"I'm ready now, except for this old left lung. It's burnt a bit, you
see--gas."

"God! God!"

"It's pretty bad, I admit. But there's another way of looking at it.
There's a glory in being chosen to bear your country's wounds."

"Your beautiful eyes! Your blue, beautiful eyes! O God, what does it
all mean? Living! Dying! All the rotters, all the rat-eyed ones I know,
scot-free and Gerald chosen. God! God! where are you?"

"He was never so close to me as now, Hester. And with you here, dear, He
is closer than ever."

"I'll never leave you, Gerald," she said, crying down into his sleeve
again. "Don't be afraid of the dark, dear; I'll never leave you."

"Nonsense!" he said, smoothing her hair that the hat had fallen away
from.

"Never! Never! I wish I were a mat for you to walk on. I want to crawl
on my hands and knees for you. I'll never leave you, Gerald--never!"

"My beautiful Hester!" he said, unsteadily, and then again, "Nonsense!"

But, almost on the moment, the man nurse returned and she was obliged to
leave him, but not without throbbing promises of the to-morrow's
return, and then there took place, downstairs in an anteroom, a long, a
closeted, and very private interview with a surgeon and more red tape