And Nona did not object to going to Madame Bonnèt’s alone. This was one of the things she had been fond of doing ever since her meeting with the splendid French woman. However, one could not expect the privilege often, for no one was so busy as Madame Bonnèt, nor had a greater number of calls upon her time. Scarcely a soldier in the division located within her village, but came to Madame Bonnèt for advice or sympathy whenever anything went wrong.
Nona was never to forget the morning of this day when so many strange things were to occur.
It was a day caught between summer and early fall, with the beauty and fragrance of both. Moreover, in the French country there is ever a curious appeal that only a few lands have. It is a sense of intimacy, a sense of nearness to nature, as if she were really the great mother, viewing birth and life and death with a wonderful patience, knowing that within her lie always the seeds and the garden for the new generations to come.
Besides, Nona had brought Duke with her. He seemed to like to walk with her more than with anyone beside his mistress. But recently Duke had been growing noticeably older and wore a look of noble depression, which one observes now and then in the aging of a fine dog.
Nona went past Madame Bonnèt’s former home which she had given up to the American officers, only glancing up at the tower where she and the other nurses had seen their first American drill upon French soil.
Of course, Madame Bonnèt had probably taken Jeanne and her soldier into her own tiny home with herself and Berthe, finding a place for them somehow.
But perhaps the little girl and her companion would be outside in the garden. As Nona went down the path between the vegetables she had the impression that there were figures near the dove cote, a little hidden from observation.
Within a few yards of them she stopped and to her own annoyance uttered a slight exclamation.
Barbara Thornton and Lieutenant Kelley were deep in some kind of intimate conversation.
Nona saw that Barbara flushed with anger on recognizing her; there was in her manner almost a suggestion that she believed Nona had purposely come to spy upon her.