He gave her no opportunity to reply, leaving her abruptly. The Red Cross nurse was suddenly conscience-stricken. In her selfish desire to save Sanderson and herself from the coil of circumstances in which they were nipped, she had heretofore given no thought at all to the web in which she might entangle her cousins.
She had been determined, if she might, to use them in aiding Frank and herself. But how about Paul Genau and Carl Baum? What would be their punishment if they were discovered assisting in the escape of the American aviator?
"Oh!" she told herself, in self-accusation. "I did not know I could be so wicked—so utterly, utterly selfish! The poor boys! And yet—Frank must escape! And who else is there but Paul and Carl to aid me?"
CHAPTER XXVI
TOUCH AND GO
When Belinda finally found time to speak at length to Sanderson he had already received from Erard a full account of the lame man's meeting with the French spy, Renaud.
"We shall hear from Monsieur Renaud again," the aviator said confidently. "He is a really wonderful man, Belinda—a man of countless disguises and subterfuges. When I set him down in that field four days ago he drew on a peasant's smock, put his feet in sabots, and before I got my plane in the air again he was hobbling toward the village, the true picture of one of these old peasants, so decrepit and lame that even the Prussians fail to set them to work.
"I must get out of this bed and get my shoulder out of its plaster-cast as soon as possible. For in some way, by some means, I believe Renaud will give me a chance to escape. And with me, you, of course, Belinda. You must not remain longer in this perilous situation."
The nurse did not share in his sanguine feelings. But she hid her fears as best she could and, leaving the bedside of the wounded aviator, busied herself as usual about the ward.
She had spoken to the visiting physician previously about Ernest and that very morning the order came for the boy's removal to the convalescent camp. Jacob told him, and the unfortunate Ernest gave way to a violent fit of temper just as the Herr Doktor unexpectedly appeared on a round of visits.