“You shall tell me all your experience since you left me dear; but not until you have had rest and refreshment. My curiosity can wait,” said Miss Rosenthal, touching the bell.
Catherine came to answer the summons. She had heard from Old Bob of the arrival, and now she came in—eager, smiling diffident, and curtesying to welcome Miss Fielding.
“Come and shake hands with me if you are glad to see me, girl! and don’t stand there bobbing at me like a Chinese mandarin. That is no way to welcome a friend who has returned safely from captivity among the guerrillas,” said Elfie, heartily offering her hand to the German girl, who snatched and pressed it to her heart and lips.
“Now, my dear Elfie, what will you have prepared? The fire, I know, is in full blast in the kitchen range, and there is a plenty of hot water in the boiler, and plenty of provisions in the pantry. Order what you like, my dear. You are at home here, you know,” said Erminie.
“I know I am, thanks to your boundless hospitality. But I had a substantial meal hours ago at an old farm-house near the railway station at the Point of Rocks. What I want first of all is a warm bath and a change of clothes. Oh, just only think of it, I have been ten days without the one or the other!”
“Dear me!” said Erminie, opening her brown eyes in dismay.
If Miss Rosenthal had heard that her friend had been under fire in forty separate fights in this time, it would not have shocked her so much.
“It is a fact, Erminie. And I tell you the deprivation has cured me of one folly,” said Elfie, nodding her head.
“What is that?”
“The desire to serve as a soldier in the ranks. There is too much grime mixed up with the glory. I shouldn’t so much mind the sabre strokes, nor the shot and shell, nor even the commissary coffee, salt pork and hard tack. But I wouldn’t—no, not even for the sake of my country—would I endure the lack of clean linen and fresh water and the abundance of dirt and—‘inthects,’ as my friend Billingcoo delicately puts it. So I think I will leave the men who are not fastidious to fight the battles, and wear the breeches, and I will rest contented with crinoline and cleanliness for the remainder of my life.”