appealing. More than an ordinary loss lay behind her
quickly told tragedy.

"Why, yes, I'll speak to Dr. Clark if you desire it and in any case he
will wish to know you have recovered. Yet I am afraid I cannot
truthfully hold out much hope to you. As a matter of fact I have not
personally the least influence with my husband in professional matters.
If I had, well I should like to take you with our Red Cross unit to the
Rhine," and Sonya stooped, obeying an unusual impulse and kissed the new
girl lightly on the forehead before leaving her.

CHAPTER III

_Toward Germany_

"Happy is he who takes the open road,
From rosy sunburst till the stars ascend.
Light is his heart, though heavy be his load,
If love but waits him at his journey's end."

THE two Red Cross nurses, Theodosia Thompson and Ruth Carroll were
standing together at the edge of a bleak field in the dawn of a
mid-November morning. Their companion was a young American physician.
"What an extraordinary quotation under the present circumstances, Thea!
But then, since you are a bundle of contradictions, I presume you
suggest that love will await us at our journey's end when you really
mean hate. I wonder to what extent the Germans will hate us and how
difficult life will be among them when we occupy their cities on the
Rhine."

Ruth Carroll, who had begun her speech as an answer to the other girl,
now concluded it by turning her gaze upon Dr. Hugh Raymond, who made no
effort at the moment to answer so unanswerable a question.

"Oh, I was not thinking of the entrance of our American troops into
Germany, but into Belgium and the little devastated French villages
which have not seen a friendly face in over four years," Theodosia
Thompson replied. "Our soldiers must first pass through the rescued
towns. But actually, Ruth, I was not thinking deeply at all. With the
knowledge that we were soon to take the open road, the verse came into
my mind. Please don't always be so matter of fact."

Possibly the two girls were talking because it is so difficult for girls
to remain silent for any length of time even under the most amazing
conditions. At this moment, peering steadfastly through the grey light
of the approaching day, with Dr. Raymond beside them, they were
beholding one of the greatest spectacles in human history, the first
movement of the American Army of Occupation toward the Rhine.

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