“At seven thirty Colonel Blow told me. Three of those tents are for the hospital sisters—they are coming into laager too—but not until the last thing at night, and they’re to go first thing in the morning; there will be a strong guard round the hospital all night.”
As I listened to these gentle, simple souls how I wished it had been to their set I belonged instead of to the set that looked over their heads and called them frumps and dowds. With their families of young children round them most of them had parted with a husband whom she might never see again. Yet here they were with cheerful faces making their plans and fixing up their children to take up as small amount of room and be as little nuisance as possible. I realised that as Dr Jameson had said, these were the real pioneers and patriots. These were the people Mr Rhodes needed for his new bit of Empire!
As they were leaving the verandah one of them gave a glance down the yard and stopped.
“There’s poor Mrs Marriott! I wonder if—couldn’t we ask her to come in with us?”
They discussed the matter softly amongst themselves.
“I’m afraid she wouldn’t, Mrs Burney. Poor thing, she is so frightfully sensitive—she might think we were pitying her.”
“We’ll chance that. I’ll go and ask her—shall I?”
She went quickly to where Mrs Marriott was now sitting with her hands in her lap, on an unshapely roll of blankets.
“Mrs Marriott—do let me help you get your things in,” she said. “And have you settled on a place yet? Won’t you come in with Mrs Grant and Mrs Shannon and me? We’re packed like sardines, with the children, but I’m sure we can make room for one sardine more—”
“Oh! no. No, thank you,” stammered the other woman. “I prefer being alone. It doesn’t matter where I am. I can manage without any one’s help.”