Outside her door Eugenia encountered a stiff German youth in an immaculate uniform, bearing an official letter. The letter commanded Eugenia to report to the officer in authority in the nearest village. She was to explain her presence in the neighborhood, her occupation, and above all offer proof of her nationality.
Therefore, before setting out the next morning Eugenia changed the quarters of her patient. There could be little doubt that some one would be sent to investigate the interior of the little “Farmhouse with the Blue Front Door.” One could scarcely expect to keep a soldier hidden in the only room of any size in the house.
Fortunately Barbara’s room was the most inconspicuous of the four bedrooms. Besides, Eugenia had a certain scheme in mind which she hoped might help when the critical moment arrived.
Naturally Eugenia had passports and certificates to identify herself as an American Red Cross nurse. But she also took with her to the colonel of the German regiment another paper of a different character. However, she did not mean to show this before feeling her way very carefully. The paper was a check for a large sum of money on an American bank in Boston and signed with her own name.
At the improvised office of the German colonel, Eugenia told her story as briefly as possible. Moreover, she told the exact truth in regard to herself in every detail up to a certain moment. This was the moment when she awakened to consciousness after being struck by a German shell.
There was nothing antagonistic in Eugenia’s manner with the officer. She explained to him that the little French farmhouse had been allotted to the use of the four American Red Cross nurses and that the other three girls had retreated with the French field hospital staff. Then she asked that she be allowed to remain in their house until such time as she could communicate with her friends in America. As she was alone it would be impossible to have German soldiers quartered upon her.
At this moment Eugenia put her hand upon the check in her pocket.
Very frankly she then declared that she realized it to be each person’s duty to assist with the shelter and feeding of a victorious army. But as she was unable to do either of these things, would not the colonel accept money instead? She trusted that he would not be offended by her unusual suggestion, for it appeared to her the only just and fair thing to do under the circumstances. Finally after further discussion and hesitation and another careful study of her passports, the German officer agreed to do what Eugenia had suggested. However, he insisted, as a matter of necessary formality, that two German soldiers be sent to her house next day on a tour of inspection. When they came Eugenia had the courage to show them into the very blue bedroom where the young French officer lay concealed. But beforehand, and in spite of her Puritan ancestry, she explained that this room was her own bedchamber. Moreover, to prove that she had nothing to keep secret she had entirely emptied her closet. Her own clothes, beside all those that the other three girls had left behind, were thrown with pretended carelessness on top the very bed where Captain Castaigne lay hidden under a pile of bedclothes.
The young Frenchman was in a stupor from fever at the time, so Eugenia considered that there could be little risk of his either moving or speaking. However, if risk there was, she felt compelled to take it.
The German soldiers made no effort to give this special room a thorough investigation. They merely glanced in, and then, like the proverbial ten thousand men of King George’s army, marched out again.