"Yes, Walter—for all eternity!" she answered softly.
CHAPTER XVII.
Everywhere Ruin, standing side by side with the Sign of the Cross!
In the little town of Behericourt, a few miles from Noyon, France, a young Red Cross nurse alighted from her machine, and took a general survey of the ruined homes. Her mind had become accustomed to thinking of disaster and ruin, for everywhere the same sad spectacle met her pitying eyes, but her heart throbbed anew with every fresh scene. Here were about seventy-five helpless souls, living in their ruined homes, needing all of life's necessities.
She did not gaze long. She stepped up to the nearest house and knocked on the broken door.
A little child of ten, with pale, drawn face, and large fear-stricken eyes, cautiously opened the door.
"I'm a friend, little one," said Venna, smiling.
The child recognized the Red Cross and nodded her head vigorously.
"Come in," she said excitedly, and then vanished to carry the good news to others.
Venna entered the kitchen. In it were four broken chairs, a broken table and a broken stove. On some nails in the walls were hung broken kitchen utensils.