I must
not let him fall off my back. Somehow--God knows how--I gritted
through to our redoubt. They took my lieutenant from my shoulders.
And then the light went out."
The priest leaned forward, his hands stretched out around the
soldier. "But you are a hero," he cried. "Let me embrace you!"
The soldier drew back, shaking his head sadly. "No," he said,
his voice breaking--"no, my Father, you must not embrace me now.
I may have been a brave man once. But now I am a coward. Let me
tell you everything. My wounds were bad, but not desperate. The
_brancardiers_ carried me down to Verdun, at night I suppose,
but I was unconscious; and so to the hospital at Vaudelaincourt.
There were days and nights of blankness mixed with pain. Then I
came to my senses and had rest. It was wonderful. I thought that I
had died and gone to heaven. Would God it had been so! Then I should
have been with my lieutenant. They told me he had passed away in
the redoubt. But that hospital was beautiful, so clean and quiet
and friendly. Those white nurses were angels.
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