It was a quarter to ten when she returned to the ward, and the matron, with her dog on her lap, was waiting to receive her.
“Didn't I tell you that you could not go out to-night?”
“Yes, ma'am,” said Glory.
“Then how did you dare to go?”
Glory looked at her unwaveringly, with glittering eyes that seemed to smile, whereupon the matron picked up her dog, gathered up her train, and swept out of the ward, saying:
“Nurse, you can leave me at the end of your term; and you need never cross the doors of this institution again.”
Then Glory, who had all night wanted to cry, burst into laughter. The ward Sister reproved her, but she laughed in the woman's fat face, and would have given worlds to slap it.
There was not a nurse in the hospital who showed more bright and cheerful spirits when the patients were being prepared for the night. But next morning, in the gray dawn, when she had dragged herself to bed, and was able at length to be alone, she beat the pillows with both hands and sobbed in her loneliness and shame.