She would willingly have
opened the arteries of her heart and bled for him on the moment. Her
compassion wanted to scream. She, who had never sacrificed anything,
wanted suddenly to bleed at his feet, and prayed to do so on the
agonized crest of the moment.
"There's a girl! Why, I'm going to get well, Hester, and do what
thousands of others of the blinded are doing. Build up a new, a useful,
and a busy life."
"It's not fair! It's not fair!"
"I'm ready now, except for this old left lung. It's burnt a bit, you
see--gas."
"God! God!"
"It's pretty bad, I admit. But there's another way of looking at it.
There's a glory in being chosen to bear your country's wounds."
"Your beautiful eyes! Your blue, beautiful eyes! O God, what does it
all mean? Living! Dying! All the rotters, all the rat-eyed ones I know,
scot-free and Gerald chosen. God! God! where are you?"
"He was never so close to me as now, Hester. And with you here, dear, He
is closer than ever."
"I'll never leave you, Gerald," she said, crying down into his sleeve
again.
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