jured leg suspended from a pulley from which
depended two heavy weights, lay Bowinski.

Miss Mink slipped into the chair between his cot and the wall. After the
first glance at his pale unshaven face and the pain-lined brow, she
forgot all about herself. She felt only overwhelming pity for him, and
indignation at the treatment to which he was being subjected.

By and by he stirred and opened his eyes.

"Oh you came!" he said, "I mean you not to know I be in hospital. You
must have the kindness not to trouble about me."

"Trouble nothing," said Miss Mink, husky with emotion, "I never knew a
thing about it until to-day. What have they got you harnessed up like
this for?"

Then Alexis with difficulty found the English words to tell her how his
leg had not set straight, had been re-broken and was now being forced
into proper position.

"It is like hell, Madame," he concluded with a trembling lip, then he
drew a sharp breath, "But no, I forget, I am in the army. I beg you
excuse my complain."

Miss Mink laid herself out to entertain him. She unpacked her basket,
and spread her meagre offerings before him. She described in detail all
the surgical operations she had ever had any experience with, following
some to their direst consequences. Alexis listened apathetically. Now
and then a spasm of pain contracted his face, but he uttered no word of
complaint.

Only once during the afternoon did his eyes brighten. Miss Mink caught
the sudden change in his expression and, following his glance, saw Lois
Chalmers coming through the ward. She had thrown aside her heavy fur
coat, and her slim graceful little figure as alert as a bird's darted
from cart to cot as she tossed packages of cigarettes to right and left.

"Here you are, Mr. Whiskers!" she was calling out gaily to one. "This is
for you, Colonel Collar Bone. Where's Cadet Limpy? Discharged? Good for
him! Hello, Mr. Strong Man!" For a moment she poised at the foot of
Bowinski's cot, then recognizing Miss Mink she nodded:

"So you found your soldier? I'm going back to town in ten minutes, I'll
take you along if you like."

She flitted out of the ward as quickly as she had come, leaving two long
rows of smiling faces in her wake. She had brought no pity, nor
tenderness, nor understanding, but she had brought her fresh young
beauty, and her little gift of gayety, and made men forget, at least for
a moment, their pain-racked bodies and their weary brains.

Miss Mink re