Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1900-12-02
CHAPTER XIX.
;ertrude's Determination.
Poor Gertrude was fairly overcome.

Poor Gertrude was fairly overcome.
II drove him away" she murmured
to herself. Il sent him to this war;
and now when he is going into battle
his one thought is of me"
And from her parted lips whispered
prayer arose that her lover might
emerge unscathed from the deadly Or
deal.
1t was a relief to her to have some
work to do. Before very long every
bed in the hospital was full of wound
ed men, and the four Englishwomen
found themselves fully occupied in has
tening from room to room, and admin
istering to the necessities of the poor
Greek soldiers.
Gertrude felt a fresh thrill of appre-
hension at the sight of every litter
which entered, succeeded by one of re-
lief, when time after time she found,
not the face which she had half feared,
half expected to behold. She went
about her work quietly and steadily.
1t was a consolation to her that she,
too, was working in the same cause as
her lover, that she was rendering SER
vices to his comrades, to men who had
perhaps fallen beside him.
Where it was possible to obtain the
services of an interpreter, and the
wounded men were well enough to an
swer questions, she asked eagerly for
news of the English volunteers. Most
of the men could tell her nothing, but
here and there she came upon one who
remembered to have seen the two Eng
lishmen, and who bore testimony to
their valour in the fight.
At last she came across a wounded
sapper, one of the company in which
Vaughan and Cheriton had served, and
i'll reply to Gertrude's eager questions
he gave her a glowing description of
the COZ age of the two Englishmen.
lie told her how they had stood in the
trench hour after hour firing on the
Turks and exposing themselves to the
deadly leaden hail that came from two
quarters at once. He told her how the
Colonel had been struck down by
Vaughan's side, and how Vaughan
himself had narrowly escaped death
from the bullet which had been averted
by cactus leaf
Gertrude listened with a beating
heart and suffused eyes. The woman
in her was reused. Courage was the
one quality which in her heart of
hearts she most admired, and here was
man who had shown it. How pref
ty. compared to devotion like this, ap-
peared her own humble labors. How
Insignificant was the career on which
she had so strongly insisted beside that
which Vaughan had embarked upon.
And he had done it ALL not so much
out of any ambition of his own as to
win her love, to prove to her that
he had not been unreasonable or small
minded when he had asked her to sac
rifce her own ambition to become his
wife.
Then came the news of the Turkish
fight, and the pursuit by the army Of
Altar. After that there was a lull; the
army had plunged, as it were, into
Turkish territory, and been swallowed
up. Nothing defenite was heard for
two days, and Gertrude was tortured
by all kinds of apprehensions as she
thought of her lover marching over
the hostile soil, perhaps into some
ambush of the foe from which he
would never return
On the second day came the news
that Philippiada had been occupied. |
Soon after it was followed by the sad |
dening intelligence of the retreat; but |