Father. I can run all the way. How about it, Jourdin? Will you wait half an hour?”