But the German chaplain did not inform Mr. Gahan that, accustomed as he was to painful death scenes, the brutal end of the gentle victim so horrified him that he himself sank to the ground in a dead faint—a weakness that stands to the credit of his heart and calling.
The Rev. H. S. T. Gahan was sent to Brussels by the Colonial and Continental Church Society only a few months before the outbreak of the War. He was imprisoned for a few days in November, 1914, but was released when the Americans represented that they required a clergyman. All other British men were deported, but many British women and children remain in Brussels. Many of those who have contrived to escape from the stricken capital testify to the help and kindness and sympathy of the British chaplain.
It has been asserted that by her own request Miss Cavell was permitted to face her executioners with unbandaged eyes and unbound hands. But more than that, according to later information, the Germans, with one of their acute refinements of cruelty, allowed her to witness the execution of M. Bancq, and it was this sight, more than fear of her own end, that caused her to collapse.
The only announcement of Miss Cavell's death received by her friends and pupils was through a poster displayed on the walls of Brussels baldly announcing that the execution had taken place; and letters which were addressed to them the day before she died were not delivered until a month afterwards.
The body of the martyr was buried by her enemies near the prison of St. Gilles. Mr. Whitlock, on behalf of the First President of the Brussels Court of Appeals and President of the Belgian School of Certificated Nurses, asked Baron von der Lancken for the body of Miss Cavell, its directress. It was undertaken, in the removal of the body and its burial in the Brussels district, to conform to all the regulations of the German authorities. Mr. Whitlock remarked that he felt sure that His Excellency would make no objection to the request, and that the institution to which Miss Cavell had generously devoted a part of her life would be permitted to perform a pious duty. Baron von der Lancken did not send a written reply, but called upon Mr. Gibson in person. He stated that under the regulations governing such cases it was impossible to exhume the body without written permission from the Minister of War in Berlin. Thus the Germans took the opportunity of crowning their foul deed with the final dishonour of a refusal of even such a last pitiful request.
Really it is immaterial where Edith Cavell's body may be laid to rest, although sentiment may demand its ultimate recovery. Her memory will lack nothing. It is enshrined in glowing effulgence in the hearts of Britons and our Allies for all time.
Although our story is the record of Edith Cavell, we can spare a thought for her heroic companions. M. Philippe Bancq declared his willingness to die for his country, and the Germans took him at his word. Princess Marie de Croy was sentenced to ten years' imprisonment; but the Comtesse de Belleville and Mademoiselle Thulier were condemned to death. Upon strong representations made by the King of Spain and the Pope, however, the German Emperor hastened to pardon these two ladies, because he was aware of the universal horror caused by the deliberate political murder of Miss Cavell. Von Bissing, too, evidently was warned by the Kaiser to moderate his bloodthirstiness, as evidenced by a promise of their lives to all British and French soldiers still hidden in Belgium if they surrendered without delay. Verily, it was speedily proved that Nurse Cavell had died that others might live—and it is not always the case that even the greatest sacrifices bear so speedy a fruit.