Nona went on upstairs without replying and the next hour the three girls devoted to trying to console Mildred Thornton.
It was Barbara’s conviction that they would some day meet Brooks Curtis again. Then Mildred could repay his deceit by surrendering him to the British authorities. But Mildred had no wish to find the young man. If only he did no further harm to the Allies she wished that she might never see or hear of him again.
And the girls did not hear. Several months passed by and each day found them more and more absorbed in their Red Cross work.
Nona Davis did not mention Lady Dorian’s confidence. However, there was little she _could_ tell. The older woman had simply explained that she had spent several years in England, where she and Colonel Dalton had known each other intimately.
But there was too much for the Red Cross Girls to do, they were living too full lives themselves to give more than passing thoughts to other persons.
When Dick Thornton had in a measure recovered he returned to London.
So the early part of the winter vanished. Now and then there came a lull in the fighting between the armies of northern France. Afterwards it would break out again with greater violence.
By chance Nona and Barbara, who had again joined the ambulance corps, first brought the news to the Sacred Heart Hospital. The order had come from Colonel Dalton. Later it was delivered in person by Lieutenant Hume.
The Sacred Heart Hospital must be abandoned. Having forced the British line for several miles, the Germans were now dangerously near. If the hospital wished to protect its wounded, to save supplies, to safeguard its workers, their present habitation must be abandoned.
No army ever moved its encampment with greater efficiency. In between their periods of nursing the four American girls assisted with the packing. No one of them ever forgot the experience. Yet at the last there was a sudden rush. The enemy was reported advancing before another refuge could be found for the Sacred Heart staff. Wounded soldiers had to be transported in half a dozen directions wherever a spot could be found for them. At the time there was no place for so many extra nurses.
It was Eugenia Peabody who finally made the suggestion to Miss Grey. She proposed that she and her three friends should find a retreat for themselves, and there await orders. It would relieve so much of the Superintendent’s responsibility.