's Hole. "How shall I ever push her in?" thought Sheila as she held
out her hand in greeting.

Clarisse took it with all the hectic impulsiveness of youth. "You're his
nurse. Isn't it great his coming back this way? All our set is engaged--or
about to be--but I'm the only one that's got her man back with battle
scars all over him. Makes me feel like a story-book heroine."

Sheila O'Leary didn't know whether she wanted to laugh or cry. She ended
by doing what probably surprised her more than it did the girl. She sat
down in the wicker chair herself and gathered the girl into her lap. "Oh,
you blessed, blessed baby!" she crooned softly.

The girl pouted adorably. It was very evident that she liked to be petted,
coaxed, and spoiled. If there was a woman slumbering under all this
dimpling, infantile charm, she was quite indiscernible to the woman who
held her.

Slowly she bent over the girl and let her face show all the delight she
could feel in her prettiness and baby ways. There must be sympathy between
them or her task would be hopeless. "There, let me untie that bewitching
bonnet of yours and take off your gloves. We have a lot to tell each other
before you see your soldier."

"But Phil--won't he be waiting, wondering why I don't come? Oh, I'm just
crazy to see him!"

"He doesn't know you're here yet."

"Oh!" The smooth, white forehead did its utmost to manage a frown. "Why,
didn't he send for me?"

"No."

"Who did? His mother wrote."

"I sent."

The round, childish eyes filled with apprehension; she wrenched herself
free of Sheila's arms. "He isn't going to--The letter said--?"

"He's better. Sit down, dear. That's what we have to talk over. His body
is mending fast, but his mind--well, his mind has been taken prisoner."

Clarisse tossed an adorable crown of golden curls. "I don't understand."

"Didn't expect you to, at first. It's this way. He's been through some
very big, very terrible experiences, and he can't forget them. He isn't
the boy you used to play with, the boy who was happy just having a good
time. He's grown very serious. That's what experience is likely to do for
us all in time, but with him it's come all in a heap. When that happens
you can't go back and be happy in the old way. Do you see?"

"Go on."

"He's bound fast and walled about with the memories of what he has been
through--killing human beings, watching his comrades die, seeing what the
Germans have done. For the moment it h