The Outrage Part 28

Louise soothed her as best she could with caresses and consoling words.

But Madame Dore was heart-stricken and desolate, and the fact that they had never met Cecile when they were in London caused her bitter disappointment. Perhaps some evil had befallen Cecile? Did Louise think she was safe? The English were kind, were they not?

Yes, Louise was sure Cecile was safe. And yes, the English were very kind.

Even as she spoke a rush of longing came over her; a feeling that resembled home-sickness in its tenderness and yearning. England!--ah, England! How safe, indeed, how safe and kind and cool in its girdle of grey water!...

Perhaps, mused Louise, as she hurried home alone, meeting the inquisitive glance of strangers and the insolent stare of German soldiers in the familiar village-streets, perhaps it would have been better after all if they had remained safely in England, if they had disregarded the warning of the invader and allowed him to confiscate their home. Thus at least they would have remained beyond the reach of his intrusions, his insults and his cruelty.

Meanwhile, in Dr. Brandes's house the energetic and capable Miss Elliot had not been idle. A quick survey of the ransacked abode had shown her that, although most of the valuables and all the silver and pictures had been stolen, the necessary household utensils, and even the linen, were left. Briskly and cheerfully she settled Cherie in a snow-white bed, brushed and braided her s.h.i.+ning hair in two long plaits, gave her a cup of bread-and-milk and set resolutely to work to clear away some of the litter and confusion before Louise should arrive.

There were dirty plates and gla.s.ses, and empty bottles everywhere; there were muddy mattresses on the floor. People seemed to have slept and eaten in every room in the house. Tables, carpets and beds were strewn with cigar and cigarette-stumps; drawers and wardrobes had been emptied and their contents scattered on the floor; basins of dirty water stood on cabinets, sideboard and chairs.

Caroline Elliot brushed and emptied and cleared and cleaned, and drew in the shutters, and opened the windows, and lit the fires; and by the time she heard Louise's hurrying footsteps, was able to stand aside with a little smile of satisfaction and watch Louise's pale face light up with emotion and pleasure.

It was home, home after all!

And Louise, looking round the familiar rooms, felt a tremor of hope--the timid hope of better days to come--stir in the depths of her thankful heart.

CHAPTER XXII

The child was three weeks old and still Cherie had not seen either friend or acquaintance, nor had she dared to go out of the house. She felt too shy to show herself in the day-time, and after nightfall the inhabitants of Bomal were forbidden to leave their homes. Cherie dreaded meeting any of her acquaintances; true, there were not many left in the village, for some had taken refuge abroad and others had gone to live in the larger cities, Liege and Brussels, where, rightly or wrongly, they hoped to feel less bitterly their state of subservience and slavery.

It was a sunny afternoon towards the end of May that Nurse Elliot at last packed her neat bag and made ready to leave them.

"I cannot possibly stay a day longer," she said, caressing Cherie, who clung to her in tears. "I must go back to my post in Liege. Besides, you do not need me any more."

"Oh, I need you. I need you!" cried Cherie. "I shall be so lonely and forlorn."

"Lonely? With your child? And with your sister-in-law? Nonsense," said the nurse briskly.

"But Louise hardly speaks to me," said Cherie miserably. "She hates the child, and she hates me."

"Nonsense," said the nurse again; but she felt that there was some truth in Cherie's words.

Indeed, it was impossible not to notice the almost morbid aversion Louise felt towards the poor little intruder. Louise herself, strive as she would to hide or conquer her feeling, could not do so. Every line and feature of the tiny face, every tendril of its silky pale-gold hair, its small, pouting mouth, its strange, very light grey eyes--all, all was hateful and horrible to her. When she saw Cherie lift it up and kiss it she felt herself turn pale and sick. When she saw it at Cherie's breast, saw the small head moving, the tiny hands searching and pressing, she shuddered with horror and repugnance. Though she said to herself that this was unreasonable, that it was cruel and wrong, still the feeling was unconquerable; it seemed to spring from the innermost depths of her Belgian soul. Her hatred was as much a primitive ingenerate instinct, as was the pa.s.sionate maternal love an essence of the soul of Cherie.

"She hates us, Nurse Elliot, she hates us," a.s.severated Cherie, pressing her clasped hands to her breast in a pitiful gesture of despair.

"Sometimes if for a moment I forget how miserable I am, and I lift the little one up in my arms, and laugh at him and caress him, suddenly I feel Louise's eyes fixed upon us, cold, hostile, implacable. Yes. She hates us! And I suppose every one will hate us. Every one will turn from the child and from me in loathing and disgust. Where shall we go? Where shall we hide, I and this poor little baby of mine?" She turned a tearful glance toward the red-curtained door that hid her little one, awake and cooing in his cot. Nurse Elliot had finished packing and locking her bag, had rolled and strapped her cloak, tied on her bonnet and was ready to go to the station.

"Cherie," she said gravely, placing both her hands on the girl's frail shoulders, "whatever is in store for you, you will have to face it. And now," she added, kissing her on both cheeks, "if you love me a little, if I have really been of any help or comfort to you during these sad days, the moment has come for you to repay me."

