ry my present situation
is."

Nodding agreement, Sally drew a beautiful French chair across the
strange drawing-room and seated herself within a few feet of her
patient's bed. It was odd that she had never felt any fear of the old
walls tumbling down upon her from the hour she had begun her nursing,
although before that time she had believed nothing could force her to
trust herself inside the ruins.

"I would like to ask you to begin at the beginning. In what condition
and how long ago did you find me here? If I could only guess the time!
But I am under the impression I have not been myself for several weeks
until these last few days. Yet I have a vague recollection of finding my
way to this old house and of seeing you standing one day framed in that
open arch. After that I have no memory of anything else until I became
conscious of your face and of old Jean's bending over me and then of
this extraordinary place. If I have been ill, why have I not been cared
for in a hospital?

"I remember escaping from the Germans who had taken me prisoner and then
wandering, wandering about in a country where there were no trees, no
grass, no houses, nothing but the upturned earth and exploded shells.
Afterwards I was not sure I had reached the French country. I know I
used to hide in the day time and prowl around at night. I think I must
have become ill soon after my escape, because I have an indistinct
impression that I was trying to find my old home, the chateau where I
lived before the outbreak of the war. I suppose that is one reason why I
hid myself in here. But nothing I can remember explains _you_."

Sally sighed.

"I do not understand what you are talking about, at least not exactly. I
am not even convinced you do. But if you really are a French soldier and
managed to escape from the Germans, I am glad. I know you will think me
stupid, but still how could I have been expected to understand that you
were a French soldier when you seemed so horribly afraid of being
discovered? You were in your own country and among your own people!
Personally there is very little for me to tell about myself.

"I am an American girl, I don't suppose you consider me French, and I am
living at a farm house not far away with some American friends. One day
I was taking a walk and just from curiosity slipped over here to look
more closely at the chateau. It frightened me when I discovered you were
hiding in here. You can never guess how you st