“Where am I?” at last said Fritz faintly.
“Here,” answered the girl, “with friends, who are attending to you. Do not fear, you shall be watched over with every care until you are quite well again.”
“Where is ‘here’?” whispered Fritz feebly again, smiling at his own quaint question.
The girl laughed gently in response to his smile. “You are at Mézières, not far from the battlefield where you fell. I discovered you there early yesterday morning.”
“You?” inquired Fritz, his eyes expressing his astonishment.
“Yes, I,” said the girl kindly; “and I was only too happy to be the means of finding you, and getting you removed to a place of safety; for, I’m afraid that if you had lain there much longer on the damp ground you would have died.”
“Oh!” interrupted Fritz as eagerly as his exhausted condition would allow; “I remember all now! I was wounded and lay there close to the battery; and then I saw the stars come out and thought—”
“Hush!” said the girl, “you must not speak any more now. You are too weak; I only spoke to you to find out whether you had regained consciousness or not.”
“But you must let me thank you. If it had not been—”
“No, I won’t allow another word,” she interposed authoritatively. “You will do yourself harm, and then I shall be accused of being a bad nurse! Besides, you haven’t got to thank me at all; it was the dog who made me see you.”