At a Girl's Mercy, or, The Fortunes of War — page 199: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

188 | AT A GIRL’S MERCY. would he not do for her as he would for himself were he placed in such a dreadful position as she was? He would be kind to her, anyway, though any of those she might go to would be the same. He would give her, maybe, the comfort she so needed, and coming from him, she would be sure there was comfort for her. But she had no time just then. There was so much of this terrible work to be done that she must put her own thoughts away and hide her heart for the caring for these others who were giving their lives for the cause her father was in. She must smile and say her kindly words as though her heart were not breaking with the trouble and the worry and lack of knowledge of what might come to her during that terrible time. She must give of her kindest thoughts when she had no comfort for herself. But by and by,when there came a chance, when the sufferings were cared for, and the time was coming for the gentle nurse to give up her place for the night, Nan stood beside the surgeon, doing her last little offices of kindness and smiling her cheer- iest, trying so hard to put down her heart and’ her selfish sorrow, waiting for the opportunity for her to ask of him what she could not ask even of those who were her kindest friends, and would have given their lives—any one of them—for her happiness. There were always so many little last things to do, she thought, as she went with him from one cot to the other, her dainty form and yellow curls draw- ing a smile from many a pain-drawn mouth, as kindly eyes followed her down the long rows of cots and kindly hearts ached for the sadness of the lips so clearly made for smiling. It seemed to her that they would never be through this round of duty, that they would never come to the end of this, so that she might know the end of what she feared. It was so hard to wait, it was somuch harder to wait — than to bear even the hardest knowledge of cer- tainty. She could not bear it, she said, to herself over and over, as she smiled and uttered her soft lit- tle words of comfort—she could not bear it much— longer. She could not go about her duties another +. . % oO ~ te. Sl ee “comicbooks.com > a >. . frie 4 t