"Oh, how--how can I ever repay you?" cried Cherie.

"By putting on your hat, taking your baby in your arms and accompanying me to the station."

"To the station! I! with--Oh, I could not, I could not!" She shrank back and a burning flush rose to her brow.

At that moment Louise entered the room dressed to go out.

"You will accompany me to the station," repeated Nurse Elliot firmly to Cherie. "You, and your sister-in-law, and the baby will all come to see me off and wish me luck."

"Don't--don't ask that," murmured Cherie.

"I do ask it," said Caroline Elliot. "And you cannot refuse. I have given you many days and many nights out of my life, and much love and tender anxiety. And this is the only thanks I shall ever ask." She stepped close to Cherie and placed her arms around her. "Can you not see, my dear, that sooner or later you will be forced to meet the ordeal you dread? You cannot imprison yourself and the child for ever between these four walls. Then take your courage and face the world today; now, while I am still with you."

Cherie stood pale and hesitant; then she turned to Louise. "Would you--would you go with me?"

There was so much humility and misery in her voice that Louise was touched.

"Of course I will," she said; "go quickly and get ready."

Cherie ran to her room. She put on the modest black frock she had worn on the journey from England, but she dressed the baby in all his prettiest clothes--the white cape she had embroidered for him, and the lace cap with blue ribbons and the smartest of his blue silk socks. She lifted him in her arms and stepped before the mirror. After all it was a very sweet baby, was it not? People might hate him when they heard of him, but when they saw him....

Trembling, blus.h.i.+ng and smiling she appeared at the gate where Miss Elliot and Louise stood waiting for her. She stepped timidly out of doors between them, and very young and very pathetic did she look with her flushed cheeks and s.h.i.+ning, diffident eyes. Whom would they meet?

Would they see any one they knew?

Yes. They met Mademoiselle Veraender, the school-mistress, who looked at them, started, looked again and then, blus.h.i.+ng crimson, crossed to the other side of the road. They met Madame Linkaerts and her daughter Marie. The girl recognized them with a cry of delight, but her mother took her brusquely by the arm and turned her brusquely down a side-street. They met four German soldiers strolling along who stared first at the American nurse, then at Louise, then at Cherie with the baby in her arms.

One of them made a remark and the others laughed. They stood still to let the three women pa.s.s, and the one who had spoken waved his fingers at Cherie. "_Ein Vaterlandskindlein?--nicht wahr?_" And he threw a kiss to the child.

Three or four street-urchins who had been following the soldiers, imitating their strutting gait and sticking their tongues out at them, noticed the greeting and interpreted it with the sharpness which characterizes the gutter-snipe all the world over. They also began to throw kisses to Cherie and to the baby, shouting, "_Pet.i.t boche? Quoi?_"

A lame elderly man pa.s.sed and taking in the situation at a glance, ran after the boys with his stick. Others pa.s.sed, and stopped. Many of them recognized the women, and some looked pityingly, others contemptuously at the flushed and miserable Cherie. But no one came to speak to her, no one greeted her, no one smiled at the child in its embroidered cape and its cap with the blue ribbons. A few idlers making rude remarks, followed them to the station.

Nurse Elliot left them. It was a sad leave-taking. Then they returned home in silence, going far out of their way to choose the least frequented streets.

As they came down the shady lane behind their house Louise glanced at Cherie, and her heart melted with pity. What a child she looked for her nineteen years! And how sad and frightened and ashamed? What could Louise do to help her? What consolation could she offer? What hope could she hold out?

None. None. Except that the child should die. And why should it die? Was it not the child of puissant youth, of brutal vitality? Did it not drink its sustenance from the purest source of life? Why should it die?

No; the child would live; live to do harm and hurt; to bring sorrow and shame on them all. Live to keep the flame of hatred alight in their hearts, to remind them for ever of the foul wrong they had suffered....

Cherie had felt Louise's eyes upon her and turned to her quickly. Had not her sensitive soul perceived a pa.s.sing breath of pity and of tenderness? Surely Louise would turn to her now with a word of consolation and compa.s.sion? Perhaps the sight of her helpless infant had touched Louise's heart at last....

No, no. Again she caught that look of resentment, that terrible look of anger and shame in Louise's eyes; and bending her head lower over her child she hurried into the house.

CHAPTER XXIII

The house seemed very empty without Nurse Elliot. Cherie seldom spoke, for she had nothing to speak about but her baby, and she knew that to such talk Louise would neither wish to listen nor reply.

Other mothers, reflected Cherie bitterly, could speak all day about their children, and she, also, would have loved to tell of all the wonderful things she discovered in her baby day by day. For instance, he always laughed in his dreams, which meant that the angels still spoke to him; and the soles of his tiny feet were quite pink; and he had a dimple in his left cheek, and a quant.i.ty of silky golden hair on the nape of his neck--all things that Louise had never noticed, and Cherie did not dare to speak about them. There was silence, pitiless silence, round that woeful cradle.