Maude again did the one tactful thing, the one thing that, in those circumstances, not only saved the face of the vanished Hank, but raised her to an elevation in the minds of the soldiers from which she would never descend.... She simply sat down on that scoured floor and laughed and laughed until her cheeks were wet with tears of mirth. So infectious was her laugh that there was not a man but laughed with her.
“By Jove!...” exclaimed Captain Morris. “She’s a wonder.”
“She is,” said Kendall, soberly.
Maude looked up at them. “You officers go away,” she said, severely. “I’m going to be very busy.... No, you boys needn’t go—just the officers....”
“I may come back to say good-by?” Kendall asked. “I’ll be leaving in an hour.”
“Of course.”
When Kendall finished his business with the Assistant Provost Marshal he returned to the canteen.
“I’m going,” he said from the door.
Maude issued from behind her counter and made her way through a knot of soldiers who had crowded about it.
“Good-by,” she said, extending her hand. “It’s been nice to see you.”