"There are ways of escaping the trenches, Nurse," he declared. "Am I a dog?"
"An ungrateful boy, at least," she returned sharply.
The man on the next cot admonished the troublesome one. "The least you can do is to be quiet when the good Fräulein has so much to do," and Ernest subsided, muttering.
The incident, small in itself and seemingly unimportant compared with the greater things that troubled her, remained in her thought. It was as though, in passing along a rocky way, a serpent had coiled and struck at her. Ernest's nature was treacherous; she felt it.
Carl Baum, relieved of duty, put his head in at the door. His face was flushed and his eyes angry.
"Do you want me now, Cousin 'Linda?" he asked.
"'Now'?" she repeated, forgetting at first that she had sent for him.
"Ach, that Paul Genau! Der schlaue Fuchs gets the better of me always. He heard the man ask where I was and he comes first, after shutting the messenger's mouth. But I heard of it and came as soon as I was off duty. When I next meet that Paul Genau——"
"Hush!" commanded Belinda. "Do not make a mountain of a molehill, Cousin Carl. I merely sent him on an errand."
"What right has he to run errands for you, Cousin 'Linda?" cried the excited young fellow. "Am I not your servant? I will not endure his interference. No!"