Then the girl turned again to Major Jimmie.
"I don't know what Mrs. Clark will say or do when she sees me. She told me positively I was not to embarrass the American Red Cross by taking refuge with them. And I tried my best to be brave and endure my existence. I even gave up to my father's wishes, but I found I could not keep my word. So I confided in Miss Pringle. She is English and was my governess when I was a little girl. She had continued living in Luxemburg after the war began, and yet perhaps because she was English she understood me better than other people. Anyhow we came away together. It was not so difficult to accomplish as you may imagine. Most of the people in Luxemburg at present dislike the Germans as thoroughly as I do. I told a few acquaintances that I was going away because I could not endure being forced into a German marriage. Miss Pringle was with me and I said I was going to join some American friends. Besides, Luxemburg is not very large you know and it does not take long to reach the frontier. If Mrs. Clark is not willing to receive us at the Red Cross Hospital, surely we can find a place to shelter us for awhile. Miss Pringle says she will be glad to go with me to the United States, as she has long wished to travel. I suppose, Colonel Winfield, that you could arrange for us to go to the United States?"
Plainly the young countess's words and manner both amused and annoyed the Colonel.
"Nonsense, young woman, girls who run away from their homes no matter from what motive, must be sent back to their parents. Mrs. Clark will doubtless see that you and Miss Pringle are made comfortable for a few days. But I think I understand how you managed to reach Coblenz and why you were permitted to have an interview with me. The colonel of an American regiment of the army of occupation is not in the habit of having young women whose credentials and passports are not what they should be, take up his spare time. Where, child, had you ever heard my name?"
"Oh, I often heard Mrs. Clark and the American Red Cross nurses speak of you when they referred to their winter at the Red Cross hospital near Château-Thierry. They said too they were delighted that you were to be in Coblenz because they liked you so very much," the Countess Charlotta concluded in the frank fashion which was entirely natural to her.
Nevertheless the colonel looked slightly mollified.
"You will sit down, won't you, and wait until we hear whether Mrs. Clark will be able to join us tonight?"
The Colonel pushed a large leather chair toward the fire, which the little countess dropped into gratefully. Miss Pringle was already seated in a chair which Major Hersey had provided for her during the Countess Charlotta's recital.
"I am sorry, extremely sorry, you were forced to wait so long to see me," Colonel Winfield protested. "It would have been pleasanter if arrangements could have been made for you earlier in the day."
"Oh, you need not worry," the Countess Charlotta returned graciously, "I am not in the least unhappy myself. Getting away from Luxemburg was so much simpler than I ever dreamed it could be, that nothing ahead seems so important. I wrote my father saying that I intended to sail for the United States as soon as it could be arranged. As for sending me back home," the little countess stretched her two hands before the fire so that they grew rose pink from the warmth, then she sighed, but with no deep show of emotion, "it would be very useless and very unkind to send me back to my father after what I have done? Neither my father nor aunt will wish to see me again. Even though they know Miss Pringle has been with me every minute and that I have done nothing in the least wrong, they would never forgive my disobedience. And they would not wish me to live with them because they should always consider that I had disobeyed them and that I would be an unfortunate influence upon other girls in Luxemburg."