strong, keen (if sometimes impatient), and generous, from her childhood
she was ever a great giver.

Alongside all the energy and force in her character there were great
depths of tenderness. "Nothing like sitting on the floor for half an
hour playing with little children to prepare you for a strenuous bit of
work," was one of her sayings.

Not to many women, perhaps, have other women given such a wealth of
love as they gave to Elsie Inglis. In innumerable letters received after
her death is traceable the idea expressed by one woman: "In all your
sorrow, remember, I loved her too."

Those who worked with her point again and again to a characteristic that
distinguished her all her life--her complete disregard of the opinion of
others about herself personally, while she pursued the course her
conscience dictated, and yet she drew to herself the affectionate regard
of many who knew her for the first time during the last three years of
her life.

What her own countrymen thought of her will be found in the pages of
this book, but the touching testimony of a Serb and a Russian may be
given here. A Serb orderly expressed his devotion in a way that Dr.
Inglis used to recall with a smile: "Missis Doctor, I love you better
than my mother, and my wife, and my family. Missis Doctor, I will never
leave you."

And a soldier from Russia said of her: "She was loved amongst us as a
queen, and respected as a saint."