The boy blushed and smiled to hear such warm praises from such pretty lips, and he watched Elfie as long as she remained visible in the ward.
As soon as the two girls were in the little carriage again, Elfie suddenly seized Erminie and hysterically exclaimed:
“Oh, Erminie! Oh, Erminie! You saw him! You saw how livid and sunken he looked!”
“Yes, dear, I saw him.”
“Oh, Erminie! you have been tending the sick and wounded in the hospitals for nearly four years, and you have had a great deal of experience. You know almost as much as the head surgeon himself, and a great deal more than these young under graduates, who take off a man’s limb so deftly. And you saw how he looked. Will he live? Will he live?”
“I hope and trust so, my dear,” said Miss Rosenthal gently.
“When people say they hope and trust, they always mean they don’t believe,” cried Elfie, wringing her hands.
Miss Rosenthal tried to turn the conversation.
“You forgot to keep your appointment with your little champion yesterday, Elfie.”
“I had forgotten the very existence of little Mim,” sobbed Elfie.