use in the woods because the cry
of the children in Belgium made the strongest appeal to her. The house
was a lonely one, supposed to be haunted, yet in spite of this Eugenia
moved in. There the money of the girl whom her friend had once believed
"poor as a church mouse" fed and cared for her quickly acquired family.
In Eugenia's haunted house were other sojourners furnishing the mystery
of this story and endangering her liberty, almost her life. They were a
Belgian officer and his family whom the Red Cross girl kept in hiding.
Somehow the officer had managed to return to his own country from the
fighting line in Belgium. After securing the papers he desired from the
enemy, by Eugenia's aid, he was enabled to return once more to King
Albert and the Allied armies. Thus Eugenia was left alone to bear the
brunt of the German displeasure after the discovery of her misdeeds. She
was imprisoned in Brussels, and became dangerously ill. Finally, because
she was an American, Eugenia was made to leave the country, rather than
to suffer the punishment which would have been hers had she belonged to
another nationality.
But the four American Red Cross girls also had the companionship of Dick
Thornton during their stay in the once lovely capital of Belgium.
Dick had not recovered the use of his arm, but in spite of this had come
to Brussels to help with the work of the American Relief society.
Here his once friendly relation with Barbara Meade no longer existed.
Because of her change of attitude he apparently grew more attached to
Nona Davis.
However, at the close of the story, when Barbara is taking Eugenia back
to southern France, she and Dick unexpectedly meet aboard a fog-bound
ship. And in the darkness the light finally shines when Dick and Barbara
discover at last that their feeling for each other is stronger than
friendship.
Later, near "the pool of truth" not far from the "Farmhouse with the
Blue Front Door," Eugenia Peabody again meets Captain Henri Castaigne,
the young French officer whom she had once nursed back to health. A
short time afterwards he and Eugenia are married.
Later the three other American Red Cross girls decide to continue their
nursing of the wounded soldiers of the Allied armies in far-off Russia.
One cold October afternoon three American girls were standing in the
stone courtyard of a great Russian fortress near the border line of
Poland.
Situated upon a cone-shaped hill, the fort itse
|