“I am not so brave and strong as I seem.
If I were, how did I become so? With the tact
and delicacy of a woman, yet with the strength of
a man, you broke the crushing force of the first blow,
and have helped me ever since.”
“You see everything through a very friendly
medium. At any rate I could not have been content
a moment if I had not done all in my power. You
do not need me any longer; you have become a source
of strength to others. I cannot help seeing crowded
hospital wards; and the thought pursues me that in
one of them I might do something to restore a soldier
to his place in the field or save him for those at
home. I could at least be a hospital nurse, and
I believe it would be better for me to be doing some
such work.”
“I believe it would be better for me also,”
she answered, her eyes full of tears.
“No, Helen—no, indeed. You have
the higher mission of healing the heart-wounds which
the war is making in your own vicinity. You should
not think of leaving your father and mother in their
old age, or of filling their days with anxiety which
might shorten their lives.”
“It will be very hard for us to let you go.
Oh, I did not think I would have to face this also!”
He glanced at her hastily, for there was a sharp distress
in her tone, of which she was scarcely conscious herself.
Then, as if recollecting himself, he reasoned gently
and earnestly: “You were not long in adopting
the best antidote for trouble. In comforting
others, you have been comforted. The campaign
is opening in Virginia; and I think it would be a
good and wholesome thing for me to be at work among
the wounded. If I can save one life, it will
be such a comfort after the war is over.”
“Yes,” she replied, softly; “the
war will be over some day. Albert, in his last
letter, said the war would cease, and that happy days
of peace were coming. How they can ever be happy
days to some I scarcely know; but he seemed to foresee
the future when he wrote.”
“Helen, I’m going. Perhaps the days
of peace will be a little happier if I go.”
SECOND BLOOM
Martine carried out his purpose almost immediately,
seeking the temporary and most exposed hospitals on
the extreme left of Grant’s army before Petersburg.
Indeed, while battles were still in progress he would
make his way to the front and become the surgeon’s
tireless assistant. While thus engaged, even under
the enemy’s fire, he was able to render services
to Jim Wetherby which probably saved the soldier’s
life. Jim lost his right arm, but found a nurse
who did not let him want for anything till the danger
point following amputation had passed. Before
many weeks he was safe at home, and from him Helen
learned more of Martine’s quiet heroism than
she could ever gather from his letters. In Jim
Wetherby’s estimation, Cap and Bart Martine were
the two heroes of the war.
