The Irish standard., 1920-03-27
CHAPTER !.

merely number; but even that was
credttable. because his number was
low enough to signify that he had re-
sponded pretty promptly to the rally
Ing call. After that, and with the
cataclysmic suddenness which marked
all changes Of military status ON the
western front. he became. one frosty
morning. q Case. and got himself
roughly classified land tenderly han
dled) a. a Stretcher Case, q Grand
Blesse, and. in consequence. q proper
temporary inmate of q field hospital
on the Belgian plains.
There, he was unohicially known as
Joyeaux. or Joyous One; not because
he displayed very buoyant disposi-
don-far from it!-but because he be-
longed to the Foreign legion: and in
the course of another day or two he
was routine-ticketed as an Evacue,
and provided with lukewarm hot
water bottle and couple of evil
smelling cigarettes to console him on
the road to the base hospital at Neu-
lily.
At Neuilly he became, for the first
time since his enlistment, an Individ-
ual, and at the very outset he was dis
tinguished by certain qualities which
had passed unnoticed In the frying pan
and fire of the trenches. For one
thing, he was obviously immune to
kindness: and for another. he was ap-
parently immune to hope. He was a
man Of tnveterate silence; not the
grim silence of fortitude In suffering
(Which is altogether too common vir.
tue in base hospitals to earn any es-
pecial merit), but rather the dogged
reticence Of black moods and chronic
bitterness. To be sure. speech was
physically difficult to him. but other
men with similar misfortunes spoke
blessings with their eyes, and gave
back gratitude In voiceless murmurs.
Not 80 the Joyous One. From the day
Of his arrival he demanded nothing.
desired nothing. but to brood sullenly
alo0f; and so. when he became an In
divtdual, he also became a mystery to
the nursing staff. It was rumored that
he was an implacable woman hater,
and there seemed to be something in
It.
Regardless of the care Of the Amer
ican nurses Gall hoveringly attentive
to one of their own nation who had
fought for France), his spirit remained
abysmal and clouded in gloom. Only
twice, in the initial month Of his con-
6nement, did he betray the weakness
of an ordinary emotion; on each occa-
sion a gold-laced general had come to
salute. in the name of the republic, one
Of the Individuals neightors, and to
deliver bit Of bronze which dangled
from ribbon striped red and green.
1t was said (and doubted by those who
hadn't seen it) that at these ceremo-
MES the Individual had grown fever
ish. and let tears come to his eyes, but
subsequently he had relapsed into
still greater depths Of stoicism than
before; his own bed-jacket was inno-
cent of cross or medal, and his depres-
sion was apparent. and acute. The
nurses. arguing that perhaps his pride
was wounded as seriously as his flesh,
offered quick coincidence and got them
selves rebuffed with shrugs Of the In
dividual's shoulders, and inarticulate
sounds which had all the earmarks Of
suppressed profanity. He didn't even
soften when Pierre Dutout, a hard-hit
! territorial in the next bed, sQuandered
days supply of energy to lean across
and whisper sympathetically to him:
"Old man Vieux espece de choux-
croute know how 1t is i.
and haven't got any friends either.
want you to take my Croix de
Guerre. When go nowhere"
Even when speech returned to the
Individual he was man of curt re-
sponses and stinging monosyllables-
problem to the surgeons. problem
to the nurses and If the expression in
his eyes meant anything), an over
whelming problem to himself. 1t ap-
peared that, after all. it wasn't simply
women that he hated-it was the uni
verse.
His military book implied that he
had no parents. no close relations, no
friends to notify, no fixed abode. He
received no visitors, no letters, no
packages freighted with magical de-
light. But to those who pitied him in
all his loneliness he was utterly con-
temptuous; he even went so far as to
fillip sidelOng to the floor religious
post card rendered him by a devout
and sentimental passer-by, and he did
it in her presence, unashamed. Later,
when a smiling orderly picked up that
post card and tucked 1t under his pill.
low he was no less contemptuous in
permitting 1t to remain. But the one
stupendOus fact which, more than al
else combined. made him an object Of
,,ewildered curiosity was this-thAt Of
,he scores and scores Of men With
head-wounds who were reborn at Neu-
lily that spring and summer. he WAS
the only one who had never asked 1es
d mirror.
This, Of itself. wouldn't have bssa