“Relax and forget,” she whispered to herself. How could she ever do that. Relax, yes, but forget, never! Never! She did not even want to forget. She had joined the WACS, had asked for active service, and had gotten it in good measure. Who ever would want to forget?
Strange as it may seem, by the time they reached home base she was more than half asleep. But there was an ambulance waiting for her and in it, Jan and Than Shwe to welcome her home.
“Golly! Does it hurt much?” Jan asked.
“Don’t talk,” Than Shwe warned, “Just relax and try to forget.”
There it was again,—“relax and forget.” Gale wanted to scream just to let them know she was still very much alive. But remembering that she was a patient, she did relax, even though she did refuse to forget.
* * * * * * * *
“The Army Intelligence found plenty to prove that the Woman in Purple and the Black Dwarf were spies,” Isabelle said to Gale as she sat by her cot in the hospital next day and told her story. “They found two servants who told them plenty more.”
“It’s good they’re gone,” said Gale. “But now,” she groaned, “I suppose I’ll be shipped off to some place to convalesce.”
“That’s right,” said a man’s voice. It was the colonel who had just come in. “Well, you wanted to see Tokio. You saw Tokio, so now you must pay your passage.
“But it won’t be half bad,” he added. “I’ll send you to the Secret Forest.”