"Urge her, madame, to come more quickly!"
Then she became impatient—Why did she not come? Some instants after she pitied her: surely she must have had great obstacles—some grim sentinel must have stood in her way—and she might have fallen angry herself thinking of these things.
She often interrogated the doctor and told him very softly:
"I wish she would come right away!"
She knew that the wife of her poilu had three babies to care for—What a catastrophe in this poor laborer's home if he never returned.
Soon she knew there was no longer any hope. "At least," she said to the doctor, "you can keep him alive—she will come——"
The agony was long, very long and the wife did not come. She sent for her again. What could be the matter?
On seeing her dear dead, an ineffable sadness engrossed her and big, silent tears fell from her eyes——
An attendant approached her—she turned her head and wiped her eyes——