Agatha Burton had been engaged to Charles Anderson from the time they were boy and girl. The far-reaching scheme of treachery and dishonor had, from the beginning been his, and Agatha only his accomplice.
It was a feminine weakness, yet in spite of their surprise and horror, Eugenia and Nona confessed quietly to each other that they were glad Agatha was on her way to the United States. Her case would be dealt with on her arrival there.
Neither would Charles Anderson’s name nor his fate ever be openly discussed at the American camp.
CHAPTER XVIII
The Command
A WEEK or ten days later, in the early autumn, the order was received at the American camp for a limited number of picked American troops to be sent to the fighting line in France.
The order had been for some time eagerly expected, yet the information was not published either in the American or in the European press.
The American soldiers were to have their first trial by fire in France without having the fact heralded or discussed. In the trenches they were now prepared to test the training in modern warfare which they had been undergoing since their arrival at their own camp in France.
Under secret orders and at night the men were to march out, not even their own comrades in arms being informed of the direction in which they were to travel nor behind what particular battle front they were to be stationed.
Yet the chosen troops were permitted to say farewell to their friends, provided that nothing except good-byes were said. However, the men could scarcely have betrayed the secret of their destination, since only the officers in command had been informed. They were to march in twenty-four hours after the order.
At the nearby American hospital it was Mollie Drew who was the first of the Red Cross nurses to be told the stirring news